GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? The 22nd-ranked Kentucky gymnastics team put on its best show of the season and shattered its previous season high, but fell to top-ranked Florida 197.875-194.800 on Friday night at the Stephen C. O?Connell Center.
While UK was good on all four events, the Gators were great, posting the third-highest score in school history, including a school-record 49.700 on the uneven bars. The Wildcats registered a season-best 48.875 on bars in the meet while bettering their overall season best by nearly half a point.
?We keep improving and keep improving and that?s all you can ask,? Kentucky head coach Mo Mitchell said. ?We?re just a couple of mistakes away from posting a really big score and I think we?re ready to get there.?
Florida took an early lead in the first rotation with a 49.150 on vault to UK?s bars score. Krystle Cook led the Wildcats with a 9.9, her second in three weeks, while Emilie Rymer dropped a career-high 9.825.
Rymer scored 9.8 or better in three of four events on the night. All-around winner Ashley Reed won the event with a 9.95. She scored 9.85 or better on all four events and 9.925 or better on three.
From there, the Gators turned it up a notch and had just a single score below 9.85 ? and it was 9.825. On bars and floor, UF was nearly flawless, with five gymnasts scoring at least 9.9 on each event, including Melanie Sinclair?s perfect 10 on bars.
In the second rotation, the Gators continued to build on their lead with the school record bars result, aided by Sinclair?s perfection. Meanwhile, senior Lucy Burgin set a career high on the vault with a 9.875 to lead UK?s 48.800 team score. She finished second overall on vault in the meet.
Freshman Hillary Ferguson paced Kentucky in the third rotation on floor with a career best 9.875. She was followed closely by Cook (9.85) and Emily Green (9.825) as the Wildcats posted a 48.600. In the rotation, Corey Hartung?s 9.95 led Florida to a 49.425 beam score.
In the final rotation, Florida?s final five performers went 9.9 or better as the Gators hung a 49.600 on the floor, the third best mark in school history. On beam, Heather Hite?s 9.85 and Rymer?s 9.8 carried UK to a 48.525, its second best beam score of the year.
Ferguson led Kentucky?s four all-around competitors with a 38.825 overall. Fellow freshmen Rymer and Green tallied a 38.800 and 38.750, respectively, while Cook scored 38.750 in the meet.
?I think you ask a lot of freshmen to step in right away and compete in the all-around,? Mitchell said. ?But, we start the second half of the season next week and they?re not freshmen anymore. They?re all beginning to perform they way they?re capable of and I think we?re close to getting that 196. I think it can happen next week on senior night.?
Kentucky wraps up SEC action next Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Arkansas for senior night at Memorial Coliseum. The meet will be televised by FSN.
