AUBURN, Ala. – Coming off a 196.400 in Tuscaloosa on Friday, the Auburn gymnastics team dropped a spot to No. 13 in this week's NQS. The Tigers are hoping to improve on that score and avenge their loss to No. 9 Alabama when the two sides face off again Saturday in Birmingham for the annual Elevate the Stage meet.
"Road meets and road scores are crucial this time of year, and we need to stay focused on having a great meet this Saturday in Birmingham," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "We have a lot of things left to accomplish, and this team needs to be focused on getting better every day right now."
This week's top five remained the same after No. 1 Oklahoma took down No. 2 UCLA on Sunday. The rest of the top five includes Florida, LSU and Oklahoma.
The SEC is once again well-represented in this week's NQS with all eight teams in the top 20. Joining Florida (No. 3) and LSU (No. 4) in the top 10 are Georgia (No. 8) and Alabama (No. 9), and the rest goes as followed: Kentucky (No. 12), Auburn (No. 13), Missouri (No. 17) and Arkansas (No. 20).
Though Auburn earned a 49.000 or higher on all four events Friday, there wasn't much change in the team rankings for each event this week.
The Tigers remained at No. 7 nationally on bars (49.355) and No. 11 on vault (49.145), and they moved up a spot to No. 17 on both beam (49.040) and floor (49.140).
Sophomore Drew Watson moved back into the top spot in the region on vault after posting a 9.925 at Alabama. Watson and teammate Derrian Gobourne, who scored a 9.900 in the same meet, are both ranked in the top 15 nationally on vault per NQS.