Alabama gymnastics drops meet to No. 1 Florida

The No. 1 Gators gymnastics team remained unbeaten at 4-0 and improved to 2-0 in the SEC with a 198.175-197.525 win over the Crimson Tide before a Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 8,867 – the sixth-largest in UF history – Friday night.

The dual-meet loss dropped the Crimson Tide, the two-time defending SEC champions, to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the SEC.

“Well I certainly applaud Florida for their crowd and their energy and their performance,” second-year Tide head coach Dana Duckworth said. “They did a beautiful job, and that made us really have to fight and do our job, which only makes us better.”

The Gators swept the meet's titles, with senior All-American Bridget Sloan winning the all-around with a cumulative score of 39.775.

Freshman Alicia Boren and sophomore Kennedy Baker shared the vault title with matching 9.95s, and sophomore Alex McMurtry followed with the evening's first 10 on the uneven bars to close out the halfway point of the meet with the Gators leading 49.475-49.325.

UF opened the lead to more than a half-point after the third rotation after putting up a 49.525 score on the beam capped by another 10 by Sloan, then closed out the meet by scoring a meet-high 49.675 on the floor exercise highlighted by Baker's 10, UF's school-record third of the night.

That was more than enough to keep the Gators unbeaten while Bama also closed strong, scoring a 49.45 on floor followed by a meet-high 49.550 on beam.

Bama's 49.550 on beam was the fifth best in school history. In addition, the Tide's overall score was the best road score in the nation to date.

“I think the persistence is what really stood out,” Duckworth said. “They just never gave up, even when things weren't perfect. We just stayed in our bubble and focused on what we had to focus on.”

Lauren Beers was the star for the Tide, finishing tied for second in the all-around with UF's Baker at 39.650.

Alabama returns home to host Kentucky Friday at 7:30 p.m.