After a home win against rival Georgia last Friday, Feb. 24, No. 9 Auburn travels to take on the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats this Friday, March 3, in Memorial Coliseum in its last road meet of the regular season.
In the time of the season where national qualifying scores are imperative to postseason seeding, the Wildcats fell last week to No. 2 Florida in Gainesville.
With a team score of 197.575, Kentucky scored its highest road mark of the season in preparation for senior night on Friday.
“Kentucky is really good and has done a really great job this year," said head coach Jeff Graba. "They are definitely really good at home, and it's a tough place to compete. It'll be another good test for our team and we need to get another solid road score this Friday."
Starting off on bars in Gainesville, Florida, the Wildcats posted a rotation score of 49.200. They then tallied a 49.475 on vault, the second-highest mark for them on that apparatus in program history. Moving to the floor, Kentucky earned a 49.500, with three gymnasts earning a 9.900 or better. Rounding up the meet on beam, the Wildcats notched a 49.400.
Star senior Raena Worley once again had a stellar night for the Wildcats.
As the No. 9 ranked gymnast in the nation in the all-around, Worley accumulated a 39.650, earning a 9.825 on bars, tying a career and season high on vault with a 9.950, scoring a 9.950 on floor and ending the night with a tie for the highest score on beam with a 9.925.
Auburn once again posted a solid home score against the Gymdogs with a 197.550.
The Tigers opened the meet with a solid vault score of 49.450. They then rotated to the bars, earning a 49.400. On beam, Auburn totalled an uncharacteristic 49.225 with junior Gabby McLaughlin scoring a meet-high tying-mark of 9.900. Auburn ended the night strong on floor, earning a 49.450.
Senior standout Derrian Gobourne showed out for a packed out Neville Arena last Friday.
On vault, Gobourne earned a 9.900. Moving to bars, she tied sophomore Suni Lee with a tally of 9.950, which also gave her a share of the event title for the night. Ending the meet with her ever-popular floor routine that has her tied for seventh in the country on the event, Gobourne earned a 9.950 to outright win the meet floor title.
Her scores earned her SEC Specialist of the Week honors.
Even though NQS is important this deep into the season, Graba is still looking to give other gymnasts more opportunities to show their depth and test routines before the postseason.
“I think we know what our options are for final lineup as we get closer to the postseason," Graba said. "The goal in these last couple of meets is to exercise our second and third options to see where we are. We need to put some people under some pressure and to be judged, so we're looking to do that this week.”
In Lexington, Kentucky, for senior night, the meet between No. 9 Auburn and No. 12 Kentucky is set to begin at 6 p.m. CST.
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