Auburn made the journey to Duluth, Georgia, for the SEC Championships. Star Suni Lee sat out again, making this the third-consecutive meet that she missed.
The Tigers competed in the first session alongside Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. The team finished in first place with an overall score of 197.100.
Entering this meet, the Tigers were ranked 12th in the nation and fifth in the SEC. Four more SEC teams will compete in session two late Saturday night, and then Auburn will find out its overall placement in the conference championship.
“All you can control is to win your session. We can’t control what happens next. We can’t control what happens across the country," said head coach Jeff Graba "But today we made sure we were the best team on the floor this afternoon.”
The team started on vault. Sophomore Caroline Leonard started the Tigers off with a 9.800. Cassie Stevens had the highest score with a 9.950. Derrian Gobourne and Sarah Hubbard followed with 9.875.
After the first rotation, Auburn was in second, trailing Missouri by .075. The team then moved to bars.
On bars, Olivia Hollingsworth and Gabby McLaughlin set career highs with a 9.825. Sophia Groth had a slip when she transitioned to the lower bar, landing her a 9.150, but the Tigers finished strong after that, landing three scores of 9.900 in a row.
Every school in the first session saw one of its gymnasts fall expect for Missouri.
“In a couple of events we’ve got people in new positions, and this is an extremely stressful environment. I felt like, for the most part, the team did a good job of picking each other up,” Graba said.
After the bars rotation, the Tigers still trailed Missouri but this time by more, .250 with beams looming.
Stevens landed herself another 9.900 on beam and McLaughlin did as well, the highest scores out of the Tigers. Groth redeemed herself after falling earlier by landing a 9.875. Freshman Hannah Hagle made her second appearance of the season, but this time struggled through her routine and scored a 9.425.
“We were just fighting our whole way through. I’m really proud of our team of having each other’s backs in the tough moments,” Stevens said.
Auburn moved into first as it headed into the final rotation, floor with Arkansas following by .275.
Stevens led the scores again on floor with a 9.900, her third 9.900 of the night. Gobourne and Hollingsworth followed with 9.875.
“Those are the moments you prepare for. For us to be able to show that training and that practice, and the trust in those moments, I think it says a lot about our team,” Stevens said.
With the scores she put up, Stevens won the all-around for session one with a 39.650. Earlier this week, she was awarded with the SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
“I didn’t even know that [SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year award] was a thing so it was really really exciting,” Stevens said.
The final standings from session one was Auburn in first, Missouri in second, Arkansas in third and Georgia in fourth. The Tigers will find out their overall placement in the SEC Championships after the conclusion of session two.
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Lily has been with The Plainsman for three years and started out as a Sports Writer before becoming the Operations Editor. She graduates in May of 2024 and is from Washington, D.C.
