After concluding the regular season last week at home against No. 2 LSU, No. 12 Auburn gymnastics is headed to Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL to compete in the first session of the SEC Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, March 22.
Ending the LSU meet with a final score of 197.550, the Tigers’ National Qualifying Score (NQS) bumped up to 197.170, locking them in as the No. 7 seed in the championships above No. 8 seed Alabama.
Also competing in the first session of the championships is No. 5 seed Kentucky and No. 6 seed Georgia.
In the regular season, Auburn claimed victories over both Alabama and Georgia with scores of 197.750 and 197.300, respectively. The 197.750 mark is the highest for the Tigers this season.
After season-ending achilles injuries to both senior Olivia Hollingsworth and freshman Kaitlyn “Keko” Jong, both of whom were staples in the Auburn lineups early in the season, the Tigers have had multiple gymnasts step up to fill the scoring gap.
Against LSU, sophomore Paige Zancan earned new career highs on two of her three events, scoring a 9.975 on vault and a 9.925 on floor. The stellar night for the sophomore was rounded out by a 9.900 on beam.
The return of freshman Marissa Neal to the beam and floor lineups after a mid-season injury has led to some much-needed lineup support for the Tigers as they enter the postseason.
After the injury to Jong, sophomore Olivia Greaves was slotted into the anchor spot in the bars rotation and has performed in both the floor and beam rotations. Greaves also set a new career high with a 9.975 to close out Auburn’s bars rotation against LSU.
Greaves’ bars routine is going to be crucial for the Tigers moving forward into the postseason, as the Tigers have an SEC-low 49.250 NQS on that particular event. The uneven bars is the only event that the Tigers rank out of the top 10 on, but with two team scores of 49.400+ this season, Auburn has proved that it can earn a high mark on the event.
Coming into the SEC championships, No. 5 seed Kentucky is coming off of its highest road score of the season against Florida with a 197.725.
Even though the Wildcats are in the afternoon session, they are right in reach of the magical 198 score, with a 197.925 scored in their last home meet of the season.
No. 6 seed Georgia GymDogs are coming into the SEC championships on a hot streak, scoring 197+ in their last six meets. Georgia is another team that has 198 potential, with the GymDogs scoring a 197.975 against the No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners last Friday.
Coming into the meet ranked top 10 in the country on both balance beam and uneven bars, Georgia needs to put up big scores on both the vault and floor. However, the GymDogs seem to be peaking at the right time as both of their highest scores of the season on those events came just last week against Oklahoma.
Just squeaking into the championships right after Auburn is No. 8 seed Alabama. The Crimson Tide scored a 197.050 in their meet against Michigan last Friday, but Alabama has yet to post a 197.700 score this season.
However, the Tide has high scoring potential, with experienced upperclassmen all-arounders Lily Hudson and Gabby Gladieux leading the way for Alabama.
Immediately following session one of the championships will be session two, which will consist of the top four seeds in the SEC.
In its first year in the conference, Oklahoma snagged a share of the regular-season title but holds sole place of the No. 1 overall seed. Co-regular season champs and defending SEC meet champions LSU secured the No. 2 seed, while Florida and Missouri claimed the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively.
Even though the championship is split into two meets, the team and individual titles will be decided by the highest overall team and individual scores across either meet.
Session one begins at 2:30 p.m. CST on Saturday with session two following at 7 p.m. CST. Both quad meets will be broadcasted on SEC Network.
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Emily Porch is a senior majoring in Sports Production from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @emilycporch
