Herculean effort, compliments of Maranda Smith.
The junior danced, vaulted, swung and balanced her way to a third-place finish among all-arounders in Session 1 of the NCAA Championships.
Smith was vital in the No. 5 Gators' 196.375 second-place finish on the first - and what could have been the only - day of the championships. UF's placing guarantees them a spot in the Super Six, starting tonight at 7.
UF beat out No. 4 LSU for the second time in a row after losing to the Tigers on Feb. 6. UF also beat No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 12 Penn State and No. 9 Stanford. No. 1 Georgia came out on top with a 197.450.
"Just elated," said UF coach Rhonda Faehn, proud of the determination she saw from her team.
The second-place finish was anything but guaranteed after the Gators' bumpy start. Freshman Amy Ferguson waited on deck, second in the floor exercise lineup after Courtney Gladys. Ferguson, who has been consistent all season, fell on two of her passes and staggered to a 9.025. Ferguson never scored lower than a 9.75 this season and averaged a 9.82 before Thursday.
"It was a shock, I think, to everybody, emotion-wise as well, because she's just been such a rock on that event," Faehn said.
Caught off guard, the team recoiled with Smith and Melanie Sinclair posting 9.85s. Faehn and Smith didn't believe the performances warranted the scores some of the gymnasts received.
The team hiccuped again on the next event, vault.
Smith provided a pick-me-up 9.9 on vault, the highest Gators mark by a tenth of a point.
"We didn't seem to get that momentum going in front," Faehn said.
Faehn pointed out how the team rebounded with "unbelievable (uneven) bars" and finished "extremely aggressively" with their highest event score on balance beam.
The team's improvement after the first two less-than-stellar events showed Faehn how much the Gators had matured as gymnasts and as competitors. She said in the past when the team sank mentally from troubles in events, gymnasts would get quieter or more nervous.
"We did not see that with this team," Faehn said. "Even through the little mistakes, they just were not going to give up."
She identified the resiliency, cheering and energy of her team as the deciding factor in the meet.
Four Gators tied with a 9.85 on beam, including Smith, matching her career best.
"I just count myself out when it comes to beam," Smith said. "(But on Thursday) I was like, 'You know what? You got to go up there and you got to do the best beam routine you can.' And I did that," she said.
Freshman Elizabeth Mahlich bested her teammates with a 9.875.
The team placed second, but as an individual, Smith shined brightest.
"Her leadership came through, and she didn't let any nerves get to her," Faehn said. "Maranda was just a superstar."
