A friend decided to go..says Selena is very impressive and that we are looking good..my friend goes to all the meets in Gainesville
It was Hype Night. This was their first time in the ODome this season. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Dr. Sam wasn't in the O Dome, but she reposted many videos from Hype Night: x.com More Hype Night Videos from Florida Gators Gymnastics X: x.com Hype Night indeed! For an exhibition, the Gators looked awfully good. Skye Blakely didn't perform her bars mount and dismount, but she isn't far away, has reached a milestone in her healing. Kayla DiCello performed an assisted bars routine. Kayla doesn't appear to be as far along in her recovery as Skye. Taylor Clark, true freshman, looks like the real deal on vault and floor. She has a good chance of being in both lineups. Sloane Blakely is ready to do great things in her senior season. Riley McCusker is my Alyssa Baumann on bars and beam. She makes everything she does look beautiful and graceful. Very happy to have her back and healthy. Anya Pilgrim is proving that her freshman season wasn't a fluke. Expect outstanding performances from Anya. Selena Harris-Miranda is the real deal, easy to see why she was the #1 gymnast in her class. UCLA's loss is Florida's gain. That's outstanding work by Selena on the beam. Leanne Wong can do better, but she is the least of my concerns. When the lights come on for real, she'll be her usual Leanne ready. Skyler Draser led the exhibition off on vault and performed well on beam. Skyler may not be one of those nationally recognized gymnasts, but she will be an important part of this Gators team again. Ellie Lazzari and Victoria Nguyen both looked steady with room for improvement. Both are 5th year seniors so I expect they will be ready for meet 1. Dani Ferris didn't perform on vault which was surprising as that is her best event. Dani is a likely 3-event performer in 2025: vault, bars, and floor. Getting out to a late start due to a hand injury, Dani only performed on vault and floor in 2024. Gabby Disidore will likely have a chance to crack the bars lineup based on what she did in 2024. Lily Bruce, true freshman, made her O Dome debut on bars. I don't expect Lily to crack bars or any lineups in 2025 after missing much of her senior year with an ankle injury. Talented and deep, the 2025 Gators will go far. I'll be surprised if Florida doesn't end up in Dallas again and with a better team and finish than in 2024 when the Gators finished 4th. I'd like Florida's chances to win the national championship if Skye Blakely and/or Kayla DiCello are available to perform, but that is uncertain after Hype Night and headed to the start of the season.
SEC Gymnastics Championships 2025 will be in Birmingham: If somebody is going to get a glorified home meet, I'd rather it be Alabama than like what LSU had in New Orleans last season. Vanderbilt doesn't have a gymnastics team. Nashville would be about as neutral of site for the SECs as any location. I'm still waiting for the SEC to let us have the tournament championship in Ocala.
B1G coaches pick Michigan State to win the B1G followed by UCLA: Big Ten Announces 2025 Preseason Poll and Watch List - College Gym News I'd have had it UCLA first and Michigan State second, but I defer to the B1G coaches. The Gators open the season at home in a quad meet with Michigan State, Nebraska, and Northern Illinois. The preseason WCGA Coaches Poll has Michigan State at #11 and Nebraska at #23: 2025 Big Ten Preseason Coaches' Poll Michigan State UCLA Michigan Ohio State Minnesota Penn State Nebraska Illinois Maryland Iowa Washington Rutgers Michigan State Gymnasts to Watch: Michigan State: Skyla Schulte (Sr.), Nikki Smith (Jr.) I'll add 3rd and 4th names to the list: Delanie Harkness (5th Year) - 3 events & 2nd team All-B1G. Sage Kellerman (Jr.) - 2 event performer. Michigan State came to the Gainesville Regional in 2024 and left unfulfilled and underperforming. The Spartans will be a dangerous opening meet challenge.
