The Auburn Tigers gymnastics team, ranked 11th in the nation, placed fifth in the SEC Championship in Nashville Saturday. The team scored a 196.350, the best they have received at the SEC Championship.
The Tigers upset No. 9 ranked Arkansas, but it was No. 3 ranked Alabama that took the title, followed by No. 1 ranked Georgia and No. 6 ranked Florida.
"We weren't going to try anything new and our lineups were basically all the same, and I think that helped the girls feel super confident going in," said Auburn head coach Jeff Thompson.
The Tigers started on the bars, after a bye in the first rotation, with a score of 49.250.
Senior A.J. Mills and freshman Allyson Sandusky were among the highest scorers of the night.
"We are really proud of freshmen," said Thompson. "Kylie Shields did an awesome job and Allyson Sandusky had one of the highest bar scores of the meet, she scored a 9.9, and for a freshman to do that, that was outstanding. I tip my hat to the seniors, but the freshman did a great job too."
Sandusky competed in the uneven bars, beam and vault events with scores all above a 9.800.
She said she has been practicing and will continue to work on the little things before heading to the NCAA Regional competition.
"I just did what I usually do; I just concentrated and focused in on my key words and just taking deep breaths and doing what I could do," Sandusky said.
Auburn took to the beam in the third rotation with a score of 48.805, and, despite a few stumbles, the Tigers were able to remain strong with a score of 9.8 from freshman Allyson Sandusky and seniors A.J. Mills and Lindsey Puckett.
Puckett tied for sixth place with an all-around score of 39.400.
She was excited about how well the team did and particularly impressed with how the freshmen kept the team on track.
On the floor rotation, Puckett received a 9.9, followed by a 9.85 from sophomore Rachel Inniss and a 9.825 from senior Claire Seiffert.
"Our floor wasn't the best last night, and we came back and we wrapped up some awesome vaults," Puckett said. "As a whole I think the team just did an amazing, outstanding job, especially our freshman being in their first SEC, I think the team just did awesome,"
In the coming weeks, Puckett said the team plans to continue to work on handstands on the bars as well as sticking vaults.
"Some girls have faltered, and so we are really going to try and figure that out and don't let it push the situations on beam," Puckett said. "Because beam is the make or break event at a meet and beam is one of our strong events and we really need to figure out a beam lineup that's going to work for us."
Puckett said she has had a great four years at Auburn and looks forward to the next four weeks of the season.
"For me being a senior on the team has changed my gymnastics a lot because it has made me more confident," Puckett said. "I have 13 other girls who are looking up to me to do a routine and help lead them to nationals alongside A.J. and Claire."
Thompson said he was satisfied with his teams performance.
"We've been really consistent all year long and I'm really proud of how they did," Thompson said.
The Tigers will travel to Seattle April 4 for the NCAA Regionals.
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