University of Florida Women Gymnastics: Dynasty, Dynasty!

By Jimbo Brown

Coach Faehn Giving Some Pointers To A Young Athlete

Athlete Talk normally supply its readers with articles about the more traditional sports; football, basketball, track & field, etc. So today we wanted to show some love to the University of Florida Women’s gymnastics team. The team is being coached by a great women that believes in talent, persistence and talent. Coach Rhonda Faehn has been the coach for the past 13 years and has brought nothing but success to the university. During her time UF has won 4 sec titles, 10 NCAA regional titles, 10 super six appearances and 3 back to back to back national titles. The only other sports program to win three consecutive national titles is UF men’s track & field team. The women’s team has tons of talent on it.

2015 NCAA Gymnastics Champions

On every team championship team there are individuals that the underclassmen look up to and those two are Kytra Hunter and Bridget Sloans. These two set the tone for the other athletes on the team, especially Hunter. Hunter is a 15-time All American and is a 3x NCAA champion. Like most teams, the Gators had an up and down regular season. Through the good and bad times the whole roster delivered at clutch moments. For example, Bridgette Gaquatto’s career-best-tying floor routine gave UF a share of the 2014 title. This year freshman Alex McMurty came through and delivered the 3^rd consecutive national title by putting up a career best 9.95 to close UF’s bar rotation. Three freshman competed with the team for the national title, this establishes a good foundation for the slight rebuild Coach Faehn has to do.

Losing Hunter and fellow seniors Rachel Spicer, Jamie Shisler and Kierten Wang would be devastating for most teams. These seniors have contributed to the team in so many ways. The squad is already returning 9 people from their national championship team. 7 of the 9 actually competed this past weekend. The incoming freshmen will have plenty of leadership to follow because the retuning athletes have never experience a season that didn’t end with a national title. Freshman Kennedy Baker is the only African American on the team right now and she had a very good beginning to her career. The Gators have a bright future ahead of them. To be successful you have to emulate the greats.

Madness in March

            In this year’s tournament, it’s Kentucky & everybody else. With the Wildcats having a perfect season & sliding past their first 2 tourney games with ease, they are this much closer to becoming the first NCAA Men’s basketball team to go undefeated since Bob Knight’s 1976 Indiana squad. #1 seeds Wisconsin & Duke are the most competitive teams in the field with the best chance to knock off Kentucky. #1 seed Villanova was up there too but got exposed by North Carolina State in the round of 32. Duke, with Jahlil Okafor & one of the best backcourts in the nation, cruised past Robert Morris & San Diego State. They have a Sweet 16 matchup with #5 Utah this Friday. Wisconsin beat Coastal Carolina & Oregon to earn their way into the Sweet 16, where they will face #4 North Carolina. 

            The 2^nd round of the tournament played out last Thursday & Friday with plenty of upsets & tight games. Rule #1 about upsets: they’re unpredictable. Many people liked lower-seeded Eastern Washington, Ole Miss, Buffalo & Valparaiso to advance to the next round. But it was the teams no one expected that completed the upset bid. #14 seeds Georgia State & UAB defeated Baylor & Iowa State, who were expected to make deep runs in the tourney, by 1 point to advance. UCLA, a team that many thought didn’t deserve a spot among the 64 teams, surprised SMU on a controversial goaltending call and ended up beating UAB in the next round. In the 3^nd round over the weekend, the biggest games were #7 against #2 matchups, Wichita State vs. Kansas & Michigan State vs. Virginia. The lower seeds beat the higher seeds for a spot in the Sweet 16. Louisville & Northern Iowa was another exciting game that saw Louisville hold off a UNI comeback to beat them by double digits. Notre Dame beat Butler by 3 and Dayton blew a lead against Oklahoma to lose by 6.

            The 8 Sweet 16 matchups are Wisconsin & North Carolina, Arizona & Xavier, Gonzaga & UCLA, Duke & Utah, Kentucky & West Virginia, Notre Dame & Wichita State, Louisville & North Carolina State, and Oklahoma & Michigan State. I predict Louisville & Michigan State to advance with the Spartans winning that matchup to play in the Final Four. I picked Notre Dame to beat Wichita State in my bracket but I want to see a Wildcats & Shockers rematch of last year’s tourney game when Kentucky beat an undefeated Wichita State team. The Shockers can’t look ahead but I bet they would want to avenge that loss by ruining Kentucky’s perfect season. Wisconsin & Arizona will meet in the Elite 8 along with Duke & Gonzaga. Arizona will advance but lose to Kentucky in the Final Four. Duke will advance & beat Michigan State to face Kentucky in the championship game. For all the marbles, Kentucky will beat Duke for their 9^th championship.