From my Gator Bait story on the UF-LSU gymnastics meet
As the two teams exchanged positions for the final rotation of the night at the O-Dome, LSU over to the balance beam, the Florida Gators to floor, a chainsaw would have been necessary to cut through the tension. Tied at 148.350, this was essentially what you might expect of two Southeastern Conference gymnastics powerhouses ranked in the top five nationally and with a history of white knuckles finishes in head-to-head matchups.
Fifth-ranked LSU has a strong beam rotation and the Tigers had the momentum of a very good 49.450 on the floor, an excellent road score and higher than their average of 49.283. The 4th-ranked Gators, on the other hand, couldn’t be happy with their balance beam score of 49.350. Trinity Thomas, who came into the meet leading the nation with an average score of 9.975, had an uncharacteristic 9.7. Anything close to normal and the Gators would have had a commanding lead. As it was, it took a 9.95 from Leah Clapper, a 9.90 from Alyssa Bauman and a 9.925 from Leanne Wong to keep the Gators even with the Tigers.
A tight situation for sure, but not something that was living rent free in Thomas’ head. She wasn’t the least bit worried.
“I’m good at brushing it [low score] off and keep moving forward because I have to be there for my team,” Thomas said after helping the Gators to a 198.150-197.825 win over LSU.
The past is the past, so they say. Besides, Trinity Thomas knew what was next. It’s called Showtime at the O-Dome and it’s not like the Gators haven’t been there and done that with a meet against a highly-ranked SEC opponent on the line. A little less than a month ago, when the Gators trailed Alabama as the meet entered the final rotation, Nya Reed and Thomas made sure the sellout O-Dome crowd got a Showtime to remember with back-to-back 10s that gave the Gators a 197.00-196.925 win.
So as the Gators went through warmups for the floor rotation, Thomas and Reed were feeling rather confident. They looked at each other and took the liberty of a “we were made for this moment” kind of grin.
This is what they live for.
“We definitely know it’s Showtime when we get to floor,” Thomas said. “That’s our favorite event because we get to show off our favorite routines and kind of just be us and have fun. Definitely Showtime.”
While Thomas was calmly erasing the 9.7 from her mind and rebooting her brain to focus on floor, Reed was busy going through her normal routine off to the side. Idle since posting a 9.90 on the vault, the meet’s very first rotation, Reed needed to be sure she had her abundance of nervous energy in check.
So, she isolated herself off to the side for a few moments and with a towel over her head, she had prayer time with God and a very personal chat with herself just to remind her that this situation is nothing new and that With a towel over her head, she prayed and had a very personal chat with herself to remind her that this situation is nothing new and that her job is to give the crowd a show.
“They’re coming to see you, so why not have fun?” Reed said.
So, fun she had and she got a boost from the O-Dome crowd, which watched Wong flirt with perfection. One judge saw Wong’s routine as a perfect 10 but the other saw a flaw somewhere and gave it a 9.95 for a final score of 9.975.
The crowd wanted a 10 and didn’t get it, so they turned their energy to Reed and she didn’t disappoint. After two tumbling runs in which she seemed to explode off the floor, Reed lined up for that last run and focused on keeping her adrenaline intact.
“I do have a lot of adrenaline,” Reed admitted. “I’ve learned if you use it too much things can go completely opposite of the way you want them to go, so I just take a deep breath and I remind myself ‘this is easy … I do this every day.’ This is basic skills.”
Those basic skills turned into a magnificent final run that saw her come down from dizzying heights to a stuck landing that brought the O-Dome crowd off its feet, roaring approval and demanding that both judges offer up a 10.
When the judges complied, it was time for Thomas who has already delivered three perfect 10s this season and 11 in her Florida career.
“The crowd was so loud the building was shaking,” Thomas said. “I couldn’t hear my music.”
Not that it really mattered. When she is laser focused as she was for that final routine, the music is in her head anyway, just as every twist, turn, leap and landing is ingrained into her because of the endless hours spent perfecting a show that not only excites the crowd but rates a high score with the judges.
One judge saw a 10. The other judge saw a 9.95 so it wasn’t a perfect 10 but the next best thing. And, when freshman Sloane Blakely, who had struggled on vault, bars and balance beam, anchored the rotation with a 9.95, Florida had another heart-stopping finish to improve to 8-0 overall this season and 5-0 in the SEC.
In beating another highly ranked opponent, the Gators validated what head coach Jenny Rowland preaches incessantly to her team. It’s called winning the day. Past is past and tomorrow isn’t here yet, so focus on what has to be done to win today.
“Something we’ve been talking a lot about in the gym on a daily basis is winning the day,” Rowland said. “It doesn’t matter if your competitor is anybody else in the SEC, anybody else in the SEC. Every Friday, you win the day and you make the most of that day, whatever the day brings. Not looking too far ahead, this week they they focused daily on what they needed to do to control their controllables and they really did a good job. But I will say their energy and their excitement was just elevated a little bit.”
The energy level and excitement was there the entire evening, but especially when the Gators got to the final rotation. That meant Showtime at the O-Dome and once again the Gators delivered at crunch time.
Meet notes: Wong won the all-around with a 39.650 while Thomas finished second at 39.600. Thomas won the vault with a 9.975 and tied along with Florida's Savannah Schoenherr and LSU's Haleigh Bryant for the bars title at 9.95. Clapper and LSU's Kiya Johnson won the beam title.
