No. 22 Auburn may have fallen short against No. 2 LSU by a score of 197.550-195.075 on Friday, but Auburn had multiple individual wins from the night.
Auburn's 197 was their highest score this season and the first time that Auburn reached the 197 mark for the first time in almost two years.
“I’m pretty happy with the girls, we still have a lot of young people that are finding their feet out there, but I’m really proud with the way they handled it,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “First 197 in almost two years, pretty big deal for me.”
Sophomores Aria Brusch and Cassie Stevens were back in action for Auburn after being out the past few weeks.
Brusch made an appearance for the first time this season during the second rotation on beam, and Stevens was one of two all-arounders for the Tigers with an average score of 39.425 on the night.
Senior Drew Watson came into the meet after a few mishaps herself from the preseason and saw the earlier than planned bye week as a good thing in hindsight.
“I think it was probably the best thing, we were able to get Cassie back and Aria back,” Watson said. “Just having that mental break and being able to take a step back not going 0 to 100 which kind of allowed me to be like, 'this is halfway through the season, it’s not over.' Kind of regroup and gain my mental space back."
Piper Smith was the other all-arounder for Auburn and finished the night with a 38.700 score average.
Auburn started the meet on the vault, scoring 49.150, the lowest event of the night. Junior Derrian Gobourne was the anchor for Auburn and helped improve the average as this was one of two events she placed first in.
Auburn moved to the bars and scored a 49.450, the highest event of the night. Smith led Auburn on bars with a career-high 9.925.
The beam was next for Auburn in its third rotation. Smith got her lowest score of the night with a 9.375 in this event after falling off the beam during her routine. Strong routines by Meredith Sylvia, Gabby McLaughlin, and Stevens helped Auburn finish beam with a score of 49.275 and a total score of 147.875.
The night's final event for Auburn was floor, an event that saw Auburn finish with a season-best 49.200. Gobourne took home the event's crown with a career-high 9.975.
Gobourne competed in three of the four events and finished the night in first place in both vault and floor, scoring a 9.9 and a 9.975, respectively.
“[Gobourne's] just amazing," Graba said. "She does everything that we ask her to do. She’s selfless, and she’s kind of the spirit of the team right now and excels beyond belief, and it’s so much fun to watch.”
Watson also had an impressive night on floor as she had a career-high of 9.9 with her routine. After feeling frustrated with herself lately, Watson looked at the meet as a chance to get back to herself.
“I’m no use if I’m not Drew,” Watson said. “I definitely feel like I made a step in the right direction tonight.”
Overall, Auburn produced its highest score of the season and had its smallest score deficit as well.
“Not still at our full potential,” Graba said. “I leave tonight thinking that we’re really in a good spot, and we’re starting to become pretty healthy, so knock on wood, we just have to keep it up.”
Auburn will hit the road for its next meet traveling to take on Missouri Friday at 8:00 p.m. CST with the meet airing on SEC Network.
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