AUBURN, ALABAMA. (EETV) - Auburn Gymnastics moved on to the Sweet 16 following day one of the Auburn Regional in Neville Arena.
“In the end, you’ve just got to survive and advance,” Graba said. “I’m really happy with what they did. I told them that’s the fight you’re going to need in the next round.”
Auburn finished in second with a score of 197.500 in the afternoon session.
The Tigers finished just behind the 10th seed Kentucky Wildcats who scored a 197.750.
“Kentucky’s really, really good, but we’re within two-tenths of them on our bad night,” Graba said. “We control our destiny. If we get our act together, we should be in good shape. Maybe our team needed to get hit in the face a little bit and get woken up.
Both teams will compete in the Regional Final on Saturday. The squads will be joined by Florida and Denver. The top two teams from the meet will advance to the Elite Eight.
Auburn entered three gymnasts in the all-around for the first time this season. Sunisa Lee and Sophia Groth were joined by Cassie Stevens for the all-around but none of the athletes came away with the award as Kentucky’s Raena Worley took home the title in large thanks to her vault title.
Lee might not have walked away with the all-around but the former olympian recorded the highest score of the meet with a 9.975 on the beam. The freshman also added a share of the bars title scoring a 9.950.
“We rely on her and she’s been there for us,” Stevens said of Lee after the meet.
“She’s just a competitor,” said Graba of Lee. “All these girls are tough. You don’t win the Olympic gold medal without having that tough-as-nails mentality.”
The Tigers started from an unusual spot for the team beginning on floor but it didn’t stop Derrian Gobourne from earning a 9.95 to share the event title. Both Groth and Lee each scored 9.9s, with Stevens adding a 9.85.
“Today prepared us a lot for Saturday,” Stevens said. “It will be similar, but definitely more energy, more amped up. It’s not going to be easy. We’re going to have to still fight and show up on Saturday in order to qualify. Knowing we have all that support out there is great.”
Auburn will be back in action on Saturday at 5 p.m CST in Neville Arena when they take on No. 2 Florida, No. 10 Kentucky and No. 15 Denver. The top two teams will advance to the Elite Eight in Fort Worth, Texas and compete from April 14-16.
