funding cuts could bring the
Hippodrome’s 51 years in Gainesville to an end
SIX HUNDRED FLORIDA ARTS AND CULTURES ORGANIZATIONS SCRAMBLE FOLLOWING GRANT DENIAL
By Morgan Vanderlaan Alligator Staff Writer
From hosting cabarets to local artist showcases, the Hippodrome has spent 51 seasons of premiere theater cultivating a thriving hub of Alachua County creativity.
However, state funding cuts could leave the theater in jeopardy.
Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed all state arts and culture grants without warning July 12. Over $1 million was requested from Alachua County organizations alone, and though some applications were initially approved, all funds were later denied.
The Hippodrome is one of 600 Florida organizations reeling from the cuts to funding they historically relied on.
“I believe it was a short-sighted
decision, since the arts and culture bring so much money into our local communities and into our state,” said Hippodrome Artistic Director Stephanie Lynge.
The theater received $500,000 in the 1990s, which Lynge said later dwindled to a maximum of $150,000.
A July 12 letter released by the organization urged the public to support the Hippodrome through ticket sales, tax-deductible contributions,
Future of Gainesville RTS system still uncertain following $24.6 million federal grant
The funding will replace diesel buses with hybrid or fully electric models as soon as 2026
By Morgan Vanderlaan Alligator Staff Writer
Whether she’s making the trek to class from her off-campus apartment or navigating Alachua County’s social scene, Shelby Stott has always found Gainesville’s Regional Transit System to be vital in her everyday commute.
When the university proposed drastic funding cuts in April impacting both on- and off-campus bus routes, the 21-year-old UF anthropology senior said she was scared.
“RTS gives them [UF] a really fair deal for these buses, and I think that students need them,” she said. “Campus is 2,000 acres or something. Who is going to walk 2,000 acres in a day to get from class to class? That's a ridiculous expectation in 100-degree heat.”
Following community controversy over RTS funding cuts, the system’s most recent monetary contributions did not come from the university but instead came in the form of a $24.6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration as a part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Announced July 9, 47 states received grants toward sustainable infrastructure development amounting to $1.5 billion, with nearly $5 billion in total funding distributed since 2021.
“Much of the award … will enable the City to purchase full-sized hybrid electric buses. The remaining funding … will be used to build the City’s first solar-generating facility at the RTS administration complex,” according to a July 10 City of Gainesville news release.
However, the grant is unable to be allocated toward bus operations or maintenance, leaving on- and off-campus routes imperiled. The City of Gainesville reached an agreement with UF in May stipulating that the university continue to provide their current fiscal contribution until 2025, which currently totals to $14 million to keep RTS running normally until a new budget is discussed for next year.
Mayor Harvey Ward said the state grant was awarded specifically for the purpose of greener public transportation and may not be used beyond helping the city reach its goal of zero carbon emissions by 2045.
“We'll be eliminating from our fleet 15 to 20 diesel buses and replacing them with either electric or hybrid buses that directly impacts the city's carbon emissions,” he said. “It makes the city of Gainesville’s air better, but overall, it lowers the amount of the carbon load that we as a community put on the earth.”
Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff
The Solar Gators stand next to their car, “Sunrider”, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. Read more on pg. 4.
Today’s Weather
Special Olympics bowling competition draws nearly 150 local athletes
UF STUDENTS VOLUNTEERED TO ASSIST ATHLETES
By Sara-James Ranta Alligator Staff Writer
The knocking of pins could be heard among laughter, high-fives and hugs in a local bowling alley July 13. A sea of colorful shirts matched the Special Olympics crowd’s colorful energy.
Nearly 150 Special Olympics athletes from Alachua and Bradford Counties gathered at Alley Gatorz to participate in the Area 3 Central Bowling Competition. During the free event, 17 coaches and 45 volunteers aided the athletes.
The Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities, fostering inclusivity for nearly four million athletes globally.
Evan Combs, a 23-year-old Gainesville resident, is the manager of sports training and competition for Area 3 and oversees day-to-day sports operations for North Central Florida, including Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia and Marion Counties.
“In a world for people with disabilities, so many times they’re told what they can’t do,” he said. “Special Olympics combats against that and says they should be given that opportunity to shine. They should be treated just like every other athlete.”
The Special Olympics offers 22 different sport competitions yearround, with coaches and volunteers conducting weekly practices. Combs was the only Special Olympics staff member at the Alley Gatorz July 13. Following area competitions like
the bowling games, athletes advance to regional and state competitions.
Alley Gatorz hosts the bowling program year round along with five practices per week, he said.
“It takes a lot, a lot of volunteer work,” he said. “It takes dedicated hosting facilities.”
Combs said the Special Olympics isn’t an “everybody participates, everybody wins” program. Rather, divisions are categorized by age, gender and ability level, allowing participants to compete with others in a similar athletic range.
However, he said the main goal of the Alley Gatorz event was to provide a place where others can make friends and be celebrated.
“So many people still don’t know that we have huge events like this,” he said. “We want people to know this is happening, to know how they can support.”
Bonnie Crowe, a 42-year-old Gainesville resident, has coached in the Special Olympics for three years. Her inspiration came from her brother Jimmy Hampel, a Special Olympics athlete.
She led a group of 87 athletes for the bowling competition.
“I love bowling because this sport, anybody can do,” she said. “We have ramps, we have wheelchairs… I just love this group.”
Ashley Shechtman, a 21-year-old UF Health Science senior, volunteered at Alley Gatorz for the event. Every athlete works alongside “unified partners,” UF students assisting with special needs and encouraging inclusivity during the competition.
“Everyone becomes friends,” she said. “It’s just a good way to… connect with sports.”
Mitchell Pearce, a 39-year-old Ar-
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cher resident, said he started bowling 20 years ago and arrived at Alley Gatorz ready to test his new bowling ball. His mother Virginia Pearce, a 63-year-old Archer resident, said he participates in multiple sports, including flag football, powerlifting, swimming, cornhole and bocce ball.
“This year has been awesome,” she said. “He just enjoys talking to people. He’s very social… The UF players who play with him are really encouraging.”
Collin Cunningham, a 26-yearold Gainesville resident, also participated in the event, having begun his bowling career at 7 years old, he said.
“It was hard at first to get the courage to not have the bumpers up,” he said. “It was hard because the ball kept on going into the gutter, but I kept on practicing.”
After receiving second place in last year’s competition, Cunningham continues to bowl to honor his mom, who was his biggest supporter before passing away in 2022.
