What were the top 10 moments from the Florida Gators' 2020-21 sports year?
Florida's 2020-2021 athletic season came to an end last weekend following the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Gators won multiple national championships and SEC titles throughout the year, while some UF athletes turned in record-setting individual performances. Here are the top 10 moments from 2020-21. 10. Men's swimming and diving wins SEC  The Gators earned their ninth consecutive and 42nd overall conference title at the SEC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in February. Florida's Kieran Smith was named the SEC Men's Swimmer of the Meet and won the Commissioner's Trophy, which is presented to the student-athletes who scored the most individual points. The Gators took home the championship with 15 medals (eight gold). Bobby Finke won the 1650 free for the third consecutive year, recording the second fastest time in American history (14:12.18). More on the big win:Gators win SEC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship for 9th consecutive time  9. Jacob Young's 30-game hitting streak  Jacob Young broke a 21-year-old school record with his eighth-inning single in Floridas sweep of FAMU. Replay had to confirm the hit, which eclipsed Tim Olsons 29-game hitting streak from 2000. Young's 30-game streak, which started in 2019 in the NCAA Lubbock Regional and lasted 648 days, is the fourth-longest multi-season hitting streak in SEC history, behind Vanderbilt's Ryan Flaherty (36 games in 2006-07) and Warner Jones (32 games in 2003-04) and Mississippi State's Rex Buckner (31 games in 1992-93). Can't stop the streak:Young breaks hitting record in No. 6 Florida's sweep of Florida A&M  8. Softball walk-off to win SEC  UF claimed its league-leading ninth SEC regular season championship in walk-off fashion at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Trailing Texas A&M in the seventh, Julia Cottrills two-run homer gave the Gators a thrilling 6-5 win to complete the series sweep. It was one of Floridas 12 comeback victories and seven walk-off wins in 2021, including two against the Aggies. The latter made UF the only SEC team to win all eight of its conference series during the regular season, clinching the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. Clinching a crown:Oops, Florida Gators do it again, rally past Texas A&M with another walk-off win  7. Kyle Trask breaks Grossman, Wuerffel records  Kyle Trask became Floridas first Heisman Trophy finalist since Tim Tebow in 2009, setting single-season school records for passing yards (4,283) and touchdowns (43 breaking Danny Wuerffel's mark), which led the FBS. Trask became the first quarterback in UF history with three 400-yard passing games in one season (five total) and twice threw for a career-high 474 yards, Floridas second-best single-game mark behind Tebow (482). Trask eclipsed 300 yards nine times and had seven games with at least four touchdown passes, including an SEC record six straight to start the season. Headed to Super Bowl champs:Florida's Kyle Trask feels a good draft coming on  6. Kyle Pitts' season culminates in John Mackey Award  In addition to the winning Mackey Award, Kyle Pitts became the first-ever tight end to be a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. He led all FBS tight ends with 770 receiving yards on 43 catches and 12 touchdowns, which was tied with BYUs Isaac Rex for the most scores by a tight end nationally. Pitts, a unanimous first-team All-American, posted the second-highest TD total by a tight end in SEC history and broke the UF record for career receiving yards by a tight end (1,492). Best in the land:Pitts wins Mackey Award as nations top tight end  5. UF clinches SEC title with Trinity Thomas' two 10s  Trinity Thomas joined Alex McMurtry as the only Gators in school history with two 10s in a single meet, leading Florida to its third consecutive SEC championship. The top-ranked Gators posted the nations season-high of 198.275 in a win over No. 18 Auburn (197.025) to clinch a share of the 2021 title, the programs 13th overall. UF posted a school-record 49.70 on balance beam and Thomas became the only gymnast nationally with perfect marks on two events (uneven bars and floor exercise). Trinity's big night:Thomas' 10s lead No. 1 Gators gymnastics in record-setting Senior Night  4. Joseph Fahnbulleh makes history with NCAA title  Florida sprinter Joseph Fahnbulleh won his first NCAA title in the 200 meters  his signature event  with the eighth-fastest time in collegiate history. The Hopkins, Minnesota, native clocked a time of 19.91 [-0.4] seconds, which ranks second in school history. It was also the sixth-fastest time in the world this year. Fahnbullehs 100M time of 10.26 [+0.4] seconds gave the Gators their first set of points at the Outdoor Track and Field Championships. UF placed fourth overall. Racing for the win:Fahnbulleh captures NCAA title, as Florida men finish fourth  3. Sam Riffice wins first singles title since 1999  After leading the Florida mens tennis to its first-ever national championship, team captain Sam Riffice won the programs first singles title in more than 20 years. He defeated South Carolinas Daniel Rodrigues by a score of 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. It marked just the third singles title in UF history, along with Mark Merklein (1994) and Jeff Morrison (1999). Riffice downed the No. 1 and No. 2-seeded players in consecutive days for the title and finished the season with a 32-7 overall record in singles. King of the court:Gators' Sam Riffice wins NCAA tennis singles national championship  2. Thomas Mardal takes home two national championships  Floridas Thomas Mardal became the third-best weight thrower in collegiate history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, winning his first national title. He opened with a 24.46-meter bomb (80 feet, 3.75 inches) on his first attempt, breaking his own school record from two weeks prior at SEC indoors. Mardal followed that up with 24.41 meters (80 feet, 1 inch) on his second attempt, making him the first athlete in NCAA indoors history, and the second in collegiate history, to have at least two throws of 80 feet or further in the same meet. Mardal capped off his collegiate career this month by securing his first outdoors title with a massive throw of 76.74 meters (251 feet, 9 inches), breaking his own school record for the third time and becoming the sixth-best performer in NCAA Outdoor Championships history. National champ:Hammer Time: UF's Mardal has quietly nailed his throwing legacy  1. Men's tennis team captures first crown  The UF mens tennis team captured the programs first national championship early with a 4-1 victory over Baylor in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears won the doubles point, but the Gators dominated singles play with wins by Andy Andrade, Sam Riffice, Josh Goodger and Ben Shelton. Floridas Bryan Shelton became the first coach to win a national title in men's and women's college tennis (2007, Georgia Tech). It marked the 42nd national title for UF athletics, and mens tennis became the sixth Gator program to claim its first NCAA team title in the last 12 seasons. 14 of 19. More:Florida wins its first NCAA men's tennis championship in family style