Focus on what’s important.
Capture the positives.
Develop from the negatives.
And always be ready to take your shot.
These signs hang from the mirror in the Gator Gymnastics practice facility – clearly, last year’s photo finish against Oklahoma is motivating this team to push even harder this season.
So much has changed since April – the loss of Trinity Thomas, Savannah Schoenherr, Leah Clapper, Rachel Baumann, and temporarily Kayla DiCello puts head coach Jenny Rowland in a tough position, needing to replace a whopping nine postseason routines that were all capable of 9.9+. Six freshmen join the team this year – former elites Skylar Draser and Gabby Disidore, L10 star Danie Ferris, underrated gems Alyssa Arana and Kaylee Bluffstone, and recent Worlds team member Anya Pilgrim should all be capable of contributing on multiple events, but will they be able to rise to such a tall order?
Well, the good news is that they won’t have to do it alone. Several upperclassmen are also returning from injury to more events or more regular contribution such that their scores will also count toward those nine “replacement” routines – namely, Ellie Lazzari and Morgan Hurd. Lazzari battled back from a devastating Achilles tear her sophomore year to compete just beam last year, but now she’s ready for her all-around comeback! She showed all four events at the Gators’ Hype Night last weekend and says she is “healthy, happy, strong… it’s been a long time coming.” Her return to the bars lineup will be a late lineup contenders, should she continue to look as good as she has this past week.
Hurd, too, has battled injury after injury since her elite days – she redshirted her freshman season to undergo her umpteenth surgery on her elbow, and last year competed a few sporadic routines, always to the delight of gym fans and Gator Nation alike. Still, her consistency and stamina weren’t there yet after so long away from competition. This year, she seems ready to go with new beam and floor routines, focused on the gaps she can fill for her team. Beam, in particular, feels like a likely 9.9+ score for her, especially with this new routine that includes a beat jump to standing layout-stepout combo and a roundoff double full dismount.
Those are your new major players to watch, but let’s not forget world champion Leanne Wong, senior leader Sloane Blakely, transfer standout Victoria Nguyen, and fifth-year senior Payton Richards leading this team with their exemplary work ethic and contagious positivity.
Now that we’ve done a little roster reminder, let’s break it down event by event to see how the Gators are stacking up so far this year.
VAULT
While Florida has had the potential for a full lineup of 10.0 starts for a few years now, it’s never actually reached that goal in the postseason, but this might finally be the year. This team has a whopping nine 10.0 SV vaults on its roster: Yurchenko 1.5s from Bluffstone, Ferris, Draser, Pilgrim, Lazzari, Blakely, Nguyen, and Richards, plus either a Yurchenko double or the Yurchenko half-on pike half off Wong has been competing the last few years. Frequent team photographer Erin Long has stitched together the best of each athlete over the last three intrasquads with athlete IDs:
Now, we can’t quite take this video as gospel. Since her clip was taken, Ferris seems to have sustained a minor injury to her wrist or hand, so she’s been out of commission at both Hype Night and Orange & Blue this past week. Additionally, Blakely, Bluffstone, Richards, and Lazzari only competed fulls at Hype Night, but all but Lazzari showed strong Y1.5s at Orange & Blue a few days later, so it seems very much a precautionary measure. Lazzari did not compete at O&B due to a bruised foot, but reports say it’s a minor thing and she was just resting.
With nine 10.0 starts to choose from, this team should have no problem choosing six as the best of the best to go up against Oklahoma, Utah, Michigan, and other teams with high-difficult vault rotations by postseason. Wong, Blakely, and Richards feel like locks based on their experience, and with Nguyen performing the way she has been this preseason, she seems likely locked as well.
With those four in place, you fill out the lineup from there with the strongest of the freshmen and Lazzari. Though Ferris will likely be working back for the first few weeks, hers is the most powerful block of the newcomers, so expect to see her come postseason. The last spot I expect will be something Rowland and Adrian Burde will decide based on consistency – who’s sticking when it counts? Lazzari’s experience may come into play in that regard, but Draser has also shown some strong landings so far in preseason.
POSTSEASON PREDICTION: Wong, Lazzari, Blakely, Ferris, Richards, Nguyen
Alts: Draser, Pilgrim, Bluffstone
BARS
Bars has been a strength for UF recently, finishing ranked No. 2 both of the last two seasons. But with both Thomas and DiCello out of the mix and Riley McCusker now injured and out for the season, this Gator team may struggle a little to replace their routines with more 9.9+ locks.
Wong, Blakely, and Nguyen are almost certainly locks to return to the lineup. Lazzari also seems like a likely choice, given that she competed bars as a freshman with a high of 9.9.
In addition to those four, we saw bars from Draser, Disidore, Arana, Pilgrim, and Richards at Hype Night and Orange & Blue, though both times, Disidore did not compete a dismount. For consistency, I can see Richards leading off the lineup in early weeks, but I would imagine that Arana and Pilgrim will both quickly outscore her once they’re comfortable competing in the O-Dome. Arana may be a walk-on, but don’t sleep on her potential here – she has the handstands and the effortless swing to score high.
