Auburn gymnastics is coming off of a season-high score heading into a road meet versus No. 28 Missouri.
No. 19 Auburn broke multiple records against No. 2 LSU. The Tigers scored their season-best 197.075 Friday. Auburn gymnasts performed 18 routines that became career or season highs.
“It was a great meet last Friday,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “I thought the energy level was really good. We’ve been pushing really hard to give a lot of opportunities for girls and I feel like it’s paying off now. We’re a pretty deep team and we’re a really talented team. We just have to continue to bring the same energy and I think we’ll have good results moving forward.”
A star for Auburn was junior Derrian Gobourne. Gobourne was named SEC Specialist of the Week after her performance against LSU.
The junior led the floor event with a 9.975, her career-best. One judge gave her floor routine a perfect 10. She also titled on vault with a 9.9.
“I grade my performance a B+,” Gobourne said. “I feel like I still left some things there on vault. My landing could have been better on bars. I feel like I really gave it my all on floor and I still have upgrades. I feel like I have a lot more in the tank, so that’s why I say B+.”
Now Auburn is back on the road heading for Missouri. This is one of the three road meets left, including the SEC Championship.
“The main thing is I want to replicate what we did [versus LSU] at home,” Graba said. “We’ve always talked about making that portable and taking it on the road with us. We have to be able to do that.”
Motivation has been a huge topic for the Tigers after difficult meets starting their season. That motivation skyrocketed when sophomores Aria Brusch and Cassie Stevens were able to compete again. After enduring a shoulder injury Brusch came back with a 9.9 on bars for her career-high. Stevens was back into the all-around producing another career-high of 39.425.
“Having everyone back together it just helps so much,” Gobourne said. “I was glad to see them perform so well. It kind of helped me. They can come out here and do that so we all can. I was just super excited to have everyone back together.”
No. 19 Auburn will look to improve its road averages competing against No. 28 Missouri Friday, Feb. 12 in Columbus, Missouri, on the SEC Network.
“You can always find things to improve,” Gobourne said. “You can always find places to improve. Just take what was good and keep going and keep learning and keep being humble. That’s how I plan to keep going forward.”
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Mattison Allen is a senior from Springville, Ala. She's majoring in public relations communications with the goal of becoming a sports information director one day.
