No. 10 Kentucky Gymnastics narrowly falls to No. 2 Florida
No. 10 Kentucky Gymnastics gained its second loss of the season against No. 2 ranked Florida on Friday night at Memorial Coliseum.
It was a close matchup between the two top-ranked teams, separated by just tenths of a point with Florida taking the meet by a final score of 197.575-197.350. The Gators continued its unbeaten streak and clinched a portion of the SEC title for the fourth year in a row.
The No. 10 ranked ‘Cats led early on thanks to a strong start on vault, with all gymnasts scoring a 9.800 or above. Kentucky was led on vault by Arianna Patterson’s 9.950, her career best and the highest of the meet. After the first rotation, UK held a slight lead, 49.450-49.150.
On the bars, Kentucky excelled for a second week in a row, with all athletes again scoring a 9.800 or above. Raena Worley and Shalyn Luksik shared top honor on bars, both scoring a 9.925. Four Wildcats scored above a 9.875 on bars, proving Kentucky to be national force on the event.
The ‘Cats continued to hold the lead after the second rotation, 98.850-98.675. But Florida wasn’t out it by any means. The Gators had a particularly good showing on floor, with senior Trinity Thomas scoring a perfect 10.000, her second of the season in that event.
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Florida led after the third rotation 148.025-147.975.
The final showdown between the two teams was close, with Florida on beam and Kentucky on floor. Both teams had a positive showing on each event.
Florida had three athletes score above 9.900 on beam, with Thomas scoring a near-perfect 9.975. Despite besting UF on floor by .025, the ‘Cats struggled to bridge the deficit and finished with a 197.350.
Kentucky took two of the individual honors of the evening with vault going to Arianna Patterson (9.950) and bars a co-title between Raena Worley (9.925) and Shalyn Luksik (9.925). Trinity Thomas took the floor title with her rare perfect 10.000. She also took the All-Around title, edging out Worley 39.700-39.625.
The Wildcats will be back in action this Friday on the road against No. 6 Auburn. The schedule doesn’t slow down from there, either. Kentucky will battle No. 8 LSU on the road before returning to Memorial Coliseum for a showdown against No. 15 Michigan State. All events will be streamed live on the SEC Network or SEC Network+.
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