AUBURN, Ala. – After scoring a 194.825 to beat Iowa in the first meet of 2019, the Auburn gymnastics team checked in at No. 17 in this week's rankings per RoadtoNationals.com.
On Friday, the Tigers will open SEC play at home against No. 4 LSU. The meet is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.
"We're excited to start the SEC schedule and having No. 4 LSU come to town is an immense test," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "We're going to have to perform better than last week, but I think this team will improve. We had a great start last Friday, and we will work hard to fix some of our mistakes from last week.
"We need a packed arena to help give us as much of a home field advantage as possible. I hope we get as huge and loud a crowd as possible."
The rest of the top five includes No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Utah and No. 5 Georgia. In addition to Auburn, LSU and Georgia, the SEC has four other teams in the top 25 with Kentucky (No. 7), Arkansas (No. 10), Missouri (No. 11) and Alabama (No. 18). Florida did not have a meet the opening weekend.
Thanks to a standout performance from sophomore Meredith Sylvia, Auburn opens the season ranked fourth nationally on the balance beam with a 49.250. Sylvia, who scored a 9.925 on the event Friday, is tied for fourth among individuals. Teammates Abby Milliet and Skyler Sheppard are tied for 15th individually on beam after each earned a 9.875 in the first meet.
The Tigers also performed well on the uneven bars (49.150) where they are ranked No. 7 nationally. Gracie Day (9.850) and Derrian Gobourne (9.850) are tied for 23rd.
On vault, sophomore Drew Watson is No. 13 after scoring a 9.875 in the opening meet.