The Florida Gators have been unstoppable in recent years, with 2015 marking their third consecutive championship win. The team has been one of the strongest in the country for the past decade, but it’s really in the last few years that the Gators have become truly dominant, thanks in part to great coaching and in part to the depth of talent on the team.

Much of Florida’s success occurred under Rhonda Faehn, who coached the team from 2003 to last year when she moved on to a new role with USA Gymnastics. The year before Faehn joined, in 2002, the team ranked 15th nationally. This number steadily increased as soon as Faehn took over, and the team finished well within the top 10 every year.

Jenny Rowland takes over the reins this year as Florida’s new head coach. While Faehn will surely be missed, the Gators are in good hands with Rowland. Most recently, Rowland was the Associate Head Coach at Auburn, where she helped lead the team to Super Six Finals for the first time in 22 years.



Along with Faehn, the Gators had to say goodbye to a couple of standout seniors from last year – most notably Kytra Hunter, Kiersten Wang and Rachel Spicer. Hunter was Florida’s top all-around competitor last season. The Gators will miss her phenomenal floor routine the most, but Hunter also brought in big scores on vault, bars and beam. Wang was a contributor on the power events – vault and floor - while Spicer competed three events, with beam being her strongest.

Despite these departures, the outlook for 2016 looks good. The Gators have their first meet this Friday against TWU, which will be streamed live on FloGymnastics, and it will be interesting to see how the lineups shape up. For now, here are our best guesses for what we can expect this season.

Vault – A Plethora of 1.5s

Florida is in a uniquely advantageous position this year when it comes to vault. Unlike most other teams, they have not solely relied on full twisting yurchenko vaults in the past. In fact, they have at least three gymnasts on the roster who can definitely perform 1.5s – senior Bridget Sloan, sophomore Kennedy Baker, and freshman Alicia Boren. These three will likely be relied upon for their higher start values. Check out the video below of Sloan training the 1.5:



The team also has gymnasts who perform beautifully executed fulls. While they may not command the same start value as they once did, these vaults are done to perfection and will still bring in big numbers. At the top of the pack is sophomore Alex McMurtry, who ranked first last season on this event and absolutely flies off the vault table. Senior Bridgette Caquatto has scored between 9.8-9.9 on this event in the past, so it’s likely we’ll see her in the lineup at some point as well.

Bars - A Stacked Lineup

Florida had some of the best bar workers in the country on their team last year, and, fortunately, most of them have returned for this season. It's no surprise that Sloan is one of the leaders on this event. She was picked for the 2008 Olympic team largely for her skill on bars. That skill has carried through her NCAA career. She's known for throwing high flying release skills, hitting perfect handstands, and sticking landings - all culminating in lots high scores. Fellow senior Caquatto will also be in the mix for bars and has a similar style to Sloan with a high-flying tkatchev and top notch form.

McMurtry is another strong bar worker. The 9.95 that she scored in Super Six Finals last year helped the team to their Championship win. McMurtry always performs with great execution which gets her the big numbers - she ranked 13th on the event last season with a 9.905 RQS. Bars specialist Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto is another one who will be in the mix for her senior season. She competed on bars in every meet last season for the Gators.

Baker will also likely compete bars this season. She competed the event in almost every meet last season and was a consistent competitor, scoring around 9.8-9.85 each time. Junior Claire Boyce, if she is healthy (she recently suffered a hip injury), may also be considered for bars. She only competed on this event in a few meets at the beginning of last season, but she scored in the 9.85 range each time.

Beam - Too Many to Choose From

The Gators will miss Hunter and Spicer's beam routines this year, but fortunately they have brought in a few freshmen who could fill their spots easily. The most significant is Peyton Ernst, who will only be competing beam this year due to her recent shoulder injury. Ernst demonstrated huge difficulty on beam as an elite, so we look forward to seeing what she has to show this season. Boren, who was a strong and confident beam worker in her J.O. days, may also compete for a spot in this lineup. Lastly, Amanda Cheney is reported to be strong on beam. Most recently, she won the beam championship at the 2015 Magical Classic.

Even without the freshmen, the Gators have potentially five gymnasts who could compete on beam. At the top is Boyce, who will be relied upon if she is not still injured. She placed highest in the rankings for the team last season, with a 9.905 RQS. The Gators will also be happy to welcome back Sloan, who did not compete beam for much of last season due to her injury. She came back during post-season and scored very highly for the team.

Three gymnasts who proved to be reliable beam workers in their freshmen season are McMurtry, Baker and Ericha Fassbender. McMurtry competed in every meet starting in week 2 and contributed strong scores for the team. Baker competed primarily in the beginning of the season, and while she could be a bit inconsistent, when she was on, she was on, and she scored as high as 9.925 in one meet. Fassbender also had a few off meets, but overall she scored very well and will likely look to improve this season.

Floor - Can they Survive without Kytra?

Although Hunter was absolutely amazing on floor for the Gators (who would not miss that double layout or the open double back?!) the Gators have some good talent on the team to succeed on this event even without her this year. Still, there are some question marks on spots in this lineup, mainly because the Gators lost not just Hunter, but also Spicer and Wang. Given this, floor is probably the event that the team is most concerned about going into this season.

Leading the team will be Baker, who soared up in the national rankings last year to tie for 8th for the season, with a 9.935 RQS. Baker is super powerful on this event - she performs a piked double arabian that is so open it's nearly laid out. Check out Baker's floor routine from last season below:



Another powerful tumbler that we hope will make her debut on floor for the Gators is Boren. We saw her showcase her full-in at the Intrasquad last month, and she will hopefully be able to put up some of the highest scores for the team on this event.

Veterans Sloan and Caquatto will almost certainly be part of the picture. Although Sloan could not compete floor for much of last year due to injury, she is without a doubt one of Florida's strongest on the event. Caquatto, though she had a few errors here and there last season, tended to score very highly (including a 9.9 at Super Six).

Boyce may or may not be part of the lineup depending on her injury status, but she'll be in there assuming she's healthy. Even so, there is at least one open spot in the lineup that needs to be filled. Fassbender could compete for a spot since she was used a few times last year, though her scores were on the lower side. It's also possible that one of the other freshmen - Cheney or Ashley Hiller - will compete on this event. Fellow freshmen Ernst and Lacy Dagen cannot compete due to injury.

Counting down to Competition...

You can check out how the Florida Gators perform in their first meet of the season this Friday against TWU. You can watch the meet LIVE on FloGymnastics at 7:00pm CST. Be sure to sign up for a FloPRO account to gain access to all content.


Related:
Florida Orange and Blue Intrasquad Highlights
2016 FloGymnastics Live Event Schedule
2015-2016 Incoming Freshmen: Florida
SEC Senior Saturday: Florida's Bridget Sloan
BTR: Bridget Sloan - The Untold Story (PRO)
BTR: Florida Gators - Scooters, Sparkle & Sloan! (PRO)
BTR: How Florida Did the Unthinkable (PRO)
BTR: Texas Dreams - Peyton Ernst - Breaking Through (PRO)
Peyton Ernst Takes the NCAA Salute to a New Level