Kentucky Gymnastics Releases 2020 Home Slate
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following one of the most successful seasons in school history, Kentucky gymnastics announced its return to competition with a five-meet home slate scheduled for the 2020 regular season.
The Wildcats, who finished last April as the ninth-ranked team in America, are set to open with their annual Excite Night meet at Rupp Arena on Jan. 10. This year’s installment will feature Southeastern Conference foe Missouri, who ended last season ranked 17th. Kentucky’s last meeting with the Tigers was in the second round of the NCAA Athens Regional, where the Cats (196.850) and host Georgia (197.300) ended the 2019 campaigns of Missouri (196.625) and Iowa State (196.250).
Last year’s record Excite Night crowd of 12,472 set the tone for Kentucky to surpass the total home attendance threshold of 30,000 for the second consecutive season.
On Jan. 17, the Cats will christen Memorial Coliseum with its first quad meet since 2017 alongside North Carolina, NC State and Lindenwood. Kentucky holds an edge in each of the three all-time head-to-head series and defeated Lindenwood 195.100-192.525 in a Jan. 13 quad meet at Illinois last season.
Jan. 31 marks Kentucky’s yearly matchup with the Florida Gators, winners of last season’s SEC regular season title. Florida ultimately finished behind Kentucky at No. 10 in Road to Nationals’ final standings, though the Gators claimed a victory in both of the teams’ meetings away from Lexington.
The Cats will host the Georgia Bulldogs on Feb. 21 after a season-high four head-to-head battles in 2019. Kentucky never triumphed over the nation’s eventual eighth-ranked unit despite posting the best team score in program history (197.600) at the NCAA Athens Regional Final last April.
Kentucky is set to conclude its 2020 home schedule versus Illinois on March 6. UK has never lost in the Illini’s seven trips to Lexington, controlling the all-time series 6-5-1. In Kentucky’s first ever visit to Champaign, Illinois, last January, the host team emerged on top by a final score of 195.175-195.100.
For the latest on the Kentucky gymnastics team, follow @UKGymnastics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
