Florida gymnastics continues cruise through turbulent 2021 season with win at Arkansas
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It is strange to think that the Florida Gators of the beam and floor are hitting their stride for the middle of the season when it is only January, but with a shorter 2021 season due to COVID, it’s essentially true.
And despite January still having a week to go, the Gators are in midseason form.
No. 1 Florida headed to No. 8 Arkansas last Friday for a top-10 matchup against a rising program in the SEC and came away with the win, 197.425-197.25. Although the final score was a bit tighter than may have been anticipated the Razorbacks held close with the Gators in score for the whole meet in the end, the Gators came away with the W in perhaps their toughest test to date.
Denied last year’s title chase, Florida gymnastics enters 2021 with championship dreams
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One long national nightmare is over, anyway.
This Friday, the Florida Gators team is in Auburn, set to open a season that, thanks to COVID-19, is abbreviated, with teams only competing within the SEC to reduce travel. One thing will be familiar, at least in a sense: For the first time during Jenny Rowland’s tenure as head coach, the Gators start the season ranked No. 1, just edging out the Oklahoma Sooners, where they perched to finish last year’s COVID-shortened season.
The rest is going to be strange. Each of the SEC’s squads will compete in eight dual meets over 10 weeks, with two bye weeks with not all of the SEC fielding gymnastics programs, this means some teams will double up, and Florida will compete against Auburn twice, once away and once at home. This is in contrast to a normal regular season, which would see the Gators compete in around 12 meets and likel