● ● GAINESVILLE, FLA. Date: Friday, Jan. 10 / 6:45 p.m. ET Preseason No. 3 Florida Gators Preseason No. 19 Arkansas Site: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. Head Coach: Jenny Rowland Head Coach: Jordyn Wieber O’Connell Center (9,166) Career (5th season): 55-12 Career (1st season): 0-0 Television: None At UF: same At UA: same Video: SEC Network + Live Stats: FloridaGators.com 2019: 13-3 / 6-1 SEC 2019: 1-7 / 0-7 SEC Tickets: Reserved - $8; General admission - $5 / children 12 & under $1 UF Students with Gator1 admitted free. What’s Happening? Contact UF Ticket Office at 352-375-4683 2020 Gator gymnastics action begins Friday with a home meet versus No. 19 Arkansas. This is the first of for more information nine consecutive meets versus teams ranked in the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Series History UF leads 43-3. Last meeting: UF was preseason top 25. (all-time): second in 2019 SEC Championships (197.75) and Arkansas was fifth (196.475). This is the 17th time since the Southeastern Conference began sponsoring gymnastics for the 1981 Promotions: Pop-Sockets: First 2,000 fans receive a season (and second consecutive) the Gators open home action versus a league opponent. This is the first 2019 SEC champions pop-socket time UF opens a season with Arkansas and it is the third time UF opens SEC action versus the Razorbacks (2003, 2010). Florida opens 2020 with the same team it faced in the finale of 2019 regular-season league action. The Florida Gators Gymnastics Gators met Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 1. The 197.225-196.35 win gave Florida sole Florida Gators possession of the 2019 SEC regular-season team title with a 6-1 record. Later that month at the SEC @GatorsGym Championships in New Orleans, Florida took second (197.75) and Arkansas placed fifth (196.475). @FloridaGators @JennyRowlandUF Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland begins her fifth season with the Gators in 2020. In her first four seasons, the Gators won the 2016 Southeastern Conference Championships and the 2019 SEC regular- gatorsgym season titles. The team reached the NCAA team final in her first three season, finishing fourth (2016) and floridagators third (2017 & 2018). Eleven Gators collected 40 All-America honors in NCAA competition in the last four years, including winning seven NCAA event titles (Bridget Sloan: 2016 all-around, uneven bars, balance beam; Alex McMurtry: 2017 all-around, uneven bars; 2018 vault; Alicia Boren: 2019 floor exercise). Florida Communications Contact: Friday’s meet opens the head coaching career of Arkansas’ Jordyn Wieber. A member of the U.S.’s gold Mary Howard medal team at the 2012 Olympics and 2011 World all-around champion, Wieber served as team manager Phone: 352-375-4683 x6100 at UCLA for three seasons and was the Bruins volunteer coach the last three seasons. The Bruins Email: [email protected] advanced to the NCAA team final each of the last four seasons, winning the 2018 NCAA Championship. She replaced Mark Cook, who led the Razorbacks from the program’s first season in 2003 until his retirement at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Florida’s Top 12 Season Opening Scores The Gators missed advancing to the 2019 NCAA Championships after taking third in the NCAA Corvallis Date UF Score Meet Site Regional final. It was the second time in the NCAA Championships’ 38-year history Florida didn’t advance 1/11/19 197.300 Missouri H to the NCAA Championships. Four Gators advanced as individual competitors to the 2019 NCAA 1/11/08 197.125 Illinois-Chicago H Championships, with Boren and then freshmen Savannah Schoenherr and Trinity Thomas earning All- 1/8/17 197.100 North Carolina State A America honors. Boren claimed a share of the NCAA floor title, becoming the third Gator to win the floor 1/11/15 196.925 Ball State A crown. 1/7/11 196.925 Nebraska H 1/8/16 196.825 Texas Woman’s U A Florida returns six with 17 All-America honors - Alyssa Baumann, Rachel Gowey, Amelia Hundley, 1/11/14 196.650 UCLA A Savannah Schoenherr, Megan Skaggs and Trinity Thomas. Twenty Gators routines return from the 1/4/13 196.575 Ball State H 2019 NCAA Regional final. 1/11/03 196.575 Super Six Challenge A 1/5/07 196.550 Super Six Challenge A For the third time in the program’s 48-year history, just one freshman joins the Gator roster for the 2020 1/9/09 196.500 Oklahoma H season (also one freshman in 1984 and 1990). Payton Richards of Mokena, Ill., shared the 2017 Junior 1/6/12 196.025 NC State A Olympic Level 10 Senior A beam title and was runner-up in all-around and bars. She recorded three top- four individual finishes in 2018 JO Senior D competition - floor exercise (tied for third), all-around (4th) and uneven bars (T4th). The Gators join many other collegiate gymnastics teams across the nation in wearing yellow ribbons to honor Melanie Coleman. After suffering spinal injuries following an uneven bars training fall, the Southern Connecticut State junior died on Nov. 10, 2019. 