No. 4 Alabama Gymnastics Posts a 197.275 in Road Loss to No. 1 Florida

Facing the No. 1 team in the country on the road, Alabama gymnastics had a chance to pull off the upset heading into the final rotation on the balance beam. The Crimson Tide showed resiliency with five straight hit routines on beam after a fall in the leadoff spot, but it was not enough to take down the Gators.

No. 1 Florida beat No. 4 Alabama 197.425-197.275 inside Exactech Arena in Gainesville on Friday night.

Alabama held a comfortable lead at the end of the first rotation after a shaky start on vault for the home team and a fantastic start on the uneven bars for the Crimson Tide. Led by a career high 9.975 from junior Chloe LaCoursiere, Alabama posted a 49.550 on the bars, besting its total from a week ago by over a tenth. Head coach Ashley Johnston challenged her team to stick more routines during practice this week, and they answered the challenge with four stuck landings on bars.

True freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar backed up her strong performance from the season opener with a 9.95 on bars against the Gators. She also won the all-around with a 39.600 during her first collegiate appearance in the all-around.

Just a 9.950 for Aza's SECOND collegiate meet on bars, nbd

📺 ESPN2#RollTide pic.twitter.com/zSqwSY6xTd
— Alabama Gymnastics (@BamaGymnastics) January 17, 2026

Alabama was not able to take advantage of the mistakes Florida made on vault with a similar vault rotation from the Tide. The team struggled to find controlled and stuck landings on vault. Ra-Akbar (9.925) and Gabby Gladieux (9.875) were the only two Alabama vaulters to score above a 9.825. However, the Crimson Tide still maintained a slight lead, 98.750- 98.725, at the halfway point of the meet.

"We definitely left too much out there tonight," Johnston said of the vault rotation. "This week in training was amazing on vault. I think they're still learning how to just settle the nerves and enjoy competing vault. I think there's still a little bit of built-up tension of having to be perfect, and they need to just enjoy flying, enjoy putting landing gear down, playing with the stick and not putting everything on it.

"And that's something we can definitely take away. We can minimize those landing deductions to certainly increase our score two to three tenths next week."

Ra-Akbar and junior Jamison Sears highlighted the floor rotation with 9.9s, leading the Crimson Tide to a 49.350 on the event. It all came down to the final rotation with Florida hold a one tenth lead heading to the floor exercise in front of the home crowd, and Alabama had to finish on the ever-challenging balance beam.

Freshman Jasmine Cawley fell in the leadoff spot, putting pressure on the rest of the lineup to come through with hit routines. Florida also had a fall on floor exercise, opening up the possibility for Alabama to pull off the upset win.

Four straight Alabama gymnasts put together solid routines on the beam. Gladieux showed off her strenght and fight to stay on the beam during her routine in the anchor spot, but her balance check was large enough to lead to a sizable deduction resulting in a 9.7 on the event, and the Gators narrowly edged out the victory.

Alabama scored higher or equal to Florida on every event except for beam.

"I feel like championship teams are ultimately the ones who can go five up, five count when it matters," Johnston said. "So I think that moment, while it stung a lot because that win was right in our grasp, I think that moment is going to be the push and that drive that carries this team even further."

While the loss is disappointing, Alabama put together a solid overall road score for the second week in a row to start the season. The Crimson Tide will be back inside Coleman Coliseum for the first time this season next Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Missouri.

Alabama gymnastics at Florida scores | Virtius

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