The postseason continues to roll on as the No. 12 Auburn gymnastics team heads west to Los Angeles to compete in the NCAA Gymnastics Regional. The Tigers head to the second round of the NCAA Regional as the No. 3 seed and will face No.2 seed Utah, Southern Utah and Washington.
“We’ve been the team that’s been ranked high, and we’ve been the underdog,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “No team has it easy at this point. You have to be really good.”
The Tigers are coming off a session win at the SEC Championships where they scored 197.100. Cassie Stevens won the all-around of the Tigers’ SEC Championship session and is looking to make history in the NCAA Regional.
“We have the opportunity to do something that has never been done before,” Stevens said. “We’ve put in the work and have been training all season for this. We know that we have what it takes.”
The No. 2 seed Utah heads to the Los Angeles Regional ranked fifth in the nation. Utah ranks first on beam in the nation, fourth on vault and sixth on floors and beam. Utah’s Maile O’Keefe leads the team, and the country, as the No. 1 gymnast on the beam with a NQS of 9.980.
Utah is coming off its third consecutive PAC-12 Championship and is attempting to advance to its 47th-consecutive national championship.
“We are competing against a legacy program,” Graba said. “I think you can look at it one of two ways. You can be upset about it or think of it as a great opportunity. We’ve got to go through somebody.”
Graba did not dismiss Auburn’s other opponents in the region – Southern Utah and Washington.
“They are really quality programs. It’s a moment of pride to go out there and compete against a lot of teams that made the finals,” Graba said.
The Tigers have also made their fair share of postseason runs, most recently making the Four on the Floor in the 2022 National Championships.
Star Sunisa Lee, who competed for the Tigers in the 2022 National Championships, is still day-to-day with a non-gymnastics related injury. She has missed the Tigers’ last three meets.
“We are prepared for both scenarios,” Graba said. “I am not worried too much if she is ready to go, and we know what to do with our lineups at that point.”
Lee helped the Tigers finish the regular season ranked 10th in the country on the uneven bars. Individually, she is ranked fourth in the country on the apparatus.
No. 3 seed Auburn will face No. 2 seed Utah, Southern Utah and Washington in the afternoon session of the Los Angeles Regional. The session will begin at 4 p.m. CST.
The evening session of the Los Angeles Regional features host No. 1 seed UCLA, No. 4 seed Missouri, Stanford and Boise State and will begin at 9 p.m. CST.
The top two teams from each session will advance to the Sweet Sixteen on Saturday, April 1.
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Grace Heim is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in English Literature. She started with The Plainsman in January 2023.
