GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The nation’s 2025 leading total gave No. 3 Florida the win over No. 13 Georgia in front of 9,108 Friday at the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida is the nation’s first to pass the 198 mark this season, tallying a 198.125. Georgia’s total of 196.825 Friday equaled its season best for the second consecutive week.
A Gator won at least a share of each event title Friday, including sweeping the all-around standings. Junior transfer Selena Harris-Miranda won her second consecutive all-around with a season-best 39.625. Senior Sloane Blakely was close behind at 39.60 and sophomore Anya Pilgrim took third (39.55) in her 2025 all-around debut.
The vault title was claimed by Harris-Miranda with a season-high 9.95. Freshman Skye Blakely shared her first uneven bars win at 9.90 with Pilgrim and Georgia’s Ady Wahl at 9.90. Sloane Blakely won a share of her second consecutive balance beam and floor exercise titles. She tied teammates Pilgrim, graduate Victoria Nguyen and Georgia’s Brooke Gleichowski at 9.95 for the beam win. Fellow senior teammate Leanne Wong shared the floor title at 9.925 with Sloane Blakely.
TONIGHT’S MEET
The nation’s top vault total (49.55) for 2025 gave the Gators a strong start Friday. Florida’s final four vaulters all earned marks of 9.9 or better. Selena Harris-Miranda turned in a season-best 9.95 to win the event title. Both Ly Bui and Leanne Wong earned 9.925s and Sloane Blakely posted a 9.90 - all season bests.
Florida turned in a season-high 49.40 on uneven bars. Skye Blakely and Anya Pilgrim shared the meet’s event title with Georgia’s Ady Wahl at 9.90. The win was the first for Skye Blakely and Pilgrim’s third bars win as a Gator.
It was another nation’s top 2025 event total for the Gators on balance beam. All five marks put toward UF’s beam total of 49.675 were 9.9 or better. Three Gators shared the event title at 9.95 - Sloane Blakely, Victoria Nguyen and Pilgrim. That mark equaled collegiate bests for both Sloane Blakely and Nguyen.
Florida equaled its season-best floor exercise total of 49.50 for the second consecutive week to close the competition. The final four Gators all turned in marks of 9.9 or better, starting with freshman Taylor Clark’s collegiate-best 9.90. Harris-Miranda also matched her season high of 9.90 for the second straight week. Scores of 9.925 for both Wong and Sloane Blakely gave the Gator duo Friday’s floor win.
Event winners:
Selena Harris-Miranda, UF 9.95 Vault
Skye Blakely, UF 9.90 Bars
Anya Pilgrim, UF 9.90 Bars
Ady Wahl, UGA 9.90 Bars
Sloane Blakely, UF 9.95 Beam
Victoria Nguyen, UF 9.95 Beam
Anya Pilgrim, UF 9.95 Beam
Brooke Gleichowski, UGA 9.95 Beam
Sloane Blakely, UF 9.925 Floor
Leanne Wong, UF 9.925 Floor
Selena Harris-Miranda, UF 39.625 All-Around
SPURRIER LEO:
Tonight was the debut of the “Spurrier” leo, featuring a bedazzled Gator head in the front and football lace design on the back. Steve Spurrier and family sat near the floor exercise Friday and surely approved of the Gators’ performance.
There was even an connection to the HBC’s No. 11 Gator jersey. Coach Spurrier was 11-1 versus the Bulldogs as Florida’s head coach. Tonight was Florida gymnastics’ 11th consecutive win versus Georgia.
“Just have to truly thank Coach Spurrier for the support that he gives the Gators and especially women's athletics. He's been a huge supporter of gymnastics. He's one of the first people to reach out to me after a big win and congratulate me and that alone just says a lot. He's committed, he's invested and truly cares. So really, really grateful for his support to the Gators,” Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland said.
“It was very on point with the Gator brand and it was designed in Spurrier’s restaurant, so that is where the name came from. We were just super grateful that he was able to be here with us tonight and have a little fun with our video shoot and release,” Rowland continued. “He told me ‘Well, Jenny, I've never had a leotard named after me.’ I said, ‘Coach, you know, you made it big when you get leotard named after you.’ He and [wife] Jeri are both amazing people.
“I think the leotard adds a little extra magic and the sparkles are just really pretty,” junior All-American Anya Pilgrim added. “It's fun to wear and show off.”
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
* 198.125 is nation's 2025 high and Gators are first this season to pass 198 scoring mark. .
* Florida’s 49.55 on vault is nation’s high by a tenth for 2025
* The Gators also turned in a 2025 national high of 49.675 on balance beam. Previous high of 49.55 by UCLA.
* Also set or matched season-best event totals for uneven bars (49.40 - season best) and floor exercise (49.50 - equaled season best for second consecutive week)
* Sloane Blakely upped her career event titles total to 17 in winning her sixth beam title and fifth for floor.
* The 9.95 beam mark equaled Sloane Blakely’s collegiate best for the seventh time. She’s earned the mark in three of her last four meets, beginning in the 2024 season finale at the NCAA Team Final.
* Selena Harris-Miranda won her second consecutive all-around title with a season best 39.625. The All-American transferred to UF this summer after competing for UCLA as a freshman and sophomore, earning the 2024 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year honor. Her wins tonight for all-around and vault bring her collegiate event titles total to 47, including 14 all-around wins.