“I am very happy that they created Special Olympics for the special needs so we can feel equal as the others,” Cunningham said.
@sarajamesranta sranta@alligator.org
Cherished community cat ‘Precious’ safely returned home
UF’S COLLEGE OF NURSING COMMUNITY CAT RETURNED IN GOOD CONDITION
By Carlos Alemany Avenue Staff Writer
A once bereaved community can now rest assured their beloved brown-and-white striped emotional support provider is in good health following her nine-day disappearance from the public eye.
Precious, an elderly community cat who resided in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions since 2009, was officially returned and reunited with her primary caregiver July 11.
The UF Police Department provided a public update via Facebook thanking everyone for spreading the word of Precious’ unknown whereabouts.
“Precious is back home thanks to everyone spreading the word,” the update read.
The 16-year-old cat was initially reported missing the evening of July 2, when two UF students recounted witnessing a couple driving off with the cat in the passenger seat of a black pick-up truck.
A UFPD police report was later issued July 5, though no criminal charges have been filed since.
Community efforts to bring Precious home took form in detailed flyers and an extensive social media campaign. Due to a kidney disease, Precious requires a prescription diet provided to her by her primary caregiver.
Precious was once a feral cat roaming the construction yards of the UF Biomedical Sciences Building brought before Operation Catnip in 2009. The nonprofit organization offers free spaying, neutering and vaccina-
tions for unowned free-roaming community cats within Alachua County.
The term, “feral,” as outlined within Alachua County’s municipal code, refers to “a wild animal that exists in an untamed state or that has returned to an untamed state generally not socialized to human contact and is no longer considered domesticated.”
Animal rights groups, such as Alley Cat Rescue, strongly encourage those feeding feral cats to remain up-to-date on the laws in their area, as some municipalities may issue regulations that prohibit and penalize caring for feral cats.
Alachua County recognized the practice of ear-tipping, a distinctive mark which is visible on a cat’s left ear, which designates a community cat as being in a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.
Since the 1990s, TNR programs have offered a humane approach that spays or neuters feral cats and returns them to their colonies, reduces populations, lowers birth rates and decreases the number of cats admitted to animal shelters for euthanasia. This policy has undergone several efficacy evaluations by researchers since.
For instance, a UF study found that over two years, overall cat shelter intake in a targeted Alachua County zip code decreased by 66%, compared to a 12% decrease in the rest of the county. The researchers attributed this to fewer kitten births due to neutering, reduced nuisance behavior and alternatives to impoundment.
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UF Solar Gators gear up to defend championship title at Formula Sun Grand Prix
STUDENT-BUILT SOLAR CAR PREPARES TO QUALIFY FOR AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE
By Grace McClung Alligator Staff Writer
Sunrider, UF’s solar race car, is hoping to mark its final lap around the track with a second Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) national championship title.
The car, built by engineering design team Solar Gators, basked in the spotlight Wednesday evening at a send-off event before it heads to the FSGP and American Solar Challenge this week.
This year’s FSGP runs from July 16 through July 18. Entered cars start with a completely charged battery pack and rely on solar power for the remainder of the race.
Sunrider, which looks like a futuristic go-kart with a sleek, orange body covered in 267 solar panels, was built from scratch by the student-run organization and made its racing debut in 2022. It has now made two appearances at the FSGP, a three-day endurance event on a three-mile closed, road-style track.
Teams compete for the most miles over three days with the hopes of qualifying for the American Solar Challenge (ASC), a seven-day, 1,533mile cross-country endurance tour held every two years. Teams must drive 205 miles in one day or 308 miles in two days during the FSGP to qualify.
Solar Gators Vice President Isa-
bella Lucarelli, a 20-year-old electrical engineering junior, said the races are about the effective use of solar technology more than anything else.
“Everything kind of just boils down to our solar array and the efficiencies of every other aspect of our car getting us through these intense competitions,” Lucarelli said. “The thing that we build towards every year is to be able to run a car just directly off of solar power.”
Sunrider was FSGP National Champion last year, driving 707 miles over the three days, a far cry from the 188 miles it completed in 2022. The team is hoping to defend its title and perform well for its first time at the ASC before Sunrider retires.
Lucarelli said about 60 students total have worked on Sunrider, guided by help from professors.
“It really takes a village and a half to get everything rolling,” she said. “It can be a long process, but we have great members that put in the work.”
The organization operates on a two-year design cycle, spending a year designing the car and another manufacturing it, according to Lucarelli. The team is broken into aerobody, electrical and mechanical groups that work to produce a new car every two years.
Beyond racing, Lucarelli said the team constantly works to upgrade the car and maximize its efficiency.
“We do everything from maintenance to small updates to big revamps,” Lucarelli said. “It just comes down to the people who were working on the project at the time and any notes we received from the competition in prior years.”
Funding cuts
fundraisers and advocacy letters to the governor's office.
The Hippodrome is reliant on four pillars of funding, two of which Lynge said have now “crashed and burned over the last month” following the recent state grant cuts and show cancellations due to staff illness.
“This has decimated the Hippodrome finances,” she said.
The “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” the Hippodrome’s summer musical, was initially slated to run until July 21. However, the show announced an early closure with a final performance July 7 due to sick staff members and a lack of presale tickets.
“Knowing that the state money would not be there for us, as we entered the fall, we had
Sunrider is a major improvement from its predecessors, Cielo and Torch. Torch completed only three miles in 2017 and Cielo had more mass from hot glue than solar cells.
Before racing in the FSGP, Sunrider will go through three days of scrutineering, a rigorous evaluation performed by professionals who check systems in the car to ensure safe driving and quality manufacturing, according to Lucarelli.
This year’s FSGP will be held in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park. Once qualified in the FSGP, the team will head to Nashville, Tennessee, to begin the ASC July 20, traveling through five states before reaching the finish line in Casper, Wyoming, July 27.
Solar Gators will bring four drivers who will complete four-hour shifts during the eight-hour race days on the track and nine-hour race days on the road.
Andres Duque, a 21-year-old aerospace engineering junior, is a driver and the battery pack co-lead. He and the other drivers have trained extensively over the summer, practicing figure-eights and slaloms to pass the dynamic part of scrutineering, he said.
Duque said he’s wanted to be a driver ever since he laid eyes on the car.
“It is exhilarating to be in there,” he said. “You can really see and understand all the hard work we’ve put in.”
