March 27, 2010
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The No. 15 Auburn gymnastics team (8-10) placed fifth at the 2010 SEC Championship Saturday afternoon at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum, notching a team score of 195.575 to defeat No. 8 Arkansas (195.275) and No. 18 Kentucky (194.800). Senior Krissy Voss won the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, becoming the third Tiger in program history to capture the award.
"We had a great night tonight against some of the top teams in the country," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "We proved that we belong with them. It was an exciting night that we really only had one major mistake on our opening event on bars and we recovered from that. We basically went 23-for-24 on routines tonight and really finished strong on vault."
For the second-straight season, the No.1 team in the nation was upset as No. 4 Florida, in a virtual home meet, took the team title with a 197.050. No. 1 Alabama followed with a 196.875, while defending National Champion Georgia marked a 196.825 to take third. Finishing just ahead of Auburn was No. 10 LSU with a score of 195.750.
Auburn began the afternoon on its top two events, being ranked 12th nationally on bars and beam entering the meet. Starting on bars was a familiar scenario for for the Tigers, who started on bars in four meets this year and were fresh off a season-high 49.450 in the event at Maryland in the final week of the regular season. Voss led off for the Tigers in her final SEC Championship with a 9.75 to match her score of last season's Championship. Sophomore Kendall Swartz replicated Voss' performance with another 9.75, while sophomore Allyson Sandusky tallied another 9.75 to help give Auburn a cumulative event score of 48.600 after a bye in the first rotation.
Auburn went straight to beam for the third rotation, where junior Lauren Brzostowski led off by tying a season high with a 9.8. Classmate Katie Hurley followed with a 9.775, and Voss equaled a career-high with a 9.825 in the No. 3 position. Sandusky hit a 9.8, followed by a 9.85 from Shields to give Auburn a 49.050, its fourth-highest tally of the season on the apparatus.
Following a bye in rotation four, the Tigers took to floor in the fifth rotation. Brzostowski led off with a 9.725, and freshman Toi Garcia chipped in a 9.8, while Shields scored a 9.825 in the No. 5 spot. Inniss sealed the 48.900 floor score with for the Tigers with a 9.85.
Following the sixth rotation, the Tigers sat in fourth place with a 146.550 ahead of Kentucky (146.475), LSU (146.450), and Arkansas (146.225). Auburn took to vault in the seventh and final rotation, where Shields, Voss, freshman Maya Wickus and Sandusky all notched 9.8s. Garcia led Auburn with a 9.825 to total a 49.025.
"We had a really good shot of picking off LSU, but they have too many big guns in SEC Gymnast of the Year Susan Jackson. We needed to go 49.200 but went 49.025. We're going to build on this. We gained a ton of confidence from this meet and we're just going to continue to do what we do the rest of the season."
In the all-around competition, Shields scored a 39.175 to lead Auburn, while Voss collected a 39.075.
With Voss taking home the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, the Tigers have now captured three of the five awards in SEC history since the award's inception in 2006. Nicole Barnett was the first Tiger to capture the award. Voss, a senior, holds a 3.93 GPA in chemistry and hopes to attend medical school upon graduating.
"I am very honored to be named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. I think it's great that the SEC recognizes academic achievements in addition to athletics," said Voss. "I put forth a lot of effort into being the best student-athlete I can be, and I am very thankful for being recognized."
Auburn awaits news from the NCAA Regional seeding committee for its next destination, which will be determined at 1 p.m. CT. Possible destinations include Regionals hosted by UCLA, Missouri, Penn State, Kentucky, West Virginia and Utah. Check back to AuburnTigers.com for the latest news on where Auburn will be headed for the 2010 NCAA Regional.
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| Auburn Scores | ||||
| Uneven Bars - 48.600 Krissy Voss - 9.75 Carmen Nelms - 9.65 Kylie Shields - 9.7 Petrina Yokay - 9.425 Kendall Swartz - 9.75 Allyson Sandusky - 9.75 | Beam -49.050 Lauren Brzostowski -9.8 Katie Hurley - 9.775 Krissy Voss - 9.825 Allyson Sandusky - 9.8 Rachel Inniss - 9.75 Kylie Shields - 9.85 | Floor Exercise- 48.900 Lauren Brzostowski - 9.725 Katie Hurley - 9.6 Toi Garcia - 9.8 Kylie Shields - 9.825 Krissy Voss - 9.7 Rachel Inniss - 9.85 | Vault - 49.025 Kylie Shields - 9.8 Krissy Voss - 9.8 Maya Wickus - 9.8 Allyson Sandusky - 9.8 Toi Garcia - 9.825 Petrina Yokay- 9.725 | All-Around Kylie Shields - 39.175 Krissy Voss - 39.075 |