A top-five matchup came right down to the wire in Gainesville last night, with Florida pulling out the home win against surging Alabama by just a tenth and a half, 197.425-197.275. Head coach Jenny Rowland summed it up best at the start of the post-meet media availability: “Welcome to the SEC.”
The conference foes’ performances mirrored one another in several ways. Both had excellent bars rotations with multiple sticks, coupled with vault rotations that saw far more bouncy landings than drills. As to why that could have been the case on the latter event, “I think it’s just the start of season,” said Florida senior Selena Harris-Miranda, who stuck her Yurchenko one and a half for a 9.925 to anchor Florida’s lineup and share the event title with star Alabama freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar. “Everyone’s trying to make changes, and everyone’s trying to be perfect,” continued Harris-Miranda. “I think everyone’s going to get better as season goes, but these are just second meet jitters, and we handled it pretty well.”
The Crimson Tide was on top by a quarter of a tenth after the second rotation. Junior Alyssa Arana anchored Florida’s beam lineup for the second week in a row. This week’s rotation saw high highs and narrow misses, including an impressive save by junior Kayla DiCello on her series. Arana wasn’t concerned with any of it, admitting that she did not really watch any of the routines before hers. “Going into the meet, I was focused on staying present and doing my normal, focus on my breathing and my key words while everyone else is going.” The focus paid off, with Arana going 9.875 to conclude the rotation. Florida then led the Crimson Tide by just one tenth…