Sunrider maxes out at about 55 miles per hour. Its fastest lap at the FSGP last year was about 50 miles per hour.
to take a very hard look at our finances and make very smart and responsible fiscal decisions,” Lynge said.
Ethan Garrepy, a 20 year-old UF musical theater junior, played the general male understudy and Mitch Mahoney in the Hippodrome’s summer production. While cutting the play short came as a shock, he said its link to DeSantis’ arts and culture grant cuts was clear.
“It is certainly a difficult time for artists in Florida, specifically our organizations who are relying on state funding,” he said. “Trying to find a way to keep going in these times is certainly scary.”
However, Garrepy said the “perseverance” of performers would save the future of theater in Florida.
The Hippodrome qualifies for an additional City of Gainesville arts grant for over $50,000, but the partial loss of the General Funds Transfer (GFT) has left its distribution uncertain.
The GFT, a measure of the money Gainesville Regional Utilities contributes to city operations annually, was cut by $6.8 million June 26 fol-
Clean energy buses
The new buses could arrive as early as 2026, and RTS will prioritize the replacement of existing diesel buses based on age and mileage.
For students like Stott who rely on public transit, a more sustainable RTS is “cool,” but she said it doesn’t solve the greater issue
of canceled routes due to insufficient operating budgets moving into 2025.
“Our county is not walkable at all … you have to have some sort of transportation to get people from point A to point B if you're going to have such a traffic reliant kind of city,” she said.
The federal funds would more effectively protect energy-effi -
“When you’re in there, the speed is magnified by three times,” Duque said. “It just feels like you’re flying. It’s awesome.”
Duque said more competitive teams are racing this year, but he’s confident the Solar Gators will be in the top five.
“We’re gonna have quite the competition, but I will say I feel pretty good about it,” he said.
Duque and his team will be competing against 32 teams from the U.S. and Canada, 21 of which are planning to qualify for the ASC. He said winning the ASC would be “the moment of a lifetime.”
“We’re an amazing team,” he said. “Every single one of us here has put in a ton of work, lots of dedication.”
Bragg Farmer, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering junior, works on Sunrider’s metal frame and will be changing tires and helping ensure the car operates at maximum capacity during the races.
He said he’s most excited to see the other cars and their engineering designs.
“The big thing is really going and seeing other teams and communicating with them,” Farmer said. “Winning is a nice bonus, but being able to really discuss the engineering stuff, that’s the cool part of this.”
That doesn’t mean winning isn’t a goal, he added.
“It’d be so cool, you get a trophy and you get to talk about it,” he said.
“We got it in the bag.”
The ASC and FSGP are run by the Innovators Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization that celebrates engineering creativity with
lowing debate between the city commission and governor-appointed authority.
Mayor Harvey Ward said DeSantis’ decision to veto state arts and culture funding was a “direct slap in the face to the arts community,” but the City of Gainesville intends to continue the commitment to providing its own grants.
“I don't know exactly what that's going to be financially, but we will do our best to keep our initial original commitments from the city to the Hippodrome and the entire arts community,” he said. “We're going through a difficult financial time as well.”
Recent UF graduate Noah Yager has worked with the theater for five productions, playing Leaf Coneybear in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“The Hippodrome has been a place that's taken care of me for a very, very long time throughout my college career, offering the other half of my educational experience and musical theater,” he said.
Yager said he finds solace in knowing theater has survived for centuries, and despite
cient infrastructure if they could be used to ensure the continuation of city-wide public transit, which Stott said is automatically more sustainable than allowing widely -used routes to close.
Part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the grant aims to achieve zero emissions by 2025 nationwide.
While Sandra Ukah, a 19-yearold UF political science sophomore, expressed support for allocating federal funds toward
hands-on learning experiences. The competitions’ roots can be traced back to 1990 when General Motors held the first GM Sunrayce USA, a collegiate 1,650-mile transcontinental race.
ASC Webmaster and Media Team Member Jonathan Mullen said the competition is a unique experience with real-world applications.
“It's an opportunity for students to work with this technology and get hands-on experience designing for efficiency and sustainability that they maybe don't get other places in their education,” Mullen said. “They can bring that with them to the workforce.”
Mullen said this year’s competitions will be some of the biggest solar car races in recent history. With a majority of the teams in a good spot, he expects it to be a tough battle.
Sunrider and crew will be following seven different national historic trails for different portions of the race for the ASC’s “See America by Historic Trail” event theme, according to Mullen.
They will make three stage stops at national monuments, national historic parks or interpretive centers in Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska before finishing in Wyoming.
Sunrider’s racing days may be numbered, but the Solar Gators will be back with Flare, a brand new set of wheels the team hopes to start racing at the FSGP next summer. The ASC will return in summer 2026. Dates and locations for both competitions have not been finalized.
@gracenmclung gmcclung@alligator.org
budget cuts, he’s “100% confident” the community will keep it going.
“These historical places are known by generations of people, like the people who moved here when it was initiated, and then they show their kids, and then they show their kids,” he said.
Lynge said the Hippodrome will look to the community for funding opportunities, with Alachua County having already “graciously” helped the organization access the remaining $181,000 of their state grant funds.
The Hippodrome’s 52nd season is slated to begin on time with the play “Perfect Arrangement” in partnership with UF’s School of Theatre and Dance, with its first preview Aug. 28.
“I think Floridians will not let theater die in Florida,” she said. “But… if the state continues to disregard the arts as an economic driver, I believe it will be diminished.”
climate-conscious transportation, she said it may not matter if UF discontinues their RTS monetary commitment in 2025.
“I think that having a bunch of accessible routes for students is just as important as having the system itself,” she said. “The win can't just be having the [new] buses, we need to make sure that they're able to be used by students that really, really need them, too.”
Ward said UF and the City of Gainesville have held meetings
@morgvande mvanderlaan@alligator.org
on “an almost weekly basis, doing a very intentional deep dive into how this moves forward.” Regardless of threats to current bus routes, he expressed support for turning to renewable energy.
“This funding will truly help us better serve our neighbors who rely on RTS for safe, efficient and reliable transportation every single day,” he said in a July 10 news release.
@morgvande mvanderlaan@alligator.org
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Mom crossed the border, so I crossed out my dreams
As a first-generation Latina, it’s been up to me to be the glue that puts back the pieces of shattered dreams that once belonged to the 19-year-old version of my mother — a burden placed on me the second I was born.
I’m not alone in that sentiment.