Draser seems likely a good fill-in option similar to Richards, if maybe a bit cleaner, and Disidore will be hard to say until she puts the dismount together. Bars seems her strongest event, but the whole picture isn’t quite there yet.
POSTSEASON PREDICTION: Blakely, Pilgrim, Lazzari, Arana, Nguyen, Wong
Alts: Disidore, Richards, Draser
BEAM
The Gators seem poised for another strong year on beam, with Blakely, Lazzari, Nguyen, Richards, and Wong all returning 9.875+ routines from last year’s postseason. While this may not sound like the most reliable lineup, all five athletes are proving in preseason that they can be relied upon. Richards, in particular, has showed at these recent intrasquads that she’s still got it.
Assuming the five upperclassmen are locks, that leaves one spot for a newcomer, and it may not be a freshman – Hurd makes a strong case for herself with the beam routine she showed at Orange & Blue.
However, you can also also expect to see some rotation within the lineup, particularly if Richards and Nguyen have trouble reaching over 9.9, as they have on occasions in the past. Pilgrim, especially, has the grace under pressure and calm presence to hit when it counts.
Draser, Bluffstone, and Arana have also shown strong sets with different strengths – stability, guts, and elegance, respectively. Expect that each of them will see a turn in the lineup, but if anyone were to unseat a mainstay, it would likely be Draser.
POSTSEASON PREDICTION: Richards, Pilgrim, Hurd, Blakely, Lazzari, Wong
Alts: Nguyen, Draser, Arana
FLOOR
The theme of floor this year, both at Florida and around the NCAA, is two-pass routines. The code has made it easy for athletes to do them, they’re easier on the body, and they minimize landing deductions since there are inherently fewer landings… it only makes sense that most athletes would choose two passes instead of three. While many fans don’t love them, they’re here to stay until the code changes again.
That being said, the mix of tumbling the Gators are showing this year is drastically different than in recent years. Gone are most of the double layouts – Hurd, Ferris, and Richards are the only ones who remain. Nguyen and Lazzari are both opting for front double fulls, Bluffstone opens with a full-in, and Wong has switched to yet another new pass – a back 2.5 twist to front layout.
That is the extent of the E passes as far as this team goes, though. Blakely, Draser, and Pilgrim are all opting for punch front through to double tuck or double pike for their opening passes – and honestly, for Blakely, it’s probably a good call. She could certainly upgrade back to the double arabian or one of the other E passes she competed in elite, but her stamina and confidence look much higher without it.
If we consider everyone who scored a 9.9 or higher in postseason last year a lock, that makes Richards, Nguyen, and Wong the core of this lineup. Blakely also feels likely with a more consistent set of passes – no more fall risk, much less risk of going out of bounds – so let’s call her in as well.
As far as the last two slots, Bluffstone might be an unconventional choice, but I’m calling it now, she’s going to be a star on floor for this team. Though her leaps aren’t the greatest in this clip, her tumbling is solid and her energy is infectious. Team choreographer Jeremy James Miranda has given her a jam-packed routine where she’s hitting every beat, and she’s fully committed to every step – she’s not half-doing anything, she’s selling it in the practice gym just like she would in the O-Dome.
As far as slot six, it’s likely another rotating situation until Ferris gets healthy, but once she is, it’s likely hers to lose. Though we haven’t seen a full dance-through from her, her L10 hardware on the event speaks for itself, and the tumbling and dance clips we have seen are as strong as you’d expect. Until she’s ready for action, though, Lazzari and Hurd feel like good guesses, as well as Pilgrim, whose Rihanna routines pays tribute to her roots and shows off her long lines.
POSTSEASON PREDICTION: Nguyen, Bluffstone, Richards, Blakely, Wong, Ferris
Alts: Pilgrim, Lazzari, Hurd
OVERALL
As a whole, the Gators look well-equipped to shore up some of their weaker spots from last season, but it may come with less dominance in other areas. To gauge how early season is going, watch for…
- Ferris’s return (earlier is always better, but she needs to be healthy – her vault block won’t be so incredible without healed hands!)
- Lazzari’s expanded presence (starting in AA seems likely, but not longterm, but she could easily prove us wrong)
- Hurd’s confidence and consistency on her two events (no wobbles, no random switch ring half at the end of her floor routine causing last-minute deductions)
- the adjustment of the freshmen to collegiate pacing (their introduction to more events earlier, especially if they score well, will be a good sign)
- the addition of Disidore to the bar lineup (with a repeatable, stickable dismount!)
As we transition into the latter half of season, lineups should start looking less like a carousel and more consistent. By postseason, provided everyone stays healthy, it should be clear who the six are on each event, but this coaching staff has their work cut out for them! Rowland said after Hype Night about the freshmen – “I can see all of them being in a lineup spot all year long… they’re definitely pushing the envelope, pushing the upperclassmen for everybody to be the best that they can.”
Competition starts on January 12 – it’ll be here before we all know it! We are planning to have live coverage for you from opening night as well as regionals, which will be held in Gainesville this year, and liveblogs from the broadcast every other week as usual.
Be sure to follow me @mycluttereddesk and @ChompTalk on Twitter for all the latest updates on Gator Gymnastics in the meantime!
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