* Sophomore Anya Pilgrim claimed a share of her first 2025 event wins Friday - uneven bars (9.90) and balance beam (9.95). She now has three collegiate wins for both bars and beam, with an overall total of 14 event wins as a Gator.
* Freshman Skye Blakely set her collegiate best of 9.90 to share the bars win with Pilgrim. It was Skye Blakely’s third performance of the season as she suffered an Achilles tendon tear in the final training day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
* Leanne Wong shared the floor win with Sloane Blakely at 9.925. It was her second floor win of 2025 and now has a dozen floor titles as a Gator. She is 10th on Florida’s Career Event Wins chart with 66 titles.
* Six Gators equaled or set collegiate bests Friday:
* Skye Blakely - 9.90 (bars)
* Sloane Blakely - 9.95 (beam)
* Ly Bui - 9.925 (vault)
* Taylor Clark - 9.90 (floor)
* Skylar Draser - 9.90 (beam)
* Victoria Nguyen - 9.95 (beam)
FLORIDA COACH JENNY ROWLAND SAID:
On tonight’s performance:
It was a rough week. We had a lot of under the weather athletes throughout the week. Several missed a day here or two there, and at the same time, it's coming back. It's trusting your training. Everybody has been prepared. They've done what they've needed to this this fall in order to come out, even though they may have missed a practice or two, to come out and just trust their training. So extremely proud of the confidence, of the resilience of the unknown, the uncertainty of them being able to step up and be ready. We didn't even call lineups last night. The message was, if you train an event, be ready to warm up an event because we didn't know who was going to feel well enough to compete. So extremely proud of everybody. I had a very enjoyable evening, and I think the Gators looked loose, calm. Well take a recovery day or two, and get back into the gym on Monday to keep refining the little details here and there that we know we still have to improve upon.” - Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
On anchoring three events tonight:
“When season started, I didn't expect to be anchor on anything. Really. I just wanted to be a help to the lineup and just to make sure I had people's back. I like it, but I think the way I keep the pressure off is not overthinking what I'm doing and kind of just enjoying my teammates around me. Definitely dancing and singing and just not being too hyper focused on what I'm doing. The more relaxed I am, and when I'm having fun and smiling, I think the better I do.” - junior All-American Selena Harris-Miranda
Showing off her personality when competing:
“What's crazy is my first meet ever, I didn't smile, and Jenny [Rowland] told me I needed to sell it. So I’m like, okay. The stuff y'all see out there comes to me in the moment. I don't practice that. So I want to sell the routine. I want the highest score as possible. [Performing allows me] to be able to step into that personality. I never thought I would be able to, but it's fun. It's comforting. I'll stick out my tongue in the middle of a beam routine just because it helps me calm down a little bit. But I just try to have fun. I want the judges to see me having fun.
“I think that a lot of people don't know that. If I'm in a room with people I don't know, I'm probably not going to say a word, just because I am naturally shy. So being able to do that on the competition floor, knowing that I’m with my friends, it helps me calm down. So in the floor routine, I’m not as nervous when I'm performing and having fun. I just love it.” - senior All-American Sloane Blakely
On performing in front of Gator alumnae
We kind of talked about it before we started this week. Our word this week was Gator Strong - just thinking about past Gators, the future Gators, the current Gators. We want to do our best to show the legacy that they left for us to live up to. Without them we wouldn't be able to have a sold out arena, big turnouts and things like that.” - senior All-American Sloane Blakely
“It was a Gator Strong evening tonight. It was an evening to celebrate and honor all of the alumni that were here, past, current and future Gators. So this is something that this team was very intentional about, coming into this week and really being reminded of all those who had paved a path of excellence before us and all the benefits that we all get to take part of because of what was what was paved before us. So we're looking forward to building their own legacy and to see what's to come for the future Gators. So extremely proud of this team.” - Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
RECORDS:
Florida (4-1, 1-1 SEC)
Georgia (2-3, 0-1 SEC)
THE SERIES:
Georgia leads UF 93-68-1
NATIONAL RANK:
Florida - No. 3 in the Jan. 20 Road to Nationals standings
Georgia - No. 13
UP NEXT:
Florida begins a two-meet road stretch Sunday, Feb. 2 in a tri-meet at West Virginia with No. 5 Utah.
West Virginia (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) competes at No. 16 Denver on Sunday, Jan. 26 before returning home to play host to its Big 12 home opener.
No. 5 Utah (6-3, 1-0 Big 12) defeated Brigham Young 196.975 - 195.325 tonight in Provo, Utah. The Utes are the second 2024 NCAA Team final opponent for the Gators this season as UF lost by a tenth last Friday at No. 2 and defending NCAA champion LSU.
Meet: No. 3 Florida at West Virginia with No. 5 Utah
When: Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. ET
Venue: WVU Coliseum
Stream: ESPN+
Tickets: $7-$5
No. 3 Florida versus No. 13 Georgia
Final Team Totals
Jan. 24, 2025 ● Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (9,108)
Team
Vault
Bars
Beam
Floor
Total
Florida
49.550
49.400
49.675
49.500
198.125
Georgia
49.325
49.150
49.350
49.00
196.825