Like many other first-generation Hispanic or Latine students, the burden of having to be successful is one of the heaviest weights we carry. We see our loved ones struggle, whether that’s through financial or personal means, and are gifted with the curse of breaking generational debt and trauma.
So when I told my mom I wanted to be an artist, maybe a painter or a singer or an actress, she laughed in my face. Sure, she knew I was “good” at those things and knew it made me happy, but I was the eldest and only daughter. To her, being in the arts wouldn’t make me any money or guarantee that I’d be able to take care of her when she got older.
I was the only one in my family who could speak, read and write in English. Why waste that privilege on careers that she believed had no guaranteed stability. At every birthday and holiday party, my family would surround me and ask if I was going to study medicine and be a doctor so I could eventually “buy them a house.”
Well, does writing about bad doctors count?
‘Dark
Burnout and expectations
About 23.85% undergraduates in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications identify as Hispanic or Latine, according to university enrollment data. That’s hundreds of other students, like me, who probably woke up every Sunday morning to Celia Cruz or Selena singing on the TV because Sunday was the start-cleaning-ormom’s-going-to-yell-day.
Graduate CJC students make up about 17%.
And overall, we make up about 20% of UF’s population, and about 19% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For us who choose journalism, it can be hard. You feel like an imposter amongst a sea of wealthier, white peers. Or feel like maybe you’re letting everyone in your family down because you still chose an “unstable” career.
You try to work harder than everyone just to prove you’re more than a statistic, but the same industry we work for is constantly letting us down.
Those national publications we work ourselves to death for a shot at just an internship, like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the New York Post, have no Hispanics or Latines on their editorial boards, according to a 2023 report published by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
The NAHJ found that “out of 22 newspapers studied, there are zero U.S. Latino presidents, zero Latino publishers,
and only three executive editors.” The numbers are just as bleak in digital news, with 16 out of 22 organizations having a complete absence of “Latino representation in key positions, such as presidents, CEOs, editors-in-chief, executive editors, and managing editors,” according to the report.
Vivienne Serret opinions@alligator.org
And when the LA Times laid off employees due to “financial losses,” the paper’s Latino Caucus estimated about a 38% loss of its members.
It’s hard.
Despite letting go of the things that brought me joy like acting, singing and painting, when I thought about my life and the things I’d gone through it hit me that there were other ways I could tell stories about myself and the people around me.
I could still go to art shows, I could still listen to music and I could keep those moments alive forever. A pen and paper was now all I had to look forward to, so what better way to have it all come together and remain a piece of history than picking a field as difficult and rewarding as journalism.
Did I make the right choice, I think so. Sorry mom?
Vivienne Serret is a UF journalism and criminology senior.
Brandon’ delusions: Biden’s narcissism places his feelings over country
“Dark Brandon is coming back,” President Biden told one voter earlier this month. Dark Brandon, to review, is the internet meme that satirizes the president’s low energy persona by depicting him as a laser-eyed figure cloaked in darkness obliterating malarkey. Its inversion of reality is the punchline. Biden, too, has increasingly inverted reality as he desperately clings to his party’s nomination after a devastating debate per formance.
In an interview with ABC News, he denied numerous polls showing him down in almost every swing state. When confronted with his approval rating of 36%, he curtly replied “I don’t believe that’s my approval rating.” He declared that polls underestimated him in 2020, and therefore they are underestimating him now.
Rey Arcenas opinions@alligator.org
In 2020, however, polls consistently showed him defeating Donald Trump. If anything, polling overestimated Biden’s 2020 performance.
Weeks out from the debate, the numbers for Biden are calamitous. According to VoteHub, which aggregates high-quality pollsters, Trump is leading in every swing state and leads by 2.9 points in the “tipping point” state of Pennsylvania. Since the debate, almost every national poll has shown a deterioration in Biden’s margins, eating away at any edge he gained after Trump’s felony convictions.
In the face of these sobering numbers, apologists for Biden increasingly resemble the Republican Party’s cultish worship of Donald Trump. Hardcore Biden supporters argue that replacing him as the Democratic nominee would be undemocratic, considering his victory in the primaries. This, of course, ignores that some states (including Florida) canceled their primary to immediately hand their delegates to Biden. It also ignores concerning reports that the White House has been shielding Biden from public view to hide his deteriorating condition.
Factions within the Democratic Party have been raising alarms about the president’s ability to defeat Donald Trump. Ten Democratic house representatives and one senator have called for the president to step down as the nominee. Even Democrat officials who publicly support Biden have expressed doubts in private. Biden, in turn, has doubled down. Last Monday, he sent a letter to Democrat
lawmakers that he will not drop out. Any of his opponents, the letter goes on, can challenge him at the convention. The message quelled some dissent within the party, even as some swing-state Democrats shed “actual tears” in a private meeting.
The president, in short, will not go down quietly. Any fight to replace him would be long and drawn out, essentially threatening murder-suicide against his own party.
Biden’s actions since the debate have dismantled his image as the mature, elder statesman who came out of retirement to defeat Donald Trump and transition American politics to a younger generation of Democrat lawmakers.
Rather than embrace more spontaneous public appearances, unscripted interviews, or prove his mental competence, the president has failed to instill confidence in his abilities, reportedly taken in his felon, crack-smoking son as a “de facto gatekeeper” and demonstrated narcissistic delusions of grandeur. When asked how he would feel if he lost to Trump, he replied he would be at peace as long as he “gave it his all … because that’s what it’s about.”
The stakes of the 2024 presidential election are not about Biden’s feelings — they are dire. Project 2025, crafted by numerous conservative organizations, contains a detailed blueprint to overhaul the executive branch for the next Republican president including removing abortion pills from the market, banning pornography and slashing funding for renewable energy among other extreme proposals.
Countless down ballot candidates and the future of the Supreme Court also lay in the balance. With the court’s recent decision to grant the president immunity for “official acts,” who is in the White House has become more important than ever.
If Biden continues to petulantly cling to the Democratic nomination and loses to Donald Trump this November, as has become increasingly likely, his legacy will be cemented forever as the stubborn, senile narcissist who handed the presidency to a felon.
Rey Arcenas is a UF history and women’s studies senior.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Alligator.
UF hosts 8th annual Livestock Judging Camp
UF’S ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT HELD A CAMP FOR STUDENTS
By Kamala Rossi Alligator Staff Writer
Students adorned in glimmering belt buckles and the occasional cowboy hat flocked to UF’s Beef Teaching Unit to sharpen their livestock judging skills. If a moo or a bellow could be heard from the front porch of the building, it meant the kids were gathered around the pen engaged in a lesson.
