Florida Gymnastics: Gators peaking at right time with SEC title

The long winding season for Florida gymnastics is starting to come to an end. The lens through which the Gators are judged goes beyond their win-loss record though. So while a 12-2 regular season record was nice, Florida has its eyes set on trying to win a national title.

If their performance at the SEC championship is any indication, the Gators are peaking at the right time to make a run at the title.

Florida Gymnastics: Flying high

If a team wants to win the national title, it has to post team scores above 198, because the reality is if you don’t hit that mark then someone else will. To get there, a squad has to have superstars to go with their depth, and Trinity Thomas is as bright of a star as they come.

With an all-around score of 39.800, Thomas captured the SEC all-around championship with room to spare. It helps when she had a perfect 10 on both the uneven bars and the floor exercise.

Thomas of course wasn’t alone. Leanne Wong and Kayla Dicello both had top 6 all-around performances. Wong won the SEC title in the balance beam with a score of 9.975 and Sloane Blakely tied for first in the vault with a score of 9.950.

Overall, Florida posted a season-high team score of 198.425 to win the meet by 0.5 over second-place Alabama and by 0.625 over LSU, the only SEC team to beat Florida gymnastics during the regular season.

Oklahoma, the team ultimately waiting for Florida at the end of the road, posted a score of 198.400 at the Big 12 championships. Michigan posted 198.000 at the Big 10 championships while Utah won the Pac-12 meet with a score of 197.925.

Moral of the story? If everything goes right for Florida on April 15 the Gators can walk out as national champs. But they need to harness their performance from the SEC meet and keep it going a month from now.