As the two teams exchanged positions for the final rotation of the night at the O-Dome, LSU over to the balance beam, the Florida Gators to floor, a chainsaw would have been necessary to cut through the tension. Tied at 148.350, this was essentially what you might expect of two Southeastern Conference gymnastics powerhouses ranked in the top five nationally and with a history of white knuckles finishes in head-to-head matchups.
Fifth-ranked LSU has a strong beam rotation and the Tigers had the momentum of a very good 49.450 on the floor, an excellent road score and higher than their average of 49.283. The 4th-ranked Gators, on the other hand, couldn’t be happy with their balance beam score of 49.350. Trinity Thomas, who came into the meet leading the nation with an average score of 9.975, had an uncharacteristic 9.7. Anything close to normal and the Gators would have had a commanding lead. As it was, it took a 9.95 from Leah Clapper, a 9.90 from Alyssa Bauman and a 9.925 from Leanne Wong to keep the Gators even with the Tigers.
A tight situation for sure, but not something that was living rent free in Thomas’ head. She wasn’t the least bit worried.
“I’m good at brushing it [low score] off and keep moving forward because I have to be there for my team,” Thomas said after helping the Gators to a 198.150-197.825 win over LSU.
The past is the past, so they say. Besides, Trinity Thomas knew what was next. It’s called Showtime at the O-Dome and it’s not like the Gators haven’t been there and done that with a meet against a highly-ranked SEC opponent on the line. A little less than a month ago, when the Gators trailed Alabama as the meet entered the final rotation, Nya Reed and Thomas made sure the sellout O-Dome crowd got a Showtime to remember with back-to-back 10s that gave the Gators a 197.00-196.925 win.
So as the Gators went through warmups for the floor rotation, Thomas and Reed were feeling rather confident. They looked at each other and took the liberty of a “we were made for this moment” kind of grin.
This is what they live for.
“We definitely know it’s Showtime when we get to floor,” Thomas said. “That’s our favorite event because we get to show off our favorite routines and kind of just be us and have fun. Definitely Showtime.”
While Thomas was calmly erasing the 9.7 from her mind and rebooting her brain to focus on floor, Reed was busy going through her normal routine off to the side. Idle since posting a 9.90 on the vault, the meet’s very first rotation, Reed needed to be sure she had her abundance of nervous energy in check.
So, she isolated herself off to the side for a few moments and with a towel over her head, she had prayer time with God and a very personal chat with herself just to remind her that this situation is nothing new and that With a towel over her head, she prayed and had a very personal chat with herself to remind her that this situation is nothing new and that her job is to give the crowd a show.
“They’re coming to see you, so why not have fun?” Reed said.
So, fun she had and she got a boost from the O-Dome crowd, which watched Wong flirt with perfection. One judge saw Wong’s routine as a perfect 10 but the other saw a flaw somewhere and gave it a 9.95 for a final score of 9.975.
The crowd wanted a 10 and didn’t get it, so they turned their energy to Reed and she didn’t disappoint. After two tumbling runs in which she seemed to explode off the floor, Reed lined up for that last run and focused on keeping her adrenaline intact.
“I do have a lot of adrenaline,” Reed admitted. “I’ve learned if you use it too much things can go completely opposite of the way you want them to go, so I just take a deep breath and I remind myself ‘this is easy … I do this every day.’ This is basic skills.”
Those basic skills turned into a magnificent final run that saw her come down from dizzying heights to a stuck landing that brought the O-Dome crowd off its feet, roaring approval and demanding that both judges offer up a 10.
When the judges complied, it was time for Thomas who has already delivered three perfect 10s this season and 11 in her Florida career.
“The crowd was so loud the building was shaking,” Thomas said. “I couldn’t hear my music.”
Not that it really mattered. When she is laser focused as she was for that final routine, the music is in her head anyway, just as every twist, turn, leap and landing is ingrained into her because of the endless hours spent perfecting a show that not only excites the crowd but rates a high score with the judges.
One judge saw a 10. The other judge saw a 9.95 so it wasn’t a perfect 10 but the next best thing. And, when freshman Sloane Blakely, who had struggled on vault, bars and balance beam, anchored the rotation with a 9.95, Florida had another heart-stopping finish to improve to 8-0 overall this season and 5-0 in the SEC.
In beating another highly ranked opponent, the Gators validated what head coach Jenny Rowland preaches incessantly to her team. It’s called winning the day. Past is past and tomorrow isn’t here yet, so focus on what has to be done to win today.
“Something we’ve been talking a lot about in the gym on a daily basis is winning the day,” Rowland said. “It doesn’t matter if your competitor is anybody else in the SEC, anybody else in the SEC. Every Friday, you win the day and you make the most of that day, whatever the day brings. Not looking too far ahead, this week they they focused daily on what they needed to do to control their controllables and they really did a good job. But I will say their energy and their excitement was just elevated a little bit.”
The energy level and excitement was there the entire evening, but especially when the Gators got to the final rotation. That meant Showtime at the O-Dome and once again the Gators delivered at crunch time.
Meet notes: Wong won the all-around with a 39.650 while Thomas finished second at 39.600. Thomas won the vault with a 9.975 and tied along with Florida's Savannah Schoenherr and LSU's Haleigh Bryant for the bars title at 9.95. Clapper and LSU's Kiya Johnson won the beam title.
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