Two days and three programs stand between the Gators and their fourth national title. No. 3 Florida bested three other top-7 ranked opponents in Thursday’s semifinal action, setting up a highly anticipated date with No. 2 Louisiana State and two other programs in Saturday’s championship.
Florida, along with No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Stanford and LSU, came into Fort Worth with one goal in mind: to see its name among the top two spots on the leaderboard. The Gators notched a score of 197.7875, which solidified their 18th trip to the championship in 21 semifinal appearances.
Dickies Arena featured the nation’s top talent of the season, but the afternoon got off to a rocky start for the better part of the competition. LSU’s first three gymnasts failed to exceed 9.8500 points due to various uncharacteristic landing errors on vault, but the mistakes didn’t last long for the second-highest-ranked team in the country.
Both SEC Gymnast of the Year Kailin Chio and sophomore sensation Kaliya Lincoln each sported 9.9625 scores for the second-best collegiate crew on vault. Chio’s first routine emulated her semifinal outing. The sophomore earned a 39.6125 in her all-around contest.
Georgia also experienced mishaps throughout the rotation and fell .3125 behind the top spot.
It wasn’t until Florida sophomore Skye Blakely picked up a 9.9125 on the balance beam that the scores were kept relatively low for the Gators. Juniors Skylar Draser and Alyssa Arana added a 9.8500 and 9.7000, respectively, before they watched the rest of the Gators’ lineup bounce back.
Senior eMjae Frazier’s 9.9250 led the team across the first rotation and set up Florida’s second-place standing heading into its floor routine.
The runner-up status did not remain for the Gators. While they are ranked No. 6 in the country in the event, they showed out in the second rotation of the afternoon. Frazier continued to shine as she notched a team-leading 9.9375. Florida’s five qualifying scores of 9.8500 or greater, coupled with the Tigers’ lackluster uneven bars rotation, led to its first lead of the meet.
The Gators maintained a .2375-point edge at the midway mark of the meet as the Bulldogs trailed the Tigers by just .2625.
Frazier extended her excellent afternoon with a 9.8750 on vault in the third slot of Florida’s lineup. The score matched her highest this season since earning a 9.9000 March 13 against Kentucky.
The New Jersey native led the team in the event, but was not the only gymnast to highlight the third rotation. Georgia powered back with four scores of 9.9000 or better and found itself in second place, leading by a slim .0250 heading into the final event. After leading just 30 minutes prior, the Tigers were on the outside looking in — but not for long.
Chio earned a 9.9625 on her floor routine and paved the way for the Tigers to make Saturday’s final. They topped Georgia by .1750 to advance to the NCAA Championship.
The highest score of the meet on the uneven bars was 9.9250 ahead of Florida’s emergence. The top score didn’t stand a chance as the Gators looked to the challenge. They shined when the lights were brightest at the conference championship meet, and they did so again Thursday.
In a rotation where all it had to do was not make any major mistakes, Florida excelled. Blakely, the team leader in the event, entered the competition averaging a 9.975 on bars in postseason play. Thursday was no different. The Dallas native put up the same score in Fort Worth and solidified Florida’s championship berth.
The Gators and the Tigers will take the floor for the final time this season for Saturday’s NCAA Championship. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA, No. 9 Arkansas and No. 13 Minnesota are all in the running for the trophy and will compete Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
Florida last met the Sooners in Tulsa, when the Gators eked out a Southeastern Conference crown. They earned their 13th SEC title thanks to a near-perfect uneven bars rotation. Selena Harris-Miranda’s 10.0 aided in the crew’s 49.80 total on the event, setting up the slimmest of margins — a .025-point victory.
The Gators faced the Razorbacks twice this season and emerged victorious both times. The former bested Arkansas by 1.2 points in the conference championship less than two months after a 2.075-point win at home.
Florida has yet to take on the Bruins and Gophers, but it has the chance to tread unfamiliar waters over the weekend. UCLA went undefeated in Big Ten play on its way to its second title in as many years in the conference. Minnesota, the lowest-ranked club of the bunch, came in second at NCAA Regionals, falling to just UCLA.
UF head coach Jenny Rowland, in the midst of her 11th season with the Gators, has put her crew in prime contention for the NCAA crown. Florida entered the final stretch as one of the hottest groups in the country with its eyes set on capturing its first national championship since 2015. The Gators will compete Saturday against LSU and the top two programs of Thursday’s evening slate to close out the 2025-26 season.
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @rileyorovitz.
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.
