- Aug 31, 2014
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1pm ESPN2 the Gators are in the first semifinal quad meet with Michigan, Cal, and Minnesota. Gators start on bars and finish on vault. Unfortunately, despite the strong regular season, the Gators enter the finals with questions and some doubts (maybe more perceived than real). National pundits have UF being the "surprise" upset loser in this first quad. The biggest question is which Trinity Thomas is going to show if at all? Trinity is the best gymnast in college today and when she is on with guaranteed 9.95-10 scores, perhaps only Oklahoma can beat UF. But she has not competed all-around in almost 2 months due to injury. In the time she has been out, the Gators have gone mentally wacko with unusual breaks and balks in routines leading to lower scores than the regular season. So bottom line, as Trinity goes, the Gators goes this weekend. In this first semifinal UF will need a solid 0.300 to 0.500 lead going into the final rotation. UF finishes on vault which is their weakest event while the other squads finish on their stronger events. They are not going to make up any ground on vault so they better be in a comfortable top 2 spot heading into this last rotation. Especially with Cal on bars which almost scored 5 perfect 10s during one meet this season. My hope is that Trinity is able to go and provides the calming effect on the rest of the team that allows them to skate through to finals. Hopefully we can preview Saturdays final! Go Gators!