AUBURN, Ala. – The NCAA Championships begin Friday, and though the Auburn gymnastics team will not be there, the Tigers will still be represented by Derrian Gobourne. The freshman is set to compete as an individual on vault after winning the vault crown with a career-high 9.950 at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
"I stuck it at regionals," Gobourne said. "After that, I've just been really consistent with sticking my vault. Bryan (Raschilla) told me one thing, 'Be tighter on your block,' and that's pretty much changed my whole vault. It's been really easy to stick now. I think I can go to nationals and do what I've been training."
Gobourne has averaged a 9.872 on vault over her last 10 meets and has posted a 9.900 or higher five different times this season.
This will all be brand new for Gobourne as she has never competed at the NCAA Championships. A year ago at this time, it was teammate Drew Watson making her debut at the event as an individual in the all-around, and that experience helped serve as a catalyst for Watson's sophomore season.
"I think Drew grew a lot last year from this experience," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "And this one is going to be more important. It's a different postseason, and we need to figure out the format. We need to figure out the pace of the meet, that type of stuff.
"Derrian can bring back a lot. I know she's not fully aware of what she can bring back, but just experiencing it and then sharing it with your teammates, I think that's going to be a big help."
Gobourne will perform her vault in the first rotation Friday night as she is slated to rotate with Oklahoma in the second national semifinal. The meet begins at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.