AUBURN, Ala. – The bus waited outside Auburn University's McWhorter Center to take the Tigers' gymnastics team to Birmingham for the final regular season meet against Alabama, but the departure never took place.
"We had a meeting that day before we got on the bus because everything was starting to go a little crazy," said coach Jeff Graba, recalling the dizzying events that led to the cancellation of Auburn's March 13 Elevate the State meet along with the SEC Championship and NCAA regional and national championships.
"It's tough for your seniors," Graba said. "It's tough for our sport."
Drawing on his personal athletic experiences, Graba contrasts gymnastics with other sports.
"Gymnastics isn't a thing that you can take time off of," he said. "Most of these girls, they're going to go into this two or three weeks or whatever, without doing anything. That will be the longest they've ever gone without gymnastics since they were 3 or 4 years old.
"I can still throw a baseball, I can still throw a football around. I can't do what I did in gymnastics ever again. As soon as you're done, as soon as you take two weeks off, and you're retired, those seniors will never do what they were doing again.
"It's career-ending. This was career-ending for the seniors. It's just a little bit more of a shock to the system. They knew it was going to come. They thought it was going to come a couple weeks or a month away. We're still processing that because it's a lifestyle that's come to an end and now they've got to figure out a new identity."
The Tigers held their Senior Night on Feb. 28 at Auburn Arena, a "silver lining" as Graba calls it, compared to teams whose final home meets were cancelled because of COVID-19.
"Our girls handled it really well," he said. "They're pretty mature. The seniors have things they want to get going on, and most of them are in the medical field. They're smart, they understand what's going on, and they can see the reason behind it."
Given gymnastics' comparatively smaller rosters, the impact of any NCAA eligibility relief would be significant.
"I'm in support because I think it's the right thing to do," Graba said. "I'm glad I don't have to decide how that works out. One or two girls who come back, that can have a huge impact. That's like giving another year to a Casey Mize, and letting him pitch along with the guys who were supposed to replace him."
Graba's 10th season as Auburn's head coach included a victory over Alabama, Gracie Day being named SEC Specialist of the Week for the Florida meet, and Derrian Gobourne and Drew Watson in line to earn All-America honors on bars and vault, respectively.
'We had a lot of bright spots," said Graba, who referenced all seven freshmen earning lineup spots at some point during the season. "We had a really young team and I do think we were starting to figure it out. We were getting to the end and the girls were starting to click. Our last two practices were the best of the year.
"I'm excited for the future. I'm heartbroken for the seniors that they have to go out this way."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer