The Gymnastics team held a public intra-squad meet on Friday, Oct. 28 at the McWhorter Center in Auburn. The exhibition was Halloween-themed, dividing up the 2016-2017 unit into “Vampires” and “Werewolves.”
The Vampires included Emma Engler, Taylor Krippner, Emma Slappey, A’Miracal Phillips, Kendal Moss, Samantha Cerio, and Kelsey Kopec. The opposing Werewolves team involved Gracie Day, Abby Milliet, Kullen Hlawek, Telah Black, MJ Rott, Katie Becker, Cara Stricklin. Kennedy Finister, Sarah Garcia, and Lucia Scaglione.
The intra-squad gave coaches a chance to gauge the progress of each individual gymnast.
“We’re just trying to get a little bit better every day,” Head Coach Jeff Graba said. “We were pretty dinged up at the end of last year, and it carried over into this year a little bit. We’re trying to get healthier, and get the young people some experience as to what this whole thing is about.”
Auburn sustained injuries last season in the Arkansas meet to both A’Miracal Phiilips and Emma Engler. This was their first action since the meet against the Razorbacks on Jan. 29.
“Most of them are way better than I thought they’d be at this point,” said Graba. “We’re ahead. We lost both Emma and A’Miracal in the Arkansas meet, and both are doing almost full-speed stuff right now, which, to me, is amazing. That’s a testament to our medical staff, as well as their determination. Taylor Krippner was dinged up at the end of last year, she’s healthier than she was but she’s still coming along.
“For the most part, it’s getting the new people some experience, and letting those guys get another couple of weeks under their belt.”
Auburn’s season came to an end in the NCAA Championships last year, the venue on which Graba and the team have their sights set.
“We have a lot of little things to improve,” said Graba. “We’ve got some dance on floor that we’ve got to clean, we need to get our repetitions high enough that they can get their stamina built up. That’s what we call getting in routine shape. Sure, you can do it all individually, but can you put it together in a minute and a half on the floor, can you put everything together on bars, and hit the last hand stand, and stick the dismount? That’s where we are right now.”
No scores were kept, and some gymnasts were not able to perform their full routines. Auburn’s preview meet will be on Dec. 4, and the Tigers will kick-off their 2017 campaign at home against Oregon State on Jan. 7. As for the victor of Friday’s event, Graba chuckled, and claimed it as a team win.
“It was a rigged system today, so the away team won,” Graba said. He then reconsidered: “Actually, Auburn won.”
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