No. 15 Auburn gymnastics defeated Temple, Talladega and Fisk on Friday night, scoring a 197.425 in a quad meet at Neville Arena. The Tigers picked up a season-high meet score in their win, and it was their third time to break 197 this season.
Temple came in second place with a score of 193.425, followed by Fisk with a 191.925 and Talladega with a 188.875.
“I'm really happy with the team,” said Auburn head coach Jeff Graba. “The performance was really good. It was a lot of fun to be out there in a bit of a chaotic atmosphere…I can’t say enough about how good it was to see them respond the right way.”
Auburn picked up season-high scores in two out of its four apparatuses. The Tigers scored 49.475 on floor and 49.425 on beam, both season-bests for Auburn. Gabby McLaughlin led the Tigers in both events, scoring a season-best 9.950 on floor and a 9.925 on beam.
Gabby McLaughlin scored a season-best 9.950 on floor during Auburn's quad meet on Feb. 2, 2024.
“I’m really glad I’m able to lead my team,” McLaughlin said. “I hope that it carries over to my teammates as well. I want them to be able to look up to me and know that if they need help, I’m always gonna be there for them.”
The Tigers totaled a 49.300 on bars, an impressive feat after scoring a 48.875 on the apparatus in their last meet. Aria Brusch led off for Auburn on the uneven bars, earning a season-best score of 9.875 and starting things strong in the event for the Tigers. Sophia Groth led Auburn with a 9.900 on bars while Cassie Stevens and Olivia Greaves joined Brusch with a pair of 9.875s.
It was redshirt freshman Greaves’s collegiate debut after being out with an ACL injury last season.
“Anytime you have a story like that, and for it to go well, you can’t quantify that. I think it carried the rest of the night,” Graba said of Greaves’s performance on bars.
Olivia Greaves makes her college debut on bars in quad meet vs. Temple, Fisk, and Talladega on Feb. 2, 2024.
The Tigers swept the individual titles in each event, with Cassie Stevens (9.925) taking vault, Sophia Groth (9.900) taking bars and McLaughlin taking beam and floor. Stevens won the all-around competition with a total score of 39.550, followed by Groth with a 39.450 and Olivia Hollingsworth with a 39.375.
Next up, the Tigers face in-state foe No. 4 Alabama at home. The meet is Friday, Feb. 9 and begins at 8 p.m. CST. It will be televised on the SEC Network.
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Grace Heim is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in English Literature. She started with The Plainsman in January 2023.
