Auburn gymnastics has earned the No. 4 seed for the Baton Rogue Invitational, which will take place from April 4-6 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, home of the LSU Tigers. The top two teams from the event advance to the NCAA Championships.
"I do like that we're going to a place that's close to home and pretty familiar," head coach Jeff Graba said. "To go to LSU – they have great equipment, it's an SEC crowd – it's probably a good recipe for this team.”
Auburn, currently ranked No. 13 in the nation, will be joining eight other schools. The Tigers will begin competition in the second round on April 5 at 7 p.m. CST.
The first round between the Lindenwood Lions and George Washington Colonials begins on April 4. The winner advances to round two the following day. Round two will feature the No. 2 seed Utah Utes and No. 3 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers, as well as BYU and Arkansas beginning at 2 p.m. CST on April 5.
Auburn takes the floor at 7 p.m. CST during the evening session and will be joined by No. 1-seed LSU, Arizona State and the victor of Round 1. The top two teams from the second round will go on to the Regional Final on April 6 at 7 p.m. CST. The top two from the Regional Final will go on to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete in the NCAA Championships from April 19-20.
"Nobody is ready for this format," Graba said. "Nobody really knows what it's going to be like. It's back-to-back competitions and possible three competitions in a row for some teams. It's now a quad meet, not a six-team meet. There's a lot of different things on the line, but I think the coolest part about it is now we've actually got a Sweet 16 round. Our goal is to get into the Sweet 16 and then have a great meet at that round trying to get into the Elite Eight.”
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