After being close to the top for the entirety of last year's regular season, the Florida Gators finished lower than they anticipated at Super Six Finals in 4th place. The team will be looking to improve next season and stay consistent through to postseason. So far, the Gators have looked sharp in training. They recently held a Halloween Intrasquad, where we got to see a glimpse of new vaults, solid bars and beam work, and powerful tumbling. While Florida have had to say goodbye to a few of their top performers who graduated - notably Bridget Sloan and Bridgette Caquatto - they have also welcomed in four freshmen and a transfer. In addition, Claire Boyce should return after being out all last season with an injury. Check out our summary below on what we can expect from the Gators next season.

Big Upgrades on Vault

Florida relied on Kennedy Baker and Alicia Boren for their 10.0 vaults last season, while the remainder of the lineup competed Yurchenko fulls. This year, it looks like the Gators are training some additional high value vaults. In addition to Baker and Boren continuing to train the Yurchenko 1 ½, there are a few bigger vaults which could potentially make it into the lineup, including Alex McMurtry's huge Yurchenko double. Rachel Slocum, who transferred to Florida this year, seems to be training a front handspring, front pike half off, which she previously competed at Eastern Michigan.

In addition to what we saw in training, we can make some guesses about other gymnasts who will be competing for a spot in the lineup. Freshmen and former elites Amelia Hundley and Rachel Gowey, for instance, are capable of competing big vaults - we may see either a Yurchenko 1 ½ or double from both.

Gowey & Hundley: The Dynamic Duo

In addition to losing Sloan and Caquatto in the bars lineup, the Gators also had Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto graduate this past spring, a specialist on bars. The team will likely look to fill these spots with some of their star freshmen, particularly Hundley and Gowey. At the recent intrasquad, Hundley was training a Maloney to Pak Salto combination as well as a Van Leeuwen, while Gowey was training a Ricna, so we may see a lot of difficulty in their routines this year.

Gowey and Hundley also both showed some impressive work on beam during the Intrasquad. Gowey has especially high difficulty - she's currently training a back handspring, layout step-out, layout step-out. Hundley is training a back handspring, layout step-out, and also showcased a beautiful front aerial to sissone combination.

Hundley also brings her power to floor where she showed off a 2 ½ twist to punch front as well as a double layout during the intrasquad.

The Star All-Arounders

Two of Florida's star all-around competitors will be returning this year: Baker and Boren. Both gymnasts competed on every event during the Super Six final and for much of the regular season. Baker ranked #3 in the all-around last season, while Boren ranked #10, so they are huge contributors for the team overall. Both compete 10.0 vaults - the Yurchenko 1 ½ - and both can bring huge tumbling on floor. Based on the intrasquad video, Baker is continuing to train her piked double arabian on floor, while Boren appears to be training a new double layout (last season she competed a full twisting double back).

Another potential all-around competitor, at least for some competitions, is McMurtry. McMurtry has been a reliable competitor for the Gators on vault, bars and beam. She is limited in training because of back problems, but she can also compete floor from time to time, where she is capable of performing a sky-high triple full.

Having so many strong all-around competitors on one team is a big advantage for Florida, and will certainly make for an interesting lineup competition.

The Return of Claire Boyce

The Gators suffered a big loss last season when Boyce was out with a hip injury all season. She should be back this year, and she's an important contibutor on beam and floor. In her previous work on beam, she packed a lot into her routine, including a front aerial to back-handspring, and a back-handspring, layout step-out. She was the lead off performer for Florida on floor and did not score below a 9.75 during the 2015 season. She also competed bars for the first half of the 2015 season, and we got a recent glimpse of her training her double layout dismount a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how she fits back into the lineups this season.

Check out the full highlight reel from Florida's Halloween Intrasquad video below: 

Video via Gator Gymnastics

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