In a troupe consisting of Bruins, Pioneers, Gophers, Cyclones and Hawkeyes, the Gators emerged victorious from the menagerie.
The No. 6 UF gymnastics team won the North Central Regional against No. 7 UCLA, Denver, Minnesota, Iowa State and Iowa with a 196.775, netting its fifth consecutive NCAA regional title.
Beyond morale, the win propelled the Gators to the NCAA Championships, which begin April 16.
Opening the meet on floor exercise - a first for the team in competitive meets this season - the Gators posted a 49.075. A fall on Courtney Gladys' last tumbling pass hurt the team, as did a couple of short landings by Melanie Sinclair that resulted in an uncharacteristic 9.6.
"We like the fact they didn't carry it over into the rest of the meet," UF coach Rhonda Faehn said.
Senior Corey Hartung made her last regional appearance count, scoring a 9.925 on her floor routine, which tied her with Denver's Jessica Lopez for the regional floor title. It marked Hartung's second regional floor title, the other coming in her freshman year.
"We're more appreciative and more honored to be doing this well, considering (we have only eight of twelve gymnasts competing)," Hartung said.
From floor, the team moved to vault, where consistency was key. The Gators didn't count anything less than a 9.8 toward their 49.225 score. Gladys and Sinclair rebounded from floor, notching scores of 9.85 and 9.875, respectively. Capturing her second 9.9 in as many events, Maranda Smith led the team on vault.
Smith, Hartung and Sinclair all posted the highest score for the Gators on uneven bars. Their 9.85s placed them in a five-way tie for second in the event overall.
Alicia Goodwin, making her first appearance in a regional competition, and teammate Elizabeth Mahlich trailed just behind with 9.8s. Goodwin sprained her knee in practice on March 18, three days before the start of the Southeastern Conference Championships, and was pulled from that meet. She was healthy enough to participate in the regional competition in bars and balance beam, the team's closing event.
Heading into beam, UF needed a 49.2 to defeat UCLA. UF also felt Iowa State breathing down its neck, as the Cyclones trailed by a marginal 0.8 points.
"We just knew that we had to go out there and hit our routines," Faehn said, though she admitted she didn't know the score her team required.
"If I were to know that exactly, it would be a little bit nerve-wracking," Faehn said.
Whether or not the gymnasts knew, it didn't stop the team from going above and beyond the necessary 49.2. UF put on its best beam rotation of the season with a meet-high beam total of 49.325.
Hartung again made the best of her appearance, putting up a 9.95 - tying her career best and winning the regional beam title nearly a whole tenth ahead of Goodwin's second-place score.
After falls in the event early in the season, Goodwin's sprained knee seemed to be nothing more than a memory as she notched a 9.875 in her third consecutive beam performance.
"Everyone that's out there on the competition floor is giving 150 percent into it, and that's what's making the difference," Faehn said.
