Students are used to piling into the stadium for the Auburn vs. Alabama football game, but Friday, students packed the Auburn Arena for the Iron Bowl gymnastics style.
Over 2,600 students were in attendance and helped set a new Auburn Arena record for gymnastics with a total attendance of 7,299.
Coach Jeff Graba said Auburn Arena gives the team numerous advantages.
"First off, our girls take an enormous amount of energy from the crowd," Graba said. "It means something in football to have the crowd, and it definitely means something in gymnastics."
Graba also said one of the keys to a growing number of fans is giving the fans an exciting meet to watch.
"I also think they were able to witness what college gymnastics can really be about," he said. "It can be an exciting event. It can be a nailbiter, which it was. It's an wholesome environment. You have the students and you can have families and everyone can get involved."
Graba said the atmosphere also helps attract new players.
"It helps in recruiting. Athletes want to go compete in front of big crowds, and this puts us top-five in the country," he said. "The fact that we can show them a sold-out arena and that energy, that just helps us out immensely."
Graba has helped generate a buzz around the program that has been lacking.
"That's what we want to create," Graba said. "You can get in and get out, it's an hour and a half, maybe an hour forty-five, and it's a great event.
"That's we're trying to bring to the program."
Sophomore Abbey Habicht said she was amazed the moment she walked into the arena and saw the crowd.
"It's really awesome when you first run out and see the seats filled up and everyone is out there," Habicht said. "It's not about you; it's just about everyone at that point. It was really cool to see that they opened up the top section at the Alabama meet because they had never planned to do that for gymnastic meets."
Graba said one of his goals is to make Auburn gymnastics a community event.
"First, it's coaching and recruiting and trying to move up in the SEC and move up in the nation as far as rankings and all that--all that is obvious," Graba said. "The other stuff is all the other community stuff just to make people aware of us, because once you show up I think you'll want to come back."
Before coming to Auburn last season, Graba coached at Utah, one of the premier gymnastic programs in the country.
"(The atmospehre is) just different," Graba said. "I think you can use some of the same viewpoints. At Utah, we'll put 15,000 people in the stands, but I actually like this environment more. The students are right on top of us, and they're into it.
"What you saw last Friday was probably one of the best enviroments in college gymnastics. What I want the mission of this community to be, especially on campus, is that it's the thing to do, that it's fun. We're going to do our best to beat everybody that comes in here, and if we can't beat them, we're going to score real high and keep it close. We need to the fans to show up and help us."
Freshman Megan Walker said the team feeds off the crowd's energy.
"When we're competing in front of 7,300 people, everything you love about gymnastics comes out," Walker said. "You know those people are there supporting you and our team and what many of us have been doing for 16 years. It's the most exhilarating feeling. "
Even with a young team, Graba is proud of the performance this season.
"We feel we've made a lot of strides," he said. "Basically half our routines are coming from people with one year or less experience. And those two teams that we took to the wire are real top-heavy. Obviously Alabama knows how to win things--they won the national championship last year--and Georgia went for five in a row at one point."
Graba has seen the improvement from the team this season, and he knows the young members on his squad will only continue to build confidence.
"To me, it shows that we're moving up. We're still so young, but it shows the future is so bright for us. That's what I'm excited about ... It gives us a lot of motivation.
"We know the better we perform on Friday night, the more reason people will have to keep showing up. "
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