AUBURN, Ala. – Despite suffering its first loss of the season Friday night, Auburn still moved up one spot to No. 11 in this week's rankings after the Tigers posted their highest road score of the season (196.700) at No. 2 Florida.
Auburn (5-1, 4-1) will return home this Friday to face No. 21 Arkansas in the final SEC meet inside Auburn Arena. The Tigers are 3-0 at home this season with two sellouts.
"We are excited to have our final home SEC matchup this Friday," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "We feel we are starting to hit our stride right now, but we really need to hit all four events this Friday. Arkansas is a big test for us, and we need all the fans we can get. We've never had three sellouts in a season, and I'm hoping our fans will show up and do it this Friday."
Auburn jumped up eight spots on floor following a season-high 49.450 against Florida. The Tigers are now tied for 28th nationally with an average of 48.888. They also moved up a spot to sixth on bars after another strong performance (49.375). Samantha Cerio (t-29), Abby Milliet (t-32) and Gracie Day (t-38) are all ranked in the top 40 nationally.
Auburn is still ranked in the top 15 on both vault and beam heading into Friday's meet.
It was another impressive performance from Derrian Gobourne as the freshman led Auburn in the all-around with a 39.450 – her second-highest AA total this season. Gobourne is now in a tie for 22nd nationally on all-around with an average of 39.350.
The top five remained the same again this week with Oklahoma in the top spot followed by Florida, UCLA, Utah and LSU. Seven of the eight SEC teams are ranked in the top 20 with Florida and LSU in the top five, followed by Georgia (No. 7), Alabama (No. 9), Auburn (No. 11), Kentucky (No. 13) and Missouri (No. 15). Arkansas, Auburn's opponent this week, checked in at No. 21.