From July 10 to July 13, kids aged 8 to 18 passed through the doors of the UF/IFAS beef teaching unit for UF’s Livestock Judging Camp.
Debuting a different schedule for this year’s camp, co-coordinators Kyle Mendes and Allyson Trimble split the camp into three classes, creating agendas for beginner, intermediate and advanced students.
Trimble is an academic program specialist and UF livestock judging coach who started judging when she was 8 years old, a practice she stuck with through high school and college. She was on the UF Livestock Judging team in 2016 and graduated with her animal science degree in 2017.
Trimble grew up in Okeechobee with a passion for judging, in particular Brahman cattle, so it’s something she’s very passionate about, she said.
She has had experience with all aspects of judging, including being a contestant and an official.
The first day of camp was for the beginner and intermediate students from 8- to 12-yearsold, with 25 kids in each group.
“They are kids that are just getting started in judging so we taught them [the beginner
group] kind of how a contest runs, how judging works [and] taught them anatomy briefs,” Trimble said.
The intermediate group of students was introduced to reasons class, which had the students who knew more about the basics of judging. Trimble said the focus for this group was to teach them how to create and present the oral reasons for their judgment of the livestock.
“It’s really an awesome opportunity to be able to take what I love and get to do and make it into a job, so to speak, and then be able to share that information with students from all across the state,” Trimble said.
Kyle Mendes, a UF animal sciences lecturer, helped coordinate the camp with Trimble and also taught lessons at the camp with her. He grew up on his family farm in Modesto, California, raising livestock and graduated from Fresno University with a bachelor’s in agricultural education. He later graduated with a master’s in animal sciences at UF.
His favorite part about the camp is seeing the students overcome their struggles with the many nuances of judging and reasoning, especially public speaking.
“The students are learning how to judge and that means there’ll be four livestock in a pen, and they will evaluate them for those certain traits that are going to make the livestock most successful,” Mendes said.
For example, Mendes said some of the many ways they measure the success of the animal is by the way it moves or the amount of muscle it has.
“It is pretty pressure-packed, and it’s pretty intense, but it’s a great way kids learn those critical thinking skills and how to defend those answers,” Mendes said.
The youth in training are required to prepare a speech for officials explaining whether they think the livestock will be successful. This camp means to develop and grow the public speaking skills that are required to do this.
“It is tough, right? Public speaking is one of the biggest fears we have as a population, and so for those students to be anywhere from 10-years-old to 18-years-old and get up in front of a person who is an expert who they admire and respect, that’s really what I value,” Mendes said.
The advanced class had about 50 students. It started on July 11 and ended on July 13 with a mock contest to showcase their judging and reasoning abilities.
Plant City resident Cooper Davis, 17, was one of the students who participated in the advanced group and placed first in the overall individual awards.
Having judged for seven years and practiced his reasoning skills for the past four years, he was excited to expand his knowledge on livestock reasons at camp, he said.
Davis is one of the many students in the camp who hopes to pursue a career in the agriculture business.
“I actually own my own sheep operation down in Plant City, Florida. We just started it last year, so it’s something we definitely look
forward to,” Davis said.
In 2023, Davis became the sole owner of his company, Davis Livestock. He said his dad runs the business aspects of it but he owns all of the sheep and plans on expanding.
“It’s one-of-a-kind, and you get to just meet a bunch of people and really see how good you are and get better at the same time,” Davis said.
Amie Imler, a UF animal sciences lecturer, was a volunteer at the camp. Imler teaches full time at the university but helps out with the youth livestock programs.
“I feel like there’s a lot of value to taking students at the elementary, middle school and high school level and instilling in them the importance of animal agriculture,” Imler said.
Prior to working at the university, she was a high school agriscience teacher at Union County High School, where she also coached livestock judging teams for middle and high school.
Though the camp is a youth program, it also allows middle and high school teachers and agriscience colleagues from around Florida to also listen in on the lessons, Imler said.
“This allows them an opportunity to bring students here where they can learn something, and the agents and teachers themselves can also learn while their students are,” she said. With the many nuances of performing, judging and reasoning with livestock, the camp may be able to offer different perspectives for teachers as well.
“I think the exciting thing about teaching about agriculture early on is that you can get students excited about not just the actual production side of it but the other societal benefits of agriculture that sometimes aren’t always talked about,” Imler said.
@kamalarossi krossi@alligator.org
Kamala
El Caimán
LUNES, 15 DE JULIO DE 2024
www.alligator.org/section/elcaiman
Comunidad latina celebra el primer festival del ceviche y la cerveza
Por Jose Carmona Esritor de
El Caimán
La comunidad latina se unió este sábado 13 de julio en Gainesville para promover pequeños negocios y talento musical hispano en el “Festival del Ceviche y la Cerveza”.
El evento, organizado por Radio Miraflores USA en colaboración con Trabajando Juntos, una organización encargada en ayudar a la comunidad , se llevó a cabo en First Magnitude Brewing Company y contó con una gran asistencia de familias y amigos que disfrutaron de una tarde llena de cultura y diversión.
Desde la 1 hasta las 8 p.m., los asistentes
pudieron disfrutar de música en vivo con la presentación de la banda Old Miami Band y la cantante venezolana Kharla Balbás, quien deleitó al público con interpretaciones de merengue, salsa y otros géneros. El evento también incluyó clases de Zumba y bachata, creando un ambiente festivo y familiar.
Coro Borjas, líder del grupo Trabajando Juntos, expresó su gratitud por el apoyo recibido y la colaboración de diversas organizaciones.
"La idea es apoyar a los pequeños negocios hispanos para darse a conocer y promoverse", dijo Borjas.
Además, Borjas quiere promover los valores y principios de su cultura para unir a la comunidad.
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The Top Restaurant turns 24. Read more on pg. 8.
"Queremos promover unidad, muchas personas, muchos imigrantes están aqui lejos de las familias…y estamos promoviendo educación, arte", dijo ella.
Enrique Cano-Alva, propietario de Radio Miraflores USA y residente de Gainesville por 12 años, destacó la importancia de estos eventos para la comunidad latina.
"Gainesville solo tiene 18,000 personas latinas, somos pocos, pero ya somos", comentó Cano-Alva. "[Mi objetivo] es unir la hispanidad".
