At the SEC Championships two weeks ago in Huntsville, it was almost like deja vu for some Gator fans. It’s never the same event, but at the last two SEC tournaments, Florida has had problems, tripping just before reaching the finish line that would earn it the first conference trophy since 2016. 2018 and 2019 both saw problems on floor, and 2019 also had some vault trouble, but in 2021, bars proved to be the troublesome event for the Gators. The team essentially counted a fall on the event when both Savannah Schoenherr and Alyssa Baumann lost momentum after their Jaeger releases, and it was clear the pressure was getting to some of the team, as the Gators had to hit five in a row after Payton Richards fell in the leadoff slot on beam. Florida ended up third to winner Alabama and runner-up LSU, though luckily it maintained its No. 1 ranking nationally and still had four athletes named to the All-SEC team.
Despite the relatively small impact this meet had on the statistics and awards, lots of Gator fans are still concerned. Could this be a repeat of 2019? Could Florida crash and burn in postseason and come up short again, even after such an incredible season?
The short answer? Yes. It’s gymnastics, anything is possible. Nothing matters except what you do on the day of. There is no safety net, no substitute, no timeout.
The long answer? I don’t think so. This team has endured far more this season than in any previous year. COVID-19 protocols have completely changed the way and times they practice, travel, and compete, and that’s not to mention how far these Gators have had to reach into their depth to continue to field full lineups all season and how quickly they’ve had to adjust to those subsequent lineup changes. This team has been stretched to its limits and remained resilient, and this is just the latest in that string of tests it must face in order to earn its place at the top once more.
But as we saw with SECs, the road to the top is not easy, and regionals will bring more of the same challenges. The Gators will have two back-to-back nights of competition ahead of them to qualify to nationals, and the competition is stiff.
Since the format changed just a few years ago, let’s do a little refresher course on how Regional Championships work in gymnastics. Regionals weekend will feature three rounds of competition with nine teams at each site. Round 1 won’t involve the Gators, as it is a dual meet between the two lowest-ranked teams at the site to determine who will compete in the regional semifinals – this meet is called a play-in. The second round consists of two quad meets, with four seeded teams in the 1-16 range and four unseeded teams distributed “geographically” according to the NCAA in the 17-36 range. Only the winner of the play-in will move to the regional semifinal, rounding out the eight teams in semifinals. The top two from each semi will then compete in the regional final on the following day, and the top two from that meet will advance to nationals.
Thanks to its absence from SECs, Georgia had no chance to move into the seeded 1-16 rankings, so the Gymdogs will play a dangerous underdog host to the four seeded teams coming to it. The Athens regional will feature a play-in between N.C. State and Western Michigan – a travesty in and of itself, as N.C. State should have been ranked high enough to escape a play-in, but because of the NCAA’s strange definition of “geographic” distribution, the Wolfpack got shafted. The winner of that meet will go on to compete against Florida, Illinois, and Central Michigan in the second semifinal, while the first semifinal will consist of Minnesota, Denver, Georgia, and Oregon State.
Overall, the Gators should be fairly safe to advance to the regional final. Illinois is the strongest challenger in the group, and though they had a solid meet at Big 10 Championships, the Illini are only ranked No. 16 in the nation and their average meet score is more than a full point below Florida’s. However, the first semifinal is far more competitive. All four teams in that semifinal have qualified to nationals before, and though Minnesota and Denver are certainly the favorites to advance, Georgia’s high score of the season is very competitive with an average score from both teams. Oregon State is far less likely to qualify (and therefore far less likely to give Florida deja vu in the worst way possible), but crazier things have happened.
Regional finals is where things might get hairy. Assuming Illinois and Florida qualify from their semi, they could face any two of Minnesota, Denver, and Georgia, all of whom have scores this season that can compete with a normal Florida score. They don’t have to be perfect – top two qualify, so they don’t even have to win – but the Gators cannot have another night like Huntsville.
Minnesota and Denver are almost equally strong challengers. Both are coming off of upset wins at their conference championships, and both have strong all-arounders that can challenge Florida’s Trinity Thomas even when she’s fully healthy. Lexy Ramler at Minnesota and Lynnzee Brown at Denver are both ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around, a mere 0.02 behind Thomas. If you don’t know their names, it might just be because you’re only watching SEC gymnastics – both are absolute superstars for their teams, and both are up for the AAI Award, the top award in NCAA gymnastics.
Additionally, if you take those three gymnasts out of the equation, each of the three teams in question have similar numbers of gymnasts ranked in the Top 30 of each event. On vault, Minnesota and Florida are even with two apiece; Florida has two on bars while Minnesota and Denver each have one; and floor is even at two from both Florida and Minnesota as well. The only exception is beam, where Florida has four aside from Thomas (Lazzari, Clapper, Skaggs, and Baumann) while Minnesota (Korlin-Downs) and Denver (Vasquez) each only have one aside from their top all-arounders.
All this to say, beam should give Florida the edge. It has all season, and it’s what stopped the bleeding at SECs, so it could be the Gators’ greatest asset going into Saturday night. However, without Thomas in the picture, it could be very tricky to fill out all the lineups with dependable and high-scoring routines. Vault and floor both significantly suffer without her usual 9.9+ scores, and her bars and beam replacements aren’t holding up to her typical consistency and confidence, as we saw at SECs. Having Thomas at full health and the beam squad firing on all cylinders will likely be the two keys to a qualifying performance. At press on Tuesday, Rowland was unsure about Thomas’s AA readiness for Regionals, but does believe she’ll be in the bar lineup and seemed to hope for more.
The last key to the Gators’ success at regionals will be their mindset. Juniors Leah Clapper and Nya Reed both used words like “complacent” and “going through the motions” to describe their team’s attitudes in the practices leading up to SEC Championships. Their energy was low, they said – “we weren’t hungry for it,” Reed said. But since the team returned from Huntsville, things have changed. Reed recounted the first practice back, saying, “We came back and had a big discussion of what really happened and how we can move forward from that.” Clapper added, “Everyone had a chance to say what they want to do differently and what they think they can do better… It was an opportunity for us to look in the mirror and take an honest look at ourselves.”
One of Rowland’s big buzzwords this season has been “ownership” – as in, each individual athlete taking ownership of her gymnastics and her ability to step up and raise her hand to the judges. She said of the same conversation, “I always open it up and present the opportunity for the team to say what they have to say. It’s about taking ownership and stepping up for themselves and for each other. It was great to see each of them speak from the heart and share their goals and dreams for this team.”
SECs taught them many lessons. Reflecting on the energy in the corral during SECs, Reed said, “After bars, our mindset became ‘can we win?’ when it should have been ‘we need to push.’” It’s clear that the Gators are pushing now – all three of them emphasized how different the energy has been in the gym this week and how well the team has responded to this setback. “SECs was a wakeup call,” Reed said. “Nothing is going to be given to you. What matters is when you raise your hand, can you do it or can you not?” That attitude has already gotten the Gators quite far this season – if they continue it into Regionals, they should be unstoppable.
All regional meets this year are being broadcast on ESPN3, so make sure to tune in at 7pm ET on Friday and Saturday night to catch Gator Gymnastics in action. If you can’t make it, we’ll be covering both nights of competition right here on ChompTalk, so make sure you keep an eye out!
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