After an impressive season opening win Friday, Jan. 10, over Division II power Texas Woman's University, the No. 13 Auburn gymnastics team has very high expectations for the rest of the season.
Despite a few mistakes in the beam event, the team outscored its opponent in every other event in their opener.
"What we found out about this team is that they have set massive expectations for themselves," said Auburn head coach Jeff Graba. "We have a couple of things to fix on the beam, but that's nothing this team won't be able to fix."
The few mistakes in the first meet did not worry Graba. He said it is normal for his team to start slower in order to make sure his team stays healthy.
"I want to keep them healthy and strong. If you do too much too early, sometimes you can jeopardize that," Graba said. "I'm not surprised that we had a couple of hiccups but this team is going to ramp it up a lot faster than the last three teams."
This year's team also features many freshmen that have gotten the opportunity to perform in events right away.
Freshmen M.J. Rott competed in beam, floor and vault in her first college meet and came close to scoring a 9.9 on every event.
"(M.J.) is a freshman and I think there's a lot of pressure on her," Graba said. "Now that she has one meet under her belt, I think she's going to rise to the occasion."
Kullen Hlawek is another freshman that is currently competing in only bars because of a leg injury.
"Kullen is the national floor champ and we can't even get her out there in our floor lineup," Graba said. "For her to rise to the occasion in her worst event and lead off, that's a tough position for a freshman."
This year's team will also have to deal with having the nation's second toughest schedule, according to the strength of schedule index released by CollegeGymFans.com.
Graba is confident that his team is going to handle the tough strength of schedule "really well."
"First off, you don't have a whole lot of choice in the SEC," Graba said. "But we want to compete against the best and when our fans come out and support us, this team has an immense amount of energy and focus and they want to rise to the occasion."
Before the Tigers worry about the tough conference schedule and this week's visit from No. 1 Florida, they are more focused on working out their own mistakes first.
"This team is extremely talented and right now for the first part of the season we're really focusing on ourselves, trying to figure out who we are and how to compete," Graba said. "But I'm not surprised at our freshmen, this is why we brought them in. We know there's growing pains that first night so it's really exciting to get that past us and see what they can do the rest of the season."
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