Gators enter NCAAs with ‘secret weapon’

GAINESVILLE — Florida senior gymnast Ellie Lazzari waited her entire career to deliver her best performance at the perfect time.

Lazzari captured her first all-around title April 7 during the Gainesville Regional to help propel the Gators into the NCAA Championships, set for Thursday and Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, and culminate the 21-year-old’s odyssey back to the Gators’ lineup.

“It’s been a long journey,” she said. “But it’s finally coming together and I’m really excited for what’s to come. I’m just really happy that my hard work is paying off now.”

Coach Jenny Rowland calls Lazzari the Gators’ “secret weapon,” even though she has been hiding, grinding and pushing in plain sight.

Lazarri tore her Achilles tendon in January 2022 at Georgia during a tumbling pass in warmups. An injury she calls “devastating” would require a grueling recovery process to rebuild her body and mind.

“It’s taken a lot of time for me to build up my strength, my confidence, especially,” she said.

While Lazarri regained her footing, the Gators won back-to-back SEC titles and twice finished runner-up at nationals , led by NCAA record-setter Trinity Thomas, to Oklahoma.

But Rowland said she never doubted Lazzari would return despite the stops and starts during her comeback.

Lazarri did compete during the 2023 season on the balance beam, the least impactful of the four disciplines (floor, vault, uneven bars). During the summer, she began to show signs she would return to all-around competition.

“She had a grittiness about her and a determination that she wasn’t going to let anything stand in her way,” Rowland said.

The mental hurdle still would be the highest to clear.

Lazzari’s breakout performance at regionals was just the third time she competed in the all-around since her injury. But she rose to the occasion to post a career-high 39.650 to tie freshman phenom Anya Pilgrim and edge teammates Leanne Wong and Victoria Nguyen (36.60).

After a surprising fourth-place finish at SECs, the effort reaffirmed No. 4 Florida’s potential to win nationals, where No. 1 Oklahoma seeks a three-peat.

The Gators, Sooners, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama will compete in the semifinals for two spots in the championship round. No. 2 LSU, No. 3 California, No. 12 Arkansas and No. 19 Stanford are on the other side of the bracket.

The Gators will surely need their top score of 2024 to earn the program’s fourth title since its three-peat in 2013-15.

“One-hundred percent, it will be nothing but the best,” Rowland said. “The best is different every year. It’s the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. Mistakes are going to be made.

“How do we handle those mistakes?” Lazzari’s confidence is at an all-time high. Yet given her journey to get here, she has even more belief in her talented teammates who were there to pick up the slack and help her along.

“This team continues to have so much depth,” she said. “They had my back all the way through. The recovery wasn’t easy by any means. But I just had the greatest support system and I just knew that I would be back one day and here I am.”