2020 GATOR GYMNASTICS ROSTER Jenny Rowland, one of the nation’s rising coaching talents, is in her fifth season as NAME EVTS HT CL HOMETOWN (CLUB) University of Florida’s head gymnastics coach. Sierra Alexander V, FX 5-7 SR Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (West Broward Rowland is the seventh head coach for the Gymnastics Academy) Gator program, which is in its 48th season in Alyssa Baumann AA 5-1 JR Dallas, Texas (WOGA) 2020. Maegan Chant AA 5-3 SR Waterdown, Ontario (World Class Gymnastics) Leah Clapper AA 4-11 SO Ann Arbor, Mich. (Gym America) She shared the 2016 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year Jazmyn Foberg AA 5-2 JR Bayville, N.J. (MG Elite) honor with Arkansas’ Mark Cook. She joins volleyball’s Mary Wise Rachel Gowey AA 5-1 SR Urbandale, Iowa (Chow’s Gymnastics) (1991) as a Gator coach who claimed SEC Coach of the Year Amelia Hundley AA 5-5 SR Hamilton, Ohio (Cincinnati Gymnastics) honors in their first season at UF. Sydney Johnson-Scharpf V, BB, 4-11 SO Clermont, Fla. (Brandy Johnson's Global FX Gymnastics) Nya Reed AA 5-3 SO Landover, Md. (Capital Gymnastics NTC) Rowland’s experiences from the sport’s highest level are the same Payton Richards AA 5-1 FR Mokena, Ill. (Aerials Gymnastics) as many current Gators. She is a former U.S. National Team Savannah Schoenherr AA 5-3 SO Columbus, Ga. (Oconee Gymnastics member, a collegiate All-American and was named a 2015 National Center) Collegiate Assistant of the Year. Megan Skaggs AA 5-3 JR Marietta, Ga. (Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta) Rowland is a Category 3 International Brevet level judge. She Halley Taylor AA 5-2 SO Tampa, Fla. (LaFleur’s Gymnastics Tampa) served on the judging panel for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 U.S. Trinity Thomas AA 5-3 SO York, Pa. (Prestige Gymnastics) Olympic Trials. Staff: Pronunciation Guide: In the fall of 2019, Rowland was appointed to the NCAA Women's Head Coach: Jenny Rowland Sierra Alexander – see-er-uh Gymnastics Committee. Her term runs through the 2023 season. Assistant Coaches: Adrian Burde & Owen Field Alyssa Baumann – Baugh-man Volunteer Coach: Jeremy Miranda Jazmyn Foberg – FOE-berg Assistant to the Head Coach: Brittany Arlington Amelia Hundley – Hund-lee Rowland’s Coaching Career: Managers: Tory Cohen & Rachel Slocum Sydney Johnson-Scharpf - shärpf At Florida: Athletic Trainer: Janet Taylor Nya Reed – nī-uh Florida reached the NCAA Super Six team final in each of Payton Richards - Peyton Rowland’s first three seasons with the Gators, taking fourth in 2016 Savannah Schoenherr – Shane-hair and third in 2017 & 2018. Rowland was named the 2016 Halley Taylor – hAE-lee (rhymes with valley) Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year after the Gators won that season’s team title. Florida won the 2019 SEC regular-season Jenny Rowland – ROE-lund title with a 6-1 record Adrian Burde - bur-DAY Gators won NCAA individual event titles in each of the last four Returning All-Americans: Six with 17 honors seasons. Bridget Sloan won the 2016 NCAA all-around and shared Alyssa Baumann 2019 – beam; 2018 – beam, floor that season’s uneven bars and balance beam titles. Alex McMurtry Rachel Gowey 2018 bars, beam (NCAA & regular season won the 2017 NCAA all-around champion and shared that season’s uneven bars crown. She finished her career by claiming a share of Amelia Hundley 2018 bars; 2017 all-around (NCAA & regular season), bars the 2018 vault title. In 2019, Alicia Boren claimed a share of the Savannah 2019 vault NCAA floor title. The Honda Award for gymnastics went to Sloan Schoenherr (2016) and McMurtry (2017), distinguishing them as the nation’s top collegiate gymnast. McMurtry was part of a rare double in 2017 and Megan Skaggs 2019 bars 2018, claiming both the SEC Gymnast (2017)/SEC Event Specialist Trinity Thomas 2019 all-around, bars, floor (NCAA & regular season), beam (2018) and the SEC Scholar-Athlete awards. In Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) All- Returning All-SEC: Five America regular-season awards, 11 Gators earned 41 honors since Alyssa Baumann 2019 beam@, floor 2016. 2018 beam@ At Auburn: Rachel Gowey 2019 beam@ Rowland came to Florida after spending five seasons at Auburn. 2018 uneven bars017 floor She joined the Auburn coaching staff as an assistant coach in Amelia Hundley 2018 vault, uneven bars October of 2010 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2017 uneven bars March of 2013.