UF's Hype Night has come and gone. It isn't likely that we will have Skye Blakely or Kayla DiCello for the season as neither is capable of mounting and dismounting bars let alone working on beam. CJR will likely take both through a redshirt year before she allows them to risk their health coming back too early. With that said, this Gator team without Skye and Kayla is 16 deep and has enough experience and talent to compete for a national championship: ETGator1 2025 Top 10: 1. LSU 2. Florida 3. Oklahoma 4. California 5. Arkansas 6. UCLA 7. Utah 8. Denver 9. Missouri 10. Michigan State I went out on a limb with LSU last season because they were the deepest and most talented team in the nation. I have them written in pencil for the 2025 season. I just don't think they are quite as deep as 2024, but national championship talent is not an issue. Florida is right there with LSU and the Gators will have plenty of chances to prove it performing against 6 of my top 10 teams, the highlighted teams. Pardon me for disagreeing with all of the experts as I did in 2024 when I picked LSU. I do not see Oklahoma as #1 or #2 when all of the dust settles in Dallas. The Sooners, like UF in 2024, will be highly dependent and impacted by their outstanding freshmen. However, freshmen will be freshmen, and Oklahoma won't be immune any more than UF was in 2024. California is loaded again, the pick to win the ACC that now has both Cal and Stanford moved in. The Golden Bears won't surprise anybody in 2025, they are excellent. A note on Utah as I moved the Red Rocks behind UCLA. Jaedyn Rucker (6th year) tore her Achilles heel last week. Sadly, her career is over. I already thought Utah was light on returning experience. Rucker being injury career ended doesn't help the Red Rocks chances in 2025.
I haven't been over to Tiger Droppings Gymnastics Recruiting, but this can't be a surprise to them as it has been rumored for a while now. From College Gym News: LSU ‘26 commit and Paris Olympian Hezly Rivera has confirmed her intention to compete as an international elite in the next quad. Her goals are to make the upcoming Worlds teams and then make a run for her second Olympic berth in 2028. Hezly not going to school until the Fall of 2028 if then is likely why UF and Hezly parted ways. I don't think CJR wanted another Shilese Jones situation. My opinion is Hezly won't see LSU at all if her father has anything to say about it. Right now, he is the decision maker and according to LSU fan was difficult to deal with before the LSU commitment: https://olympics.com/en/news/olympic-champion-hezly-rivera-eyes-2025-worlds-la-2028-olympic-games Notice in the article that Hezly says she is going to talk with friends Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles about college later. She knows she has burned her bridges with UF as she didn't mention Leanne Wong after following Leanne around like a puppy dog at the Olympic Trials last summer. Hezly is a repeat of Shilese Jones. She had best make it big or she will be making a lifelong mistake on education. Shilese got injured and didn't make it big in Paris. If Hezly doesn't make it big in the LA Olympics, she will have her father to thank for the bad advice. Leanne Wong competed college and Worlds simultaneously, so we know what Leanne likely advised Hezly to do.
You were one of the very few who predicted LSU to win it all in 2023. Their line-up was very "Yoculan-ish" with so many stud athletes doing such big gymnastics. It was a nice contrast to Oklahoma's careful precision and safe routines. LSU was the Navratilova to Oklahoma's Evert. Makes sense considering their HC was the assistant coach for Suzanne during Georgia's glory years.
I can't imagine the Alabama meet not being televised? It has always been the marquee Friday Night ESPN-televised meet. But so far it's not listed to be. I'm sure there will be a live feed, but I'd much rather watch it live. As we all do. I'd go bonkers if it is not televised! I'm considering renting a car and driving to Morgantown to attend the West Virginia/Utah meet on Feb 2. It's a six-hour drive from Manhattan. West Virginia does not offer pre-meet ticket sales for gymnastics. But their arena seats over 14,000, so there will be plenty of tickets available. If anyone is going to the meet, HMU. It would be fun to cheer on the Gators with fellow members of #GatorNation. I'm a little disappointed how the SEC has scheduled Florida @Oklahoma, @LSU and @Alabama that I assume to be on a permanent home-and-home rotation. Although it will be awesome on the even years, on the odd years we will have one less SEC marquee meet in the O'Dome, unless Jenny schedules a Utah-type home meet in the odd years. On the bright side, it will be great preparation for the team facing post-season loud and hostile crowds.
