Bridget Sloan Feature 1-16-13

Three of Florida’s four member freshmen class -Bridgette Caquatto, Bianca Dancose-Giambattistoand Bridget Sloan - trained with the Gators this fall. Both Caquatto and Sloan have represented the U.S. at several international meets. Sloan, the youngest member of the U.S.’s 2008 silver-medal Olympic team, claimed the 2009 World Championships’ all-around crown. She is the first World all-around champion to compete as a collegian and after the first week of action for the Gators, Sloan picked up the season’s first Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honor. She and Caquatto both were part of the U.S.’s 2011 Pan American Games gold-medal team. Caquatto also took Pan Am gold for the all-around and uneven bars. Sloan and Dancose-Giambattisto both competed at the 2010 World Championships as Dancose-Giambattisto was part of Canada’s team.

Joining the Gator freshmen class for the spring semester is Morgan Frazier. She was a part of the Orlando Metro club team and has competed at the Junior Olympic Level 10 Championships.

Last Friday, the new Gators experienced their first collegiate competition in No. 3 Florida’s 196.575-190.55 win over Ball State in the team’s home opener. Up this Friday is the SEC opener at No. 8 LSU. Meet time is set for 8 p.m. ET at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. GatorVision subscribers can watch the live video stream as part of their subscription. The meet will air tape-delayed on SUN Sports Jan. 19 at 5 p.m.

Then the Gators return to begin a two meet home stand which begins Jan. 18 when No. 21 Missouri makes its first visit to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center as a member of the SEC. Tickets are $4.00 for adults, while children 17 and under and UF students with Gator1 cards are admitted free. The first 500 fans at the Jan. 18 meet receive a fleece blanket courtesy of Gatorade.