Senior Julie Dwyer: of Bloomington, Ind., performs on the vault. Dwyer is one of four seniors on the team. Pete Riley / PHOTO EDITOR
The Auburn gymnastics team placed fourth in the Northeast Regionals as a No. 2 seed at Penn State University last weekend.
Senior Julie Dwyer will compete in her fourth straight NCAA Championship after she finished second in the all-around scoring with a score of 49.450. Auburn’s team score of 195.150 was behind first place Georgia, University of Denver and Penn State. The Tigers finished in front of Brigham Young and Iowa State.
Dwyer, a two-time All-American, placed second on vault, scoring a 9.925. Her performance was outlasted only by Georgia’s Tiffany Tonlay, who scored a 9.95 on the Bulldogs’ last vault. The event was the third time this season Auburn has faced the conference rival and top-ranked Bulldogs.
Auburn head coach Jeff Thompson, who has taken the Tigers to six consecutive regional final competitions, was proud of Dwyer’s performance, although she fell just short of placing first.
“Julie makes history tonight as the first Auburn gymnast to qualify for the NCAA Championships four years in a row,” Thompson said.
Tonlay won the meet all-around, and it is her second straight regoinal vault title.
“Tiffany really put a great meet together tonight,” said Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan last Saturday. “She had four very solid events.”
Georgia will advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be held in their own Staegeman Coliseum in Athens. The Bulldogs’ scores of 49.450 on floor and 49.250 on vault catapulted them to victory.
Auburn gymnasts: huddle before their meet against then top-ranked Florida. Pete Riley / PHOTO EDITOR
Thompson was discouraged his Tigers did not advance.
“The team is very disappointed we are not moving on,” he said. “It is a shame that we picked tonight to count two falls on beam for only the second time this season.”
Auburn’s good start on beam was because of Kayla Gies’ score of 9.800, but the team’s overall score was crippled when three gymnasts fell with two counted. Auburn’s team score dropped significantly because of the falls.
Thompson is proud of the way his team finished, however.
Kayla Gies: performance on the beam earned her a 9.800 mark in the Northeast Regionals last weekend. Pete Riley / PHOTO EDITOR
“They never gave up,” he said. “I think we tend to forget sometimes that these are 18 to 22-year-old college students and not professional athletes. Sometimes it’s harder for others to stay on a four-inch wide (balance) beam.”
Auburn started the Northeast Regionals on bars. Dwyer and A.J. Mills were especially effective with a score of 9.85 each. Lindsey Puckett and Aimee Goheen followed with scores of 9.750 and 9.700, respectively.
The Tigers moved from bars to beam, which dipped the Tigers’ score. The team had a bye afterward.
Auburn returned to the floor with a team score of 49.175. Mills again led scoring with a 9.875.
Next was vault, which junior Claire Seiffert tied a career-high score of 9.850. Dwyer led the Tigers in scoring with a 9.925.
Dwyer will head to the NCAA Championships April 26 in Athens. The team championships, which are the top two teams from each preliminary session, will advance to the NCAA Super Six Team Finals April 25. There are 12 teams left, and four are from the SEC, including Georgia, LSU, Alabama and Florida.
