AUBURN, Ala. – In last Friday's win over Arkansas, freshman Derrian Gobourne earned a 9.850 or higher on three of the four events she competed on and finished with a 39.400 in the all-around. It was one of the better all-around scores in her young career, but it wasn't enough to win the AA title. That honor went to teammate Drew Watson, who posted a career-high 39.625.
Gobourne wasn't mad, though. Just the opposite. She was happy for Watson.
"That's a huge score, and that's something that I would want to accomplish," the freshman said. "Maybe it won't be this year, but sometime in my career, I want to be able to score that high."
It's not like Gobourne hasn't had her share of success this season. She's won the all-around title in three meets already. But that back-and-forth between her and Watson? It's been that way all year. It's been this healthy competition where the two gymnasts motivate each other in practice and in meets.
"If she's a little off one week, I'll go up to her and be like 'You've got this,'" Watson said. "We both push each other a lot in the gym and during competition. We kind of take turns, but we both want each other to do the best that we can.
"It's fun having someone there with you, going through the same thing and who knows what you're going through. If I'm tired on Monday and she's not, I'm like 'Oh shoot, maybe I shouldn't be so tired.' I'll kind of pick it up a little bit. I think we really push each other, and I think it's really good to have two all-rounders in a lineup."
Auburn is 6-1 this season, and through the first seven meets, either Gobourne or Watson have won the all-around title in six of them. In a win at Kentucky earlier this month, the two both scored a 39.350 and shared the all-around crown.
"Having two all-arounders is good if they're competitive," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "If they're at the level those two are at. And when they're at that level, it's good that they're fighting each other as much as they're fighting the other team. I think we've got two of the best all-arounders in the country, and if they're pushing each other, they're going to get getter.
"It's been fun to watch that they seem to take turns. Every meet the other person decides to step up a little bit. Maybe they could both tie with a 39.800 or something one of these days. That would be nice."
For Graba, this is the first time he's had two all-arounders compete consistently in the same season since he's been at Auburn. It's the first time it's happened at Auburn in more than two decades. Last season, the Tigers had no all-arounders through the first four meets.
It was about that time that Watson, a freshman then, "accidentally" did floor and beam against Arkansas and competed in the all-around for the first time. She continued as the team's only all-arounder the rest of the season and ultimately earned a spot at the 2018 NCAA Championships in the all-around after finishing fourth in the regional.
"It was so much fun just being at nationals," Watson said. "I kind of got that taste of nationals and wanting to do it again with the team this year. I feel like that helped me grow a lot as a gymnast and as a person, being a leader. And then doing all-around this year, I felt like what it was like at nationals and so I really wanted to do it this year. I pushed in the summer. I pushed all through preseason. And I feel like I'm finally starting to figure it out."
That was evident with Watson's career-high 39.625 in the last meet.
For Gobourne, all it took was one meet before she went from three events to four and started competing in the all-around. And in her AA debut, the freshman posted a 39.475 to help Auburn beat LSU. She was named SEC Freshman of the Week a few days later.
"To me, it keeps it interesting," Gobourne said. "It's just a variety of things. I'm not going to just do vault. I get to do bars, floor and mix it up. That's how I look at it."
With Gobourne and Watson in the lineup on every event, it's no coincidence that Auburn is off to one of the best starts in program history. It's no longer a question of if the Tigers will have an all-around winner at a given meet. It's now a question of which one.
The two will once again vie for another AA crown this Sunday when Auburn travels to Texas Woman's University. The meet is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf