No. 14 Auburn gymnastics upset No. 7 Alabama 197.725-197.050 on Friday night, earning a season-high score. The Tigers took home season-high scores on three events – vault, beam and floor.
“That was fun,” said Auburn head coach Jeff Graba. “What we were trying to do was not get distracted with who’s coming to town and to try to get better ourselves. And I really feel like we did that.”
Cassie Stevens won the all-around with a career-high score of 39.700. Stevens picked up a career-high 9.975 on beam – earning a perfect 10 from one judge–a pair of 9.9s on bars and floor and a 9.925 on vault.
“I’m just proud,” Graba said of Stevens’s performance. “I think it shows people how to compete, and if you watch, she’s actually investing in other people as well. So, I can’t say enough about her performance.”
The Tigers set the tone for the night on vault, picking up a season-high 49.500 in the meet’s first apparatus. Sophia Groth led off for Auburn, taking a 9.875, followed by a 9.875 from Sydney Schumaker. Olivia Hollingsworth picked up a 9.900 and Stevens and Julianne Huff grabbed a pair of 9.925s.
The Crimson Tide, however, got off to a shaky start in the first rotation of the meet. Starting on beam, an event Alabama ranks fourth in the nation on, the Tide scored a season-low 49.175. Alabama was unable to recover from its slow start for the rest of the meet.
Auburn picked up a 49.225 on bars, topped by a pair of 9.9s from Hollingsworth and Stevens. Olivia Greaves, who made her collegiate debut in last week’s meet, anchored the event, scoring a 9.825.
The Tigers continued the success for the night on beam with a 49.475, besting their previous season-high of 49.425. Stevens led the event with her near-perfect 9.975, followed by a pair of 9.9s from Paige Zancan and Groth. Zancan, a freshman who starts the event for Auburn, earned a season-high on the apparatus.
“Paige did a fantastic job of taking the leadoff position and setting the bar really high,” Graba said. “And we had a lot of confidence in her because that’s who she is. She’s just a rock.”
Auburn’s solid beam performance put the Tigers in the lead heading into floor, the final event of the night, where Auburn secured its largest margin of victory against the Crimson Tide.
Aria Brusch started for Auburn on floor, earning a 9.875 that was followed by four straight 9.9s from sophomore Hannah Hagle, Groth, Gabby McLaughlin and Stevens. To finish the night, Hollingsworth anchored on floor, earning a season-high 9.925 and giving the Tigers their highest score of the season.
“You can’t win without your team,” Stevens said. “So, I just credit a lot to them, and just being able to build for those scores.”
Next up, the Tigers travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on No. 3 LSU. The meet is Friday, Feb. 16 and begins at 8 p.m. CST. It will be televised on the SEC Network.
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Grace Heim is a senior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in Political Science. She started with The Plainsman in January of 2023.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @graceeheim
