A different kind of Black Girl Fly was on display last week at the University of Florida versus the University of Alabama Women’s Gymnastics competition. Seniors Trinity Thomas and Nya Reed pulled off the upset with consecutive 10.0 scores over No. 11-ranked Alabama, 197.000 – 196.925.
Initially, Florida and Alabama were tied after the opening rotation and then Florida fell behind after the next two rotations. Heading into the finale event, Florida trailed by 0.35.
The final two performances fell directly on Reed and Thomas’ shoulders. Reed’s two-minute routine was jam-packed with crowd favorite songs like DMX’s “Party Up (Up in Here),” Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” Lil’ Kim’s “The Jump Off,” Soulja Boy’s “Donk,” Kelis’ “Milkshake” and more. Reed told POPSUGAR, “I wanted people to know that this is who I am and this is my personality and I’m showing my personality through my floor routine.”
For Reed, this was her first perfect 10 of her collegiate career—before then, her personal best was a 9.975 on floor. Gatorsports reported that she had just expressed her desire to join the exclusive 10.0 club at Florida. “It just means the world to me,” Reed said. “I want to be like [Thomas], I want to get that 10, I want to be like those girls that are on the wall. And now I get to be a part of it, so this moment is extremely special for me.”
While Thomas closed the meet with her fourth floor 10.0 to give Florida the winning margin, she had started the competition with a 10.0 on another event. With that first perfect score of the afternoon, Thomas became the 12th woman in NCAA Gymnastics history to record the coveted Gym Slam–a 10.0 on all four events during a collegiate career.
“I knew I needed a 10 on vault to finish the Gym Slam. I was like ‘I’m not leaving until I get it,’ so it was so special, that moment,” Thomas told Gatorsports. “I was so happy to see a 10 come up.”
Florida now ties the lead with Georgia, with three total Gym Slams.
The gymnasts humbly explained how they manifested the feat in a post-competition interview. “I saw Nya’s 10 go up, and I was like, ‘This is it,’” Thomas said. “We’ve talked about going back-to-back 10s before forever, and today, literally right before we went, we said ‘let’s do it’, and her 10 came up and I gasped, and I was like, this is the moment.”
This is the third time Florida scored consecutive 10.0s in a lineup since 1996 and 2014.