FAYETTEVILLE —The No. 8 Arkansas gymnastics team will take on another top 15 opponent when No. 2 Florida, the defending NCAA co-champion, comes to town tonight .
Premeet introductions will start at 6:45 p.m., and competition begins at 7 p.m. at Barnhill Arena.
Arkansas (2-4, 1-2 SEC) has faced a top 15 opponent every week of the season, including No. 1 Oklahoma and then-No. 2 LSU last week at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth.
“Like I tell the kids, it’s not just about Florida, it’s about every team in the country because of how we rank our sport,” Arkansas Coach Mark Cook said. “We need to go out there and just take care of our floor, our crowd, our fans and just perform to the best of our ability and see how much of a threat we can be to Florida.
“If they have any errors, if we can be mentally tougher, we can upset them.”
The Razorbacks, led by all-arounders Amanda Wellick and Paige Zaziski, have knocked off one top 10 opponent, coming from 1.3 points down in the final rotation to upset No. 6 Alabama on Jan. 16.
Florida (3-1, 2-1), whose only loss has been at Alabama, is coming off a season-best 197.6 in a victory over Georgia. Coach Rhonda Faehn led the Gators to the 2013 NCAA title, breaking the stranglehold of the big four — Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Utah — who had combined to win every NCAA title from 1982 through 2012.
Florida’s Kytra Hunter scored 10.0 on the vault last week while securing her fourth consecutive all-around title with a 39.675, the second-best score in the nation. The Gators’ Kennedy Baker posted a 39.55 in the all-around against Georgia, the highest score for a freshman this year.
“We’re showing improvement … and they’re ready to get out there and have an awesome road competition,” Faehn said.
Arkansas got a boost with the return of Cailee Ellsworth last week to the bars lineup after the senior missed the first four meets with a high ankle sprain.
The Razorbacks had one of the program’s biggest victories at Florida’s expense here four years ago with a 196.7 to 196.1 victory over the No. 1 Gators at Barnhill Arena.
“We’ve beaten them here before so maybe deja vu, we could do it again,” Cook said.