Florida Gators Win SEC Gymnastics Meet

In a meet which featured at least three Olympic gymnasts: British national Marissa King (pictured bottom) and American Bridget Sloan (pictured top) of Florida and Canadian Brittany Rogers of Georgia, the Florida Gators prevailed at the SEC Conference Championships in North Little Rock, Ark., last weekend.

The Gators won its ninth SEC title and a second consecutive title as the team prepares to host regionals. Florida, also the nation's number one team, has had a history of disappointing and agonizingly close second place finishes at nationals, making them arguably the most successful women's gymnastics program to never win a NCAA title.

But, Sloan, who tied LSU gymnast Rheagan Courville for first-place in the all-around with a 39.725, helped the Gators edge out two-time defending national champion Alabama (197.8), LSU (197.7) and Georgia (197.325).

The Gators started off awkwardly on vault in the eight-team meet, but the team recouped thanks to strong scores from Sloan, King and Mackenzie Caquatto. The momentum continued as Sloan won balance beam with a 9.925.

The floor event in the last rotation sealed the victory for Florida with powerful routines from Sloan, Kytra Hunter, Randy Stageberg and Kierstan Wang.

Only four schools have ever won titles in NCAA women's gymnastics: Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Utah though several teams besides Florida have come close, including Oklahoma, Nebraska and Michigan.

The Florida Gators mascots (pictured middle) are named Albert and Alberta.