Cano-Alva, con 45 años de experiencia en la organización de eventos, tiene la meta de realizar eventos similares cada dos meses y medio.
Erika Ghersi, organizadora del Latino
Women's League, también subrayó la necesidad de unidad dentro de la comunidad. "[Este evento] es un lugar placentero porque es un lugar de reencuentro", dijo Ghersi.
Ghersi cree que estos eventos ayudan a crear un ambiente mucho más grato para la comunidad hispana, dándole a las personas la oportunidad de apoyarse a través de las dificultades.
"Estamos entrando a un periodo donde si no nos reunimos, si no hacemos un solo frente, no vamos a lograr [avanzar]", dijo ella.
@JD_CarmonaS JCarmona@alligator.org
Síganos para actualizaciones
Para obtener actualizaciones de El Caimán, síganos en línea en www.alligator.org/section/elcaiman.
MONDAY, JULY 15, 2024
FOOD & DRINK
Gainesville hunts for golden babies at The Top’s 24th anniversary event
MUSIC
By Ben Nielsen Avenue Staff Writer
The Top filled with balloons July 13 as a crowd of people waited outside to be let in for the 24th anniversary of the restaurant’s opening.
General manager Callie Seip greeted customers as doors opened at 4 p.m. People dined at wooden tables, couples conversed at the bar and staff tended to diners.
Birthday festivities included an annual hunt for tiny plastic golden babies.
“We hide little golden babies all around the restaurant as a scavenger hunt for people to find,” Seip said. “It’s definitely a funny idea that evolved into something greater than that.”
Events director Bailey Bruce said the origin of the tradition began with the restaurant’s founders.
A Cannes-do attitude: Why you
GATOR ALUMNI JOHN FULFORD
CELEBRATES HIS MUSIC MAKING IT INTO AN INTERNATIONALLY ACCREDITED FILM
By Noor Sukkar Avenue Staff Writer
It’s 2003. John Fulford’s bachelor’s degree in finance stares back at the phone that never got a call back for a second interview at theat bank. He instead tunes his guitar, scrabbles some more lyrics and burns another CD.
It’s 2006. His master’s degree in international business is itching to make it out of Gainesville. Instead of waiting on that phone to ring, he rings TV producers in Los Angeles pitching his abundant cache of music.
It’s 2024. Comedy-drama film “Anora” wins the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival — the Palme d’Or. His music is in the soundtrack, and his career is at its peak.
A spontaneous interaction with a Russian singer outside a Los Angeles supermarket pipelined into five song placements in a Grand Prixwinning film, he said. That chance is one of hundreds, if not thousands, Fulford has made to reach this monumental career milestone.
At 41 years old, he wants to mentor musicians of the same scene he emerged from not so long ago. A lack of formal music training is no reason to ignore a talent, he said.
He recalls elementary school days of scrabbling sheet music and lyrics. In high school,
Restaurant tradition remains staple in the community
The reason behind it is unknown.
The event included giveaways and other festivities, one of which benefited We Rock Gainesville, a week-long camp for women, gender-marginalized and nonbinary youth aged 10- to 17-years-old.
“We’ve got a DJ starting up later,” Bruce said. “We’ve got karaoke going on late night, and then we have a silent auction to benefit We Rock Gainesville going today.”
Kitchen manager Terry Mercer said the event provided an opportunity for a more laid-back work environment.
“Luckily I was able to focus on just making sure everything is quality and that we have a good time,” Mercer said.
Seip and Bruce commended The Top for its role in the community.
“We really love to push to people that this is like your hometown
don’t need a music degree
he took a fewcouple hours of guitar lessons a month. In college, he took a singular music elective.
“I didn’t want to preclude my hobby by having to learn it every day,” he said.
Instead, he spent most of his free time outside of his education mailing CDs and constantly calling the offices of TV shows like “The Real World” with new sounds.
“It was a lot easier back in the day,” he said. “I would just call the show… Sometimes they hang up on you. Sometimes they don’t answer. But this show luckily did.”
So when Fulford, then 24, and a group of his friends from UF decided to pack their bags and move to LA, companies could tell he was serious, he said.
Of those people who would eventually license his music was Peter Davis of Bunim/ Murray Productions, who coincidentally moved to LA around the same time as Fulford. Their collaboration eventually fostered a longterm friendship.
“[John] had the foresight to recognize that this is an industry that you learn from doing it and making those connections that you need to further yourself and learning,” he said.
Fulford’s initiative and persistence continued for months, which Fulford believes set him apart from his competitors who may not have opted for the bold move.
“He’s definitely one of the smartest people I know, one of the hardest working people I know,” Davis said.
That ethic is one Fulford echoes to today’s
generation of musicians who may fear being stunted by a lack of formal training.
“You don’t need to move to a big city,” Fulford said. “Just don’t base it on luck, be deliberate.”
Unbeknownst to all was the upcoming success of “The Real World.” Even more unforeseen was that the music executives for the show were essentiallyvirtually the same team who would produce “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” he said.
His big break arrived in 2007. A check for $4,300 came in the mail — equivalent to 430 hours of work at his day job he quit shortly after. Over time, his music started trickling into shows like “Breaking Bad,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “CSI: Miami” and more.
At one point, he even made his way into music producer Steve Aoki’s guest lists and worked alongside him.
“What drives me is that I’m not built to do anything else, for better or for worse,” Fulford said.
Fulford’s interest in international work took off as the industry became more interconnected and competitive. With a hefty resume and the technological means, his projects segued from reality TV instrumentals to scouting a Russian vocalist outside of a supermarket.
“I think it starts by listening to different types of music,” he said. “Figuring out music that maybe other people in your town haven’t heard of.”
His original plan of leaving LA was to explore the psychedelic rock movement of
place to hang out,” Seip said. “You can come have a really nice dinner here, or you can just come and hang out at the back bar for five hours.”
Despite her passion for the community aspect of the restaurant, Seip said she is hesitant to call the restaurant a family.
“I hate to use the word family,” she said. “[It] got co-opted by corporations trying to copy what we have here, but any situation can go down here. We have no shortage of crazy situations.”
Mercer agreed with this sentiment.
“[It’s] lowkey one of the best places in town,” Mercer said. “I wouldn’t even say probably, it’s obvious. For me, it’s been the best place I’ve ever worked.”
@benknielsen bnielsen@alligator.org
to make music
Cambodia. In 2019, he bought a home in Gainesville to house all of his belongings and rent out, with a plan to move to Asia for a year and work remotely. COVID-19 only allowed for the latter half of that plan.
