AUBURN, Ala. – It was a historic night for the No. 17 Auburn gymnastics team as they took down No. 4 LSU, 196.700-196.275, in front of a sellout crowd at Auburn Arena on Friday. It's tied for the biggest win in program history and the third time Auburn has beaten the No. 4 team nationally.
"I don't think any of us knew we won until they announced it," senior Abby Milliet said. "We were so excited about how we did and how good it felt being out there and having a good competition that it didn't really matter if we won. We won at what we were trying to do."
"The environment was so fun," added freshman Derrian Gobourne. "It played a really big factor. Just to hear everyone cheer and scream for you is an amazing feeling."
Gobourne, competing in all-around for the first time in her career, won the individual all-around title with a 39.475. She scored a 9.875 or better on three of the four events, and her floor routine (9.950) was the highest score on any event by either team and the highest score by Auburn on floor since 2015.
"Everybody screaming at the end of Derrian's floor routine, that was as loud as we can get in this building in gymnastics," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "So I was excited.
"This atmosphere helped us beat LSU tonight. This atmosphere helped us score the score that we got tonight. There's just no doubt about that. But it also helped our girls figure out how to compete at the highest level in an intense, crazy environment. We got better tonight because of our fans."
Heading into floor, the final routine of the night, Auburn was tied with LSU. Thanks to high scores from Gobourne (9.950), Milliet (9.900) and Skyler Sheppard (9.825), the Tigers posted a 49.175 on the event to win the meet.
Auburn began the night on vault where Gobourne won another individual title with a 9.900. Drew Watson, Gracie Day and A'Miracal Phillips also scored a 9.800 to get things rolling.
The best event of the night for Auburn came on bars where four of the six gymnasts earned a 9.900 or better. Milliet led the way, winning the individual title with a 9.925, but Watson, Taylor Krippner and Samantha Cerio also stuck their landings and finished with a 9.900. Gobourne improved her performance from a week ago with a 9.875. As a team, the Tigers scored a 49.500 -- 0.025 off the program record.
"What I was excited about was that we went to bars needing bars to do what they can do, and they did that, if not a little bit more than needed," Graba said. "I hope the girls take confidence from that."
It was a strong performance again on beam for Auburn as Milliet paced the team with another 9.900, followed by Sheppard (9.825) and Meredith Sylvia (9.800) – who also posted solid scores.
Auburn will be back in action next Saturday when the team travels to Missouri for a 1 p.m. CT meet. Then it's back home the following week against Georgia on Friday, Jan. 25.
No. 17 Auburn takes down No. 4 LSU in front of sellout crowd
