GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Auburn might not be undefeated anymore, but the 12th-ranked Tigers still put together one of their top performances of the season Friday night with a 196.700 on the road at No. 2 Florida. The Gators won the meet with a 197.850.
The 196.700 from Auburn was its highest road score this season, and it ranks as one of the top 10 road scores in program history.
"I feel like what the girls should take away is that they can compete with anybody in the country," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "We were neck and neck with these guys periodically throughout the night, and we blinked. And I think when you blink in a meet like this, it gets away from you in a hurry. In my estimation, the girls just have to get a little better about keeping their head down."
"It just confirms all along what we've been saying," added senior Abby Milliet. "We can compete against anybody if we compete against ourselves. It's not about who's on the other side of the floor. It's about what we can do. We're all so competitive that if we just one-up each other, nothing can stop us."
Milliet returned to the lineup after sitting out last week and finished with a 9.900 on bars, a 9.850 on beam, and she wowed the crowd at Florida with a season-high 9.925 on floor.
The entire team performed well on floor as Auburn earned its highest floor score on the road in program history with a 49.450. It was also a season-high on floor for the Tigers.
"Floor was a home run for us," Graba said. "We finally started to get the lineup that we think we need in, and they hit a home run. In this environment, that's great."
Junior Emma Slappey led off on floor with a 9.850, and then fellow junior Skyler Sheppard followed with a 9.875 – a new career high for her. The two all-arounders, Drew Watson and Derrian Gobourne, went next with a 9.825 and 9.875 respectively, and then Milliet and Gracie Day each posted a 9.925 to close out the event.
Day, who competed on floor for the time since Jan. 4, matched her career high.
Auburn also posted another strong bars score Friday night with a 49.375 to begin the meet. Led by Milliet's 9.900, all six gymnasts posted a 9.850 or higher, and the trio of Watson, Gobourne and Samantha Cerio each earned a 9.875. It was the team's second-highest score on bars this season.
On vault, Gobourne (9.900) and Watson (9.875) led the way, and it was sophomore Meredith Sylvia who once again who finished with a team-high 9.875 on beam.
Gobourne, who scored a 9.800 or higher on all four events against Florida, narrowly missed her career high in the all-around with a 39.450. And Watson also posted her second-highest all-around score this season as she finished with a 39.300.
Even with the loss, Auburn is still 5-1 on the season and 4-1 in the SEC.
"This is huge for improvement," Graba said. "This is the first time we've been in this environment. The hostile crowd. It's a sellout on the road. And they have to be good at that. That's what we talked about at the end of the meet. 'Guys, this is what you want.' The other road meets were not like this. It was very quiet. It wasn't that big of a crowd. This is what we want. This is what we want to be good at."
The Tigers return home to Auburn Arena next week where they will face No. 22 Arkansas. The meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and can be streamed on SEC Network+.