The sound of Selena Harris-Miranda sticking her landing on bars rang like more than just a 10.0 for Florida. It sounded like a conference title.
Entering the final rotation in third place, the Gators knew they would need to make a late push.
And they did.
Behind Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello’s back-to-back 9.975’s on bars, and Harris-Miranda’s 10.0 to top it off, the Gators eked out their 13th Southeastern Conference Championship win and first since 2023.
No. 3 Florida (15-2) clinched an SEC title on Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, topping the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners, 198.175-198.150. Faced with tough conference opponents in Oklahoma, No. 2 Louisiana State University and No. 4 Alabama, Florida prevailed behind the sixth-highest bar score in NCAA history.
Florida’s 49.800 on bars was also the second-highest score in the event in SEC meet history.
The Gators got off to a hot start, opening the meet on their strongest event — beam. Florida pulled out in front by 0.050 after the first rotation.
DiCello and Harris-Miranda powered the event, each posting 9.950’s in the back end of the rotation. The only other gymnast to score a 9.950 in the first rotation was LSU’s powerhouse sophomore Kailin Chio.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma clocked its lowest vault score of the season, despite being the No. 1 group in the nation on the event. The Sooners’ 49.325 put them 0.200 behind the Gators after the first rotation.
Florida’s lead quickly dissolved after the second. LSU overcame the Gators with a dominating performance on beam. The Tigers posted two scores of 9.950, topping Florida by 0.025 heading into the third rotation.
Like LSU, Florida also had five scores of 9.850 or higher, but capped out at 9.900’s on floor from Harris-Miranda, DiCello and eMjae Frazier.
The Gators fell further after the third rotation, struggling to gain their footing on vault against some stellar performances from the Sooners. Oklahoma’s Faith Torrez earned her sixth perfect score of her four-year career and just her second on balance beam.
But the rotation was not without individual successes for the Gators as well. Florida’s Anya Pilgrim scored a season-best 9.900 on the event. DiCello and Blakely also earned 9.900’s, but the trio’s performance was not enough as the Gators fell into third, 0.175 behind first-place Oklahoma.
However, Florida still needed to make its biggest impact of the night on bars. Behind the Gators’ ace Harris-Miranda and their historic 49.800 on bars, they scraped by.
The perfect score was Harris-Miranda’s first as a Gator on the event, sparking her SEC bars championship title.
It all came down to one last floor routine from Oklahoma. Mackenzie Estep needed a 9.975 to tie the Gators and a 10.0 to win. Her still impressive, but just short, 9.950 secured the win for Florida.
Florida will compete next in the NCAA Regional starting on April 1. The Gators await their slate, which will be announced on Monday at noon.
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @rileyorovitz.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 sports editor. Previously for The Alligator, she covered volleyball and did sports enterprise. Ava enjoys watching and playing sports in her free time and has been a Boston sports fan all her life. (Brad Marchand is still everything.)
Riley is a sophomore sports journalism student in her second semester at The Alligator. She is the beat reporter for Gators Gymnastics and Swim & Dive while also contributing to the Gators Football Beat. She previously served in the same role in her first semester with the newspaper. Riley is an avid South Florida sports fan and enjoys playing/following all sports in her free time.
