The Gators still have two regular season meets left on their schedule, but they are treating tonight’s meet as an opportunity to prepare for the postseason.
No. 4 Florida (6-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) takes the floor tonight in the O’Connell Center against North Carolina (7-5) and Ball State (5-7) in a tri-meet.
In triangular meets, teams don’t alternate taking turns with routines like they do in the usual dual meets. As a result, each team has a gymnast performing at the same time during each rotation, much like what the Gators will see when they reach the SEC Championships and beyond.
“I refer to it a little bit as a three-ring circus because everything is going on all at once,” UF coach Rhonda Faehn said.
It will be the team’s first official triangular meet of the season after its originally scheduled one for last month was changed to a dual meet when weather prevented George Washington from traveling to N.C. State.
Even though it’s the team’s first one of the year, the configuration of the meet will be familiar to its veterans, as well as some of the freshmen, including all-around gymnast Ashanée Dickerson.
“It’s just going to feel like I’m in [Junior Olympic] competition again because in J.O. everyone was performing at the same time, too,” Dickerson said.
While the format of the event will help prepare Florida for postseason meets, Faehn said that won’t be the team’s only focus tonight as she feels the team has yet to reach its maximum potential.
Even though the Cardinals and Tar Heels are the Gators’ opponents in the O’Connell Center, Faehn said her team will also be competing against itself in hopes of topping its last two competitions, which were its two best of the season.
“We want to come out on vault and just blow it out of the water and carry that momentum throughout,” Faehn said.