“I’ve been here ever since. I set up my life here and I don’t see any plans on moving,” he said. “In LA, I always had something better to do than take care of myself.”
He has since become a gym enthusiast and invests in rental properties.
“He’s done an awesome job, just like being consistent at the gym, being persistent with your career, going after what you want,” said Ron Ballatore, owner of Ballatore Strength. Ballatore has been training Fulford since his move to Gainesville.
Ballatore said Fulford is very involved with the gym, whether helping planning events or just boosting overall morale.
“He’s an extremely generous guy,” he said. As he celebrates this career win, Fulford wants to renew the innovative cycle by connecting with Gainesville community members who want practical experience in the TV and film music business. He is open to connections through his Instagram @fulfordnewsnetwork.
“For people coming up these days, be authentic,” Fulford said. “If you’re trying to be something you’re not, it’s a lot more detrimental to your career and mental health, because you have to be that person every day.”
@noorsukkarr nsukkar@alligator.org
www.alligator.org/section/the_avenue Jenny Rowland Gymnastics head coach inspires success. Read more on pg. 11.
Ben Nielsen // Alligator Staff
Gabby Lafond tends the bar at The Top on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
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1. TELEVISION: What is the name of the town in the sitcom "Parks and Recreation"?
2. GEOGRAPHY: The Earth's equator runs through how many countries?
1. MEASUREMENTS: How many inches are in a mile?
3. MOVIES: Who plays the character Morpheus in "The Matrix"?
4. MYTHOLOGY: Which Greek hero was dipped in the River Styx as a baby and made almost invulnerable?
5. EXPLORERS: Which English explorer claimed Australia for Great Britain?
2. ASTRONOMY: What does the acronym SETI mean to the scientific community?
6. HISTORY: Which two Native American leaders fought Gen. George Custer's troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn?
3. LANGUAGE: What does the Latin prefix “sub-” mean in English?
7. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What are the two traditional flowers associated with the July birth month?
8. LITERATURE: Which poem begins with the line, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while pondered, weak and weary"?
4. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms?
9. ANATOMY: Where is the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body located?
10. INVENTIONS: What medication, originally used to treat eye muscle spasms, later became a success in reducing facial wrinkles?
5. LITERATURE: Which 20th-century movie star penned the autobiography “Me: Stories of My Life”?
6. HISTORY: What was the first National Monument proclaimed in the United States?
7. GEOGRAPHY: Where is the island of Luzon located?
8. MOVIES: Which sci-fi movie has the tagline, “Reality is a thing of the past”?
9. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What was the name of the United States’ first nuclear-powered submarine?
1. Tommie Aaron, brother of Hank, hit how many home runs in his seven-season Major League Baseball career?
1. He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 1984 NFL Draft. His son Joe was picked fifth overall by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024. Who is he?
2. What team won 12 of the first 13 NCAA women's soccer national championships dating back to 1982?
10. GAMES: What are the four railroad properties in Monopoly?
3. Name the Scottish yachtsman and tea magnate who made five straight unsuccessful challenges for the America's Cup from 1899-1930.
2. Bill Chadwick, the NHL’s first U.S.-born referee and later a broadcaster for the New York Rangers, went by what nickname?
Answers
1. 63,360 inches
3. The name for the Albuquerque Isotopes Minor League Baseball club was inspired by a fictional team from what TV comedy series?
4. Activist and basketball player Jerry Harkness, a member of the 1963 NCAA champion Loyola Ramblers, became what company's first Black salesperson?
5. After Negro Leagues statistics were incorporated into the Major League Baseball record books, what player became the all-time leader in slugging percentage with .718?
2. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
3. Below or insufficient
6. Name the IndyCar driver who won back-to-back Indianapolis 500s in 2023-24.
4. Grover Cleveland
4. Jim Covert and Ed Sprinkle, two members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020, spent their entire playing careers with what NFL franchise?
7. Renato William Jones was the Secretary-General of what international sports organization from 1932-76?
5. Katharine Hepburn
6. Devils Tower, 1906
5. What traditional Japanese martial art is literally translated as “the way of the sword”?
7. The Philippines
8. “The Matrix”
9. The USS Nautilus
10. Pennsylvania, Short Line, Reading and B&O
6. Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated what mixed martial arts superstar in a 2017 boxing megafight in Las Vegas? 7. What Croatia-born basketball player won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996-98 and was the 1996 NBA Sixth Man of the Year?
1. 13. He
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Sudoku solution
MONDAY, JULY 15, 2024
www.alligator.org/section/sports
GYMNASTICS
Jenny Rowland’s emphasis on personal growth, fun inspires success in Florida gymnasts
ROWLAND WON SEVEN SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HER TIME AT UF
By Max Bernstein Sports Writer
Entering her 10th season at Florida, Gators gymnastics head coach Jenny Rowland has pioneered UF to seven-straight SEC regular season championships and four-straight Four on the Floor appearances.
But success in the sport isn’t Rowland’s only goal for her team.
Her experience as a gymnast shaped her coaching philosophy, prioritizing enjoyment and self-improvement alongside winning.
“You can work hard, you can enjoy what you're doing and you can have success,” Rowland said. “Those are three things that I really just lean on and what I’ve lived by since I got back into the sport and especially when I started coaching.”
Rowland was a USA National Team member from 1985-1990, and she was named an All-American on the uneven bars in 1993 for Arizona
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
State University.
Following her career, Rowland stepped back from the gym, enrolling at the University of Oklahoma to work toward her bachelor's in health and sports sciences.
“There was a point in time where I completely lost my love for the sport,” Rowland said. “But having to pay my way through school, a gym just happened to fall into my lap.”
That gym was the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma. Rowland credits the academy for reestablishing her love for the sport she dedicated her childhood and early adult years to.
She then began her position as an assistant coach for Oklahoma before leaving in 2010 to take the same job at Auburn.
At Auburn, Rowland became the associate head coach and was named Co-National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 after helping the Tigers reach the NCAA Super Six for the first time in 22 years.
Her talents as a Tiger attracted the Gators. UF hired her within months, and she became the seventh head coach in program history.
Since then, Rowland has established herself as one of the top coaches in the nation, winning the 2020 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association National Coach of the Year award and three SEC Coach of the Year awards.
Having coached some of the top gymnasts in the country in her time at UF, Rowland established a unique culture for the program — one less focused on scores but fixated on being competitive and having fun.
