3 NCAA Championships ● 10 SEC Championships ● 8 with 19 NCAA Individual Titles MEET INFORMATION MEET 3 Gainesville, Fla.. Date: Friday, Jan. 26 / 6:45 p.m. ET No. 5 Florida Gators No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners Site: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. Head Coach: Jenny Rowland Head Coach: K.J. Kindler O’Connell Center (9,166) Career (3rd season): 31-6 Career (18tht season): 376-79-4 Television: Taped delay on SEC Network at At UF: same At OU (12th season): 317-51-3 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 26 Video: WatchESPN 2018: 2-1 / 1-1 SEC 2018: 3-0 / 1-0 Big 12 Live Stats: FloridaGators.com 2017 NCAA Finish: 3rd 2017 NCAA Finish: 1st Tickets: General admission - $5. Children 12 & under and UF Students with What’s Happening? Gator1 admitted free. Contact UF Ticket It’s No. 1 Oklahoma versus No. 5 Florida – bringing the nation’s top dual of the weekend to The Exactech Arena Office at 352-375-4683 for more at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for the second time in this young season. Oklahoma is the second team to information bring the No. 1 ranking to O’Connell Center in 2018, as then No. 7 Florida was nipped 197.25 – 197.125 by then Series Record UF leads 13-7-1 (last meeting: UF was No. 1 LSU for the Jan. 12 home opener. Friday’s meet between the winners of the last five NCAA titles (Florida (all-time): third in 2017 NCAA Super Six team final 2013, 2014, 2015; Oklahoma 2014, 2016, 2017) airs tape-delayed Friday on the SEC Network at 10 p.m., (SEC Championships (197.70) and OU anchoring a Friday Night Heights triple-header of action. Olympic medalists Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson won (198.3875) Clarke call Friday’s action. Promotions: Alumni Night - Help the Gators welcome home Gators Gymnastics Alumni and This will be the fifth time Florida has faced multiple No. 1 teams in regular season action. 2018 is the first time the cheer on some of your favorite Gators regular-season meetings versus No. 1 came in January. This is third consecutive meet for Florida versus a team Gymnastics from over the years! Arrive ranked in the nation’s top six (Jan. 12 – vs No. LSU; Jan. 19 – at No. T-6 Kentucky). early for a special pre-meet recognition with these Gator Greats!; Socks In a meeting between the two teams tied for No. 6 in the Road to Nationals rankings, Florida took a 196.325 – Giveaway – 1,000 Pairs of Gators 195.95 win at Kentucky in front of a Memorial Coliseum crowd of 5,549 on Jan. 19. The Gators trailed by 0.15 after the opening rotation but owned more than a point lead at the midway point. That lead narrowed to a point Gymnastics socks - just like the team after the third rotation. The final rotation was a bit uncomfortable as the Gators had a fall at the beginning and end wears!; Student Giveaway - UF students of the beam lineup, but the Wildcats could not close the gap. Florida’s two Rachels claimed the first two event can arrive early to sit in the lower level titles. Sophomore Rachel Gowey used a 9.825 to win her first collegiate uneven bars title. Then senior All- student section and receive orange and American Rachel Slocum used the Gators’ season-high of 9.925 to claim a share of her first vault title of 2018. blue glow bracelets to wear during intros. Gowey collected her second event win of the evening, sharing the beam title at 9.90. GATOR SOCIAL The Gators were third in 2017 NCAA Super Six competition, won the NCAA Gainesville Regional and was runner- Florida Gators Gymnastics up to LSU in both Southeastern Conference regular-season and championship action. McMurtry won the NCAA Florida Gators all-around with a NCAA semifinal record of 39.8125 and was among a six-way tie for the uneven bars title. McMurtry received several awards, including the Honda Award (awarded to top collegiate gymnast), SEC @GatorsGym Gymnast and SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of Year. She is the first Gator to receive the NCAA Elite 90 award, @FloridaGators given to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average at each of the 90 NCAA Championship sites. @JennyRowlandUF Oklahoma opened 2018 action with two meets in the span of a week, with both winning totals ranking among the gatorsgym season’s best. The Sooners equaled the nation’s top total of this young season, 197.55, to win its opener at floridagators Georgia on Jan. 15. Then on Sunday, the Sooners posted the nation’s No. 3 total of 197.525 to win a home triangular versus Iowa State and Texas Woman’s University. Half of the gymnasts who shared the 2017 NCAA uneven bars title will