Captain Ahab spends the entirety of the famed 1851 novel Moby Dick attempting to defeat the “white whale.” It’s more of a “white tiger” for the UF gymnastics team.
No. 3 Florida travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday to face off against the LSU Tigers, a team it hasn’t defeated in the regular season since 2014.
The No. 5 Tigers, the current defending SEC champions, host UF on their home floor after winning at the O’Connell Center last year.
With the Gators coming off a strong performance against Missouri and LSU coming off its first regular season loss since 2016, it will likely be a close battle between the two top-five squads. Here are a couple things to look out for on both sides of the meet.
The Team To Beat
The Gators lost sophomore Alyssa Baumann when she injured herself on the uneven bars a day before the team’s meet against Missouri, and LSU was also without one of its own key gymnasts due to injury last Friday.
Tigers senior McKenna Kelley suffered an injury during warmups before their meet against No. 17 Auburn, causing them to hastily throw freshman Bailey Ferrer into the lineup. Despite the jarring setback, the teams were even heading into the last rotation, but Auburn managed to pull ahead to defeat the Tigers 196.700-196.275. According to an article by The Advocate, Kelley has been practicing this week and intends to compete on the floor and in the vault event against the Gators.
Gymnasts to watch on Friday will be sophomore Sami Durante, an SEC All-Freshman last year who scored a 9.925 on the uneven bars against Auburn. Senior Sarah Finnegan was the team’s best all-arounder last Friday, scoring a 39.475 overall and winning her 51st individual award.
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Try, try again. And again. And again.
Last year, Florida hosted the Tigers in the O’Connell Center and walked out with a loss by only 0.125th of a point, and that’s not an abnormality for these matches. In the last 20 meetings between the two squads, 17 of them have been decided by less than .500, including three of the last four meets after the last time Florida beat LSU.
“It definitely is a meet that we’ve been looking forward to all year,” senior Amelia Hundley said in a release. “They’ve always been a good competitor for us.”
The team will hope for another strong performance from senior Alicia Boren, who took home SEC Gymnast of the Week for her efforts against Mizzou, and some more high scores from freshmen like Trinity Thomas, who netted a 9.950 on the uneven bars and was named co-SEC Freshman of the Week.
Hundley made it clear on Thursday that the team is done preparing for the No. 5 team in the country, and that regardless of the result the meet is bound to be a learning experience.
“I think it’s time,” Hundley said. “I think we’re ready for it. We’re really excited and we’re gonna put our best foot forward.”
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Florida gymnast Alicia Boren earned SEC gymnast of the week for her performance against Missouri on Friday at the O'Connell Center.
