In the second session of the SEC Gymnastics Championship in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday night, Auburn placed third out of four teams, finishing with a final score of 197.225 behind Alabama (197.825) and newly-crowned champions Florida (198.200).
“Really proud of the girls,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “It was nice to see them settle down and get back on track.”
Suni Lee took her first loss in the all-around competition, finishing with a 39.275. Florida’s Trinity Thomas took the win with a final score of 39.825. Lee’s bars routine was the highlight of the meet, earning a perfect 10.0, the first seen in SEC Championship competition.
“I’m always so proud of her. She’s just so amazing,” said Derrian Gobourne. “I knew once she stuck that dismount that it was going to be a 10. My goal is to set her up for something big.
Because it was a quad meet involving four teams, the rotation of events did not look like it would for a dual home meet. There were also four judges instead of the usual pair, with the top and bottom of those four dropping. The average of the two middle judges’ scores would be the score the gymnast earns.
Auburn started out the meet on beam. Freshman Sophia Groth nailed her routine, earning a 9.95 for the Tigers and runner-up in the event. Their next highest score in the rotation was a 9.900 from Gabby McLaughlin.
In the second rotation, Auburn moved on to the floor. Usually a strong closing event for the Tigers, heavy-hitting anchors Lee and Gobourne earned a pair of 9.950s to lead their floor scoring. They shared runners-up honors for the event.
“This group has to learn to be in the postseason,” Graba said. “You have to weather adversity. I wanted to see that they could bounce back. To go to floor and start to kick in to high gear, that was important for us.”
Their third rotation was vault with a total score of 49.225, which was lower scoring than the team needed to remain competitive. The event’s scoring was led by senior Drew Watson with a 9.900.
To round things out, Auburn went to the bars. Their final rotation was strong, with a 49.625, their highest event of the night and a program record for the event. Suni Lee’s perfect score was the obvious highlight, but the rest of the team brough some high scores as well.
Aria Brusch and Derrian Gobourne earned a pair of 9.950s, followed by a 9.900 by Cassie Stevens. Stevens and Groth were Auburn’s all-around competitors, along with Lee.
“Really proud of her,” Graba said of Stevens. “She’s really stepped into this leader role. I believe she’s one of the best all-arounders in the country and it showed today. It’s a lot of fun to see her starting to peak at the right time.”
Auburn advances to the regional contest with their highest ever SEC Championship meet score to tie their highest ever finish. The Tigers host the NCAA Regional contest at Neville Arena on March 31 and April 2, where the top two finishers will then move on to the NCAA Championships.
“We’re pretty excited that we get a little bit of a break and we’re hosting a regional so we don’t have to go anywhere,” Graba said. “We’re really excited that we’re moving in the right direction.”
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Callie Stanford, junior in communications, is the sports editor at the Auburn Plainsman. Currently a junior, she has been with The Plainsman since January 2021.
Twitter: @Stanford1Callie