“We like to say, ‘Train freely, compete freely,’” Rowland said. “When you train freely, you compete freely. We like to win, but we’re going to enjoy the process.”
Rowland’s position offers her a prestigious opportunity to watch her athletes grow from their time as freshmen to progressing toward their future, whether that be in the sport or another avenue.
“It’s really important to find something else that you are just as passionate about in life other than gymnastics, because gymnastics may not always be there,” Rowland said. “So helping them find
an identity and understand that we acknowledge that they are not just a gymnast.”
Her athletes embrace this philosophy.
Junior Leanne Wong is the CEO of Leanne Wong Bowtique, where she sells bows and other accessories to young girls.
She hopes the business can inspire the future generation of gymnasts.
“I started my bow business in December of 2021,” Wong said. “It’s something I love to do outside of school and gymnastics.”
Wong’s overall excellence both on and off the mat awarded her a spot as a replacement athlete for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“I’m super grateful to have such a great support staff and the best coaches here to be able to see me through both college and the elite season,” Wong said.
Florida associate head coach Owen Field joined the program at the same time as Rowland. Field will be traveling with Wong to coach her in Paris.
“I’m super proud of Leanne and
all the hard work she’s put in,” Field said. “It’s really rewarding to see all that pay off and to see her accomplish some of her goals.”
Field was promoted to the associate head coach role this summer. His coaching dynamic compliments Rowland’s, both preaching to enjoy the sport.
“We remind [Wong] to enjoy every moment and stick to the plan,” Field said. “Her position as an alternate is to be ready whenever they need her, so that constant reminder of treating every day like she is competing so that if something happens she’s ready to go.”
Now heading into her tenth season as the Florida coach, Rowland and Field have the same goal for the team: be the best version of yourself in every aspect of your life.
“We want to help them become a more well rounded person, and be ready to attack life once they graduate,” Rowland said. “We’re trying to get them 1% better in the gym, 1% better at life.”
@maxbernstein23 mbernstein@alligator.org
Florida women’s basketball heads back to hardwood with revamped 2024-25 squad
THE GATORS HOPE TO CAPITALIZE ON ONE OF THEIR STRONGEST RECRUITING CLASSES YET
By Jack Meyer Sports Writer
On a hot summer’s day in Gainesville, the Florida Gators women’s basketball team stayed busy all afternoon long. Following a batch of conditioning drills across the street, the Gators made their way onto the Terry Frost Practice Court, where head coach Kelly Rae Finley greeted them on the baseline.
Right before the squad hit the hardwood for its next round of drills, Finley posed a simple, yet pressing question for her players: “Where do we want to be come March?”
The squad answered unanimously: the NCAA Tournament.
Following a bittersweet 2023-24 campaign, the Florida Gators women’s basketball team is ready to put itself back on the map and make some noise this coming season.
Last year, Florida finished 11th in the Southeastern Conference with a 16-16 overall record and a 5-11 record in conference play. The Gators garnered some late season momentum to make a brief push in the 2024 SEC Tournament. They eventually fell at the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels 84-74 on March 8 to conclude
their conference slate in the tournament quarterfinals.
As the Gators return to the practice facility, the squad features some fresh faces who look to make an instant impact this fall.
Following their respective commitments to Florida, freshmen Liv McGill and Me’Arah O’Neal earned nationwide recognition. From a pair of McDonald’s All American nods to invitations to play in the Jordan Brand Classic Games, the duo has already made a splash in the practice facility since arriving at UF.
While fitting in with a new squad can be daunting at first, this year’s Gators squad found its rhythm quickly. Playing alongside sophomore wing and fellow underclassmen Laila Reynolds, McGill and O’Neal gelled with their new team well.
“The vibes have been good on campus,” Reynolds said. “Everybody is just ready to get along with each other, learn [from] one another and play some good basketball.”
Reynolds is slated to play an integral role in Florida’s rotation this year.
The former five-star recruit started in 31 of UF’s 32 games last season, averaging 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. She is expected to make a sizable leap in her second year wearing the orange and blue.
Alongside Reynolds, seniors Aliyah Matharu and Ra Shaya Kyle are set to lead Florida’s returnees into the 2024-25 season.
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Kyle, who only appeared in 14 games
through an injury-riddled campaign, chipped in with 12.4 points per game. She led her squad in rebounds and blocks per contest.
Matharu also established herself as a dominant presence on both ends of the court. The Florida floor general led the team with 19 points and 2.7 steals per game throughout the season.
She sparked Florida’s run through the 2024 SEC Tournament, scoring a career-high 35 points to upset the Vanderbilt Commodores 6259 in a hotly contested second round matchup March 7.
Rounding out Florida’s expected starting lineup, rising senior Jeriah Warren plans to take on an increased leadership role this offseason. She is known as one of the team’s strongest defenders, averaging 1.8 steals per game last year.
“It’s been very competitive,” Warren said. “You can tell we’re all working towards the same goal. High energy, we’ve gone hard every day to make sure we get the result that we want.”
However, the team’s depth did suffer take a hit this past offseason. Florida lost numerous key pieces to graduation and the transfer portal.
Graduates Zippy Broughton, Faith Dut and Leilani Correa all served as major contributors to last year’s squad. Dut started in all 32 games for the Gators last season, while Broughton and Correa combined with Matharu to fuel Florida’s high-powered backcourt.
Rising junior guard Alberte Rimdal also made her exit from the Florida basketball pro-
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gram this offseason. After spending her first three years in Gainesville, Rimdal transferred to Nebraska last April.
Filling in Florida’s newfound gaps, Finley announced the program’s addition of Louisville transfer Alexia Gassett through the portal last May.
“I feel like we’re already mending together so well, and it's really shocking because it’s only July,” Gassett said. “The family atmosphere [here] is just really, really close… Everybody is just very genuine.”
In the 2023-24 season, Finley prioritized setting a healthy foundation for Florida’s basketball culture.
As a new wave of young talent rolls in alongside some heavy-hitting returnees, the stage is now set for the Gators to take the next step in their evolution as a program. The competition in the SEC stands more loaded than ever before, but Finley and her squad are confident this is the year Florida will put itself back on the map.
“This team has a high ceiling, and they are working together to ensure we maximize our abilities as a team this upcoming season,” Finley said. “Youth and experience will provide a great foundation for us to propel our program forward. We look forward to seeing Gator Nation in the stands this fall.”
@jackmeyerUF jmeyer@alligator.org
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