Heading into the final meet of the season, Auburn gymnastics could potentially clinch a regular-season SEC title, just the second time this program has been in position to do so.
Auburn sits at No. 6 in the nation and will attempt to defeat or tie No. 3 Florida for a share of the title.
“I just keep looking at it as preparation and opportunity," said head coach Jeff Graba. "It’s a really young team. They’re very talented and they’ve done a really good job in the gym. It’s not going through the motions and it’s not too high in anxiety.”
The Tigers are coming off a program-high score of 197.925 to beat Kentucky’s 197.150. The Tigers have been pushing hard in recent weeks, tying their program high and twice replacing their second-highest score before finally snapping the record.
“Probably the biggest matchup in Auburn dual meet history, I would think, and our message has been, ‘Let’s embrace it,'" Graba said. "With social media, you don’t get to paper over things. Everybody reads everything. You’re in a big meet. It’s a great opportunity, but the season’s not over Friday. We’ve still got a lot of season left.”
Suni Lee’s routines dazzled against Kentucky, earning a 39.775 in the individual event that included the first ever 10.0 in front of a home Auburn crowd. Lee debuted a Nabieva skill in her bars routine, which was never done previously, and she was rewarded with a 10.0 from one judge and an overall 9.975 in the event.
“I think the atmosphere definitely carries with us. I think everyone knows the pressure is kind of an unspoken thing, so everyone has a little more excitement, a little more adrenaline,” said junior Adeline Sabados. “We try not to focus on scores and just focus within our bubble because that’s the only thing we can control.”
Aria Brusch returned from a two-meet break to a career high on bars and a slew of her teammates earned career-high scores across the board. Some even had their individual highs in multiple events.
As this team’s scores have trended upwards, they continue to break program records and creep closer to the ever evasive 198. Because gymnastics is a sport where you compete as much against yourself as you do your competition, that has been their goal for a few weeks now.
Graba says that in practices, the team is not necessarily working towards a collective goal. Some of the girls are working on upgrades, while others want to simplify routines that they can more easily perfect. It is all a matter of getting everyone in a position to score as highly as possible as the team peaks.
“The real competitors do better when the pressure is on and I think that’s what you see,” Graba said. “I think the scores go up, but the execution goes up. You don’t get diamonds without pressure, so if you want to be something special, you have to go through this.”
Auburn and Florida match up on Friday night at 7 p.m. CST. An SEC title is on the line before Auburn competes in a pair of multi-team events, then travelling to the SEC Tournament in Birmingham.
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Callie Stanford is from Springville, Alabama and is currently a sophomore at Auburn. She has been with The Plainsman since January 2021.
Twitter: @Stanford1Callie
