It’s a victory! In a turn of events, No. 5 in the nation, the Florida Gators, came out with a victory over No. 1 in the nation, the Oklahoma Sooners. The meet was a nail biter, and so far, the most memorable meet of the year in the college gymnastics world.
One individual that stood out on the Florida Gators, was Alex McCmurtry. The senior out of Virginia, was able to achieve two perfect 10.0 scores, taking the first-place title on beam and on vault. Her beam score for this meet was able to complete her “Gym Slam”, as she now is joining a former gymnast of the Gators, Bridget Sloan, as another gymnast to earn a perfect 10 on each event.
Another individual that stood out within the meet was Maggie Nichols (whom also earned a gym slam last year). The sophomore out of Minnesota, took the all-around win with a total of 39.775, and the uneven bar win with a 9.975.
At the beginning of the meet, the Gators trailed by 0.025 after the first rotation and OU pushed ahead, leading by a tenth after the second rotation. After a new school balance beam record for the Florida Gators, the two teams were tied going into the final event rotation.
In the final rotation, Oklahoma had finished all their beam routines and Florida needed at least a 9.9 from their last competing gymnast, freshman Alyssa Baumann, to tie up the score for the meet. Fortunately for the Gators, Baumann landed all her passes and was able to get a 9.925, leading the Florida Gators to take victory over the Sooners. After flashing the final floor score, the Gators jumped up and down in the middle of the floor waving to the crowd and doing the famous “gator chomp”.
I personally got to see Baumann’s floor routine, and although she made all her passes, I did not think she deserved a 9,925. Some of her landings were sloppy, causing her feet to move a lot. Additionally, on most of her passes, she ended with her chest down (you’re supposed to end with your chest up). With all the little mistakes that I saw in her routine, I think that she should’ve gotten a 9.7 or a 9.775, which would’ve caused the gators to lose the meet. I think the judges were very biased when judging her floor routine, they wanted the Gators to win, so they gave her the score she needed. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Oklahoma is very overrated due to the fact that they always win. It’s definitely nice to see when other teams beat OU, but in this case, Florida should not have won the meet. For those of you that saw the meet, what did you think of it?