On Feb. 18, Florida gymnastics head coach Jenny Rowland said in a media availability session that vault needed to be a point of emphasis for her Gators as they entered the back half of the season.
“We need to tweak and do something a little bit different on vault,” Rowland said. “We’re winning vault warmups, and then … getting a little too anxious, listening to too much noise, whatever that looks like in the meet.”
Rowland made these remarks days after Florida fell to top-ranked Oklahoma inside the O’Connell Center on Feb. 13, marking the Gators’ second loss in a row. The Sooners won by .500, with a majority of that gap coming on the vault. Florida’s 48.975 total was .450 behind Oklahoma’s 49.425 mark.
The 11th-year head coach chalked the Gators’ struggles up to “trying too hard.” To find a solution, Rowland and her staff devised a plan: a mock competition setting in practice to help alleviate the stress and pressure when the team gets into a meet.
“We warmed up vault, we went and did our normal workout, and went back and then competitively showed vault,” Rowland said. “Just trying to switch things up, keep it a little fresher in the gym, and keeping them on their toes so it’s not just the same, normal routine.”
Whatever sort of environment Rowland was able to manufacture to push her athletes inside the Ted Crom Gymnastics Studio was highly effective. Since that fateful Friday night against Oklahoma, her Gators have not lost. Instead, they’ve produced the two highest total scores in the country and secured a nailbiting SEC title, the 13th in program history.
A significant propelling factor behind Florida’s recent form has come via the vault. Excluding a somewhat insignificant quad meet win over Arizona State, Fisk and Texas Women’s University, the Gators have blown by their poor showing against Arkansas: 49.425 to beat Georgia, 49.375 to edge out LSU, 49.475 in a win over Kentucky, and, finally, 49.425 to win the conference.
It hasn’t just been one gymnast; the entire lineup has elevated its execution since the Oklahoma loss. Junior Danie Ferris was the only Gator to score 9.900 or better against Oklahoma, while the Gators have had three women at or above that mark in three of their last five meets.
Senior Selena Harris-Miranda responded immediately. Her 9.600 was the excluded score versus the Sooners, but she came back with a 9.900 the following week against Georgia, helping her to a commanding all-around title against the Bulldogs as well.
Sophomore Skye Blakely’s return to the rotation has also been a significant boon for Florida. The Texas native competed in the vault for the first time this season against Georgia, meaning she was out of the lineup for both of the Gators’ losses. Blakely has proved her mettle on the apparatus in recent weeks, scoring 9.900 in both Florida’s dominant victory against Kentucky and the SEC Championships. You can never have too many options in an event, and Blakely’s emergence has proved that.
Thanks in part to its newfound prowess on vault, Florida looks to continue its run to the national title at the Tempe Regional from Apr. 2-5.
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org and follow him on X at @phofmahoney.
Paul is a senior in his fourth semester on the track and field/cross country beat for The Alligator. In his free time, you can increasingly see him jogging around Gainesville or endlessly falling deeper down the rabbit hole that is track Twitter.
