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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Savannah Schoenherr
Savannah Schoenherr

 Trinity Thomas is becoming a household name in Gators sports.

She is approaching school records in just her second year and is staking a claim as the nation’s best gymnast this season.

On top of all that, she is trying to make it to the Olympic trials this summer before the Tokyo games.

However, college gymnastics is a team sport and even though Thomas is the team’s star and has been talked about in this space ad nauseam, she’s only one of many splendid gymnasts on the No. 2 Florida’s (7-0, 5-0 SEC) roster.

Here’s a look at some of the lesser known Gators who have excelled:

Payton Richards

The freshman may have exceeded expectations more than anyone on the team this season. The Mokena, Illinois, native came to Gainesville as the only recruit in the 2020 class.

Early on, it was evident that coach Jenny Rowland put her trust in Richards, starting her in three exercises in the season opening win over then-No. 19 Arkansas.

After two meets, Richards’ numbers were impressive enough for Rowland to give her an all-around spot in the Jan. 24 meet against then-No. 8 LSU.

Despite her first start coming in one of the team’s biggest meets in years, she was stellar, finishing with an all-around of 39.5, which was the third-highest score for a Gator making her first AA start in program history.

Since that meet, her performance has only improved, capped off by setting a new career-high in the vault (9.95) in Friday night’s win over No. 17 Auburn. She also finished with a 9.95 on beam in tri-meet wins over Denver and Iowa State on Feb. 7.

Savannah Schoenherr

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Expectations were high for the sophomore after a solid freshman season in 2019. She was second team All-American in vault and on the SEC All-Freshman team.

In 2020, she hasn’t suffered a sophomore slump. Schoenherr has been a consistent starter on vault and bars, and despite some missteps, she has steadily racked up 9.8s and 9.9s.

Her best performance was on Feb. 7 when she won her first ever bars title and set a new career-high with a score of 9.975.

“Looking up after last season, I tried to fix the tiny little details,” she said prior to the Auburn meet. “The details that will make the biggest difference in my score.”

Sydney Johnson-Scharpf

Unlike Schoenherr, Johnson-Scharpf suffered a disappointing freshman campaign. Despite starting almost every meet on the floor, her scores were below average and by the time the SEC and NCAA Tournament came around, she was out of the lineup.

After starting on the floor against Arkansas and Missouri, she was given a beam spot against LSU and shined, putting up the best score for a Gator making their beam debut (9.925).

In the three meets since, she has netted starts on the beam and floor and in the tri-meet, she bagged a 9.925, a new career-high.

“Freshman year is tough sometimes and Syd was injured which prevented her training,” Rowland said following the tri-meet. “This year though, she’s taking control of her gymnastics and it’s showing on the competition floor.”

Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @Noah_ram1. Contact him at nram@alligator.org.

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Noah Ram

Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.


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