be competing Friday, as Florida’s Alex McMurtry tied with Oklahoma’s Nicole Lehrmann and Maggie Nichols. Friday’s meet also features four who turned in 10.0 marks in 2017 competition – Florida’s Florida Communications Contact: Kennedy Baker (floor) and McMurtry (vault, bars) and Oklahoma’s Lehrmann (bars) and Nichols (vault, bars, Mary Howard beam, floor). Phone: 352-375-4683 x6100 Email: [email protected] Of the 12 teams at the 2017 NCAA Championships final site, only Florida returns all 24 routines competed. Bolstering Florida’s lineup options in 2018 is the addition of four freshmen. Three bring experience from the U.S. national team program. This trio brings the number of gymnasts with all-around potential on 2018 Gator roster to eight. Alyssa Baumann was part of the U.S.’s gold-medal team at the 2014 World Championships. She qualified DID YOU KNOW for the 2016 Olympic Trials, but an elbow injury while preparing for the Trials led Baumann to defer enrolling at This is the 70th time Florida has faced a defending NCAA UF until fall 2017 as she recovered. Megan Skaggs joined current Gator sophomores Rachel Gowey and champion. The Gators are 13-55-1 versus a defending Hundley on the 2015 Pan America Games gold-medal team. Jazmyn Foberg graduated high school in three years, allowing her enroll at UF in fall of 2017. Foberg is a two-time member of the U.S. Junior National Team, national champion, including 3-5 since 2010. representing the U.S. in Italy and Japan in 2015. Nicole Webb trained at the same club, Sonshine Gymnastics, as senior Rachel Slocum. Webb was second on beam and fifth on floor at the 2017 North Carolina Level 10 State Championships. This class ranks No. 1 on the 2018 CollegeGymFans.com Top Recruiting Classes list. In the last nine years, Florida’s recruiting classes have ranked No. 1 six times and No. 2 twice. MEET COACH ROWLAND 2018 GATOR GYMNASTICS ROSTER Jenny Rowland, one of the nation’s rising coaching talents, is in her third season as NAME EVTS HT CL HOMETOWN (CLUB) University of Florida’s head gymnastics Sierra Alexander V, FX 5-7 SO Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (West Broward Gymnastics Academy) coach. Rowland is the seventh head coach Kennedy Baker AA 5-0 SR Dallas, Texas (Texas Dreams) for the Gator program, which is in its 46th Alyssa Baumann AA 5-1 FR Dallas, Texas (WOGA) season in 2018. Alicia Boren AA 4-11 JR Franklin Lakes, N.J. (North Stars Gymnastics Academy) Maegan Chant AA 5-3 SO Waterdown, Ontario (World Class Gymnastics) Amanda Cheney V, BB 5-5 JR Orlando, Fla. (Orlando Metro) She shared the 2016 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Jazmyn Foberg AA 5-2 FR Bayville, N.J. (MG Elite) Year honor with Arkansas’ Mark Cook. She joins volleyball’s Rachel Gowey AA 5-1 SO Urbandale, Iowa (Chow’s Gymnastics) Mary Wise (1991) as a Gator coach who claimed SEC Coach of Amelia Hundley AA 5-5 SO Hamilton, Ohio (Cincinnati Gymnastics) the Year honors in their first season at UF. Grace McLaughlin BB, FX 5-2 SR Allen, Texas (WOGA) Alex McMurtry AA 5-3 SR Midlothian, Va. (Richmond Olympiad Club) Rowland’s experiences from the sport’s highest level are the Megan Skaggs AA 5-3 FR Marietta, Ga. (Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta) same as many current Gators. She is a former U.S. National Rachel Slocum V, FX 5-3 SR Holly Springs, N.C. (Sonshine NC/Eastern Michigan) Team member, a collegiate All-American and was named a Nicole Webb UB, BB, FX 5-2 FR Morrisville, N.C. (Sonshine NC) 2015 National Collegiate Assistant of the Year. Staff: Pronunciation Guide: Rowland is a Category 3 International Brevet level judge. She Head Coach: Jenny Rowland Sierra Alexander – see-er-uh served on the judging panel for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 U.S. Assistant Coaches: Adrian Burde & Owen Field Alyssa Baumann – Bow-man Olympic Trials. Volunteer Coach: Jeremy Miranda Alicia Boren – uh-LEE-sh uh Bore-en Student Coach: Vanasia Bradley Vanasia Bradley - vuh-NAY-suh Rowland’s Coaching Career: Assistant to the Head Coach: Brittany Arlington Amanda Cheney – Chain-ee Managers: Tory Cohen & Casey McLaughlin Jazmyn Foberg – FOE-berg At Florida: Athletic Trainer: Kelly Fleming Amelia Hundley – Hund-lee Florida reached the NCAA Super Six team final in each of Student Athletic Trainer: Kim Dang Grace McLaughlin – Mick lawf-luhn Rowland’s first two seasons with the Gators, taking fourth in Alex McMurtry – Mick Murr-Tree 2016 and third in 2017. Rowland was named the 2016 Rachel Slocum – sloh-kuh m Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year after the Gators won that season’s team title.