In a meet where there were low scores across the board, the Auburn Tigers finished third in Session I of the SEC Gymnastics Championships with a score of 196.775.
Auburn fell to Missouri and Arkansas, who both broke 197, and defeated Georgia, who had an uncharacteristic score of 196.075.
Graduate student Cassie Stevens was the highlight of the meet for Auburn, scoring an impressive 39.500 in the all-around. Her score was good enough for second place, coming a tenth of a point behind Georgia’s Lily Smith. Stevens scored a 9.900 on vault and bars, and a 9.850 on beam and floor.
It was another great day on bars for head coach Jeff Graba’s squad, as the team totaled a 49.400. The 49.400 tied last week’s score for a season high. The rotation started strong with a 9.900 from graduate student Aria Brusch, and remained consistent throughout. Junior Sophia Groth had a fall, but was covered well by her teammates. More 9.900s came from Stevens, senior Olivia Hollingsworth and redshirt freshman Olivia Greaves.
One of the Tigers more troublesome rotations this season, vault, was highlighted by a stellar 9.900 from freshman Julianne Huff. While the total of 49.075 was not the improvement the Tigers were looking for, Huff’s big vault should give her and her teammates a good deal of confidence heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Floor, an event that Auburn has done well in all season, was the weak link at the SEC Championships. The Tigers will hope to get out of their system a season-low score of 49.150. It was another dip for the score on beam as well, going from a season-high 49.475 last week to a 49.15 this week.
The Tigers will hope to bounce back in the next postseason action, the NCAA Tournament. Auburn will wait for its seed and competition location that will be announced Monday, March 25.
