AUBURN, Ala. – The SEC championship is here, and No. 12 Auburn will compete in Saturday's afternoon session. If it says anything about the potential of this team, the Tigers have knocked off three teams in the night session at one point or another during the season.
Auburn knows just how good it can be. Now it's just a matter of execution.
"We know what the recipe is," sophomore Drew Watson said. "We've done it multiple times. We just need to be more confident, and I think that will get us to where we need to be. We just need to have the mindset going into this of not winning, not caring about the wins and losses – just caring about hitting and doing the best that we can because that's when we're the best."
"We try and treat SECs like every other meet," added junior Emma Slappey. "Our goals for this meet are really to be the best version of ourselves and try and hit 24 for 24 and keep building off each routine."
The afternoon session, which also includes No. 10 Alabama, No. 19 Missouri and No. 20 Arkansas, will begin at 3 p.m. CT from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and can also be seen on SEC Network.
AUBURN IN THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
Auburn has experienced a wealth of success under head coach Jeff Graba at the SEC championship. In 2013, Graba led AU to a fifth-place finish with a then-program record score of 196.550. The Tigers qualified for the night session for the first time in program history in 2015, scoring a 196.925 to come in fourth. The following season they set a new program with a 196.975 to earn their second-straight fourth-place finish.
AUBURN LINEUP
Bars: The lineup will be identical to last week's lineup that posted a 49.325 in a win over Air Force. Junior Katie Becker, who earned a 9.775 last week, will lead off and will be followed by sophomore Drew Watson, senior Taylor Krippner and freshman Derrian Gobourne. Fellow senior Samantha Cerio, who is tops on the team and No. 33 nationally on bars this season, will go fifth. And then it will be junior Gracie Day in the anchor spot.
Beam: The only change this week will be the return of senior Abby Milliet, who scored a career-high 9.950 on beam two weeks ago at Elevate. The senior will close out the event for Auburn. Before that, it will be Watson in the lead spot followed by sophomore Allie Riddle, Gobourne, junior Skyler Sheppard and sophomore Meredith Sylvia. Riddle, Sheppard and Sylvia all earned a 9.825 or higher in last week's meet.
Floor: Juniors Emma Slappey and Skyler Sheppard, who both posted a 9.825 last week, will go first and second for the Tigers. Then it will be the two all-arounders, Watson and Gobourne, followed by Milliet in the fifth spot. The senior sat out last week but has scored a 9.900 or higher twice on floor this season. The anchor position goes to Cerio, who shared the individual event title with Watson last week.
Vault: Auburn will wrap up the meet on vault with the same six gymnasts from last week. The only difference will be seniors A'Miracal Phillips and Taylor Krippner swapping spots in the lineup. Krippner will move up to the No. 2 slot, and Phillips will fall back into the anchor spot. Becker will once again lead off, and then it's Day, Gobourne and Watson in the 3-5 spots. Watson won the event title last week with a 9.900.
UP NEXT
Auburn will find out its national seed and NCAA Regional location when the NCAA Gymnastics Selection Show airs this Monday at 4 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.