AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 15 Auburn gymnastics team heads to the Northeast for a Sunday afternoon quad meet hosted by New Hampshire. The Tigers will face host Wildcats along with Rutgers and Central Michigan in Durham, N.H., at 12 p.m. CT.
"This is the start of a really busy stretch for us," head coach Jeff Graba said. "We're facing teams we don't usually see and it's a quad meet format. It's a good taste of what postseason will be like and I'm looking forward to seeing what this team can do in a new environment."
AUBURN LINEUP
Junior Drew Watson and freshman Cassie Stevens are once again in the all-around for the Tigers and the pair rank in the Top 10 regionally in the category.
Auburn will start on bars in the first rotation with Stevens going first. Classmates Adeline Sabados and Aria Brusch follow and the pair of coming off solid scores vs. TWU last week. Sabados earned a 9.825, while Brusch earned a 9.85. Watson will go fourth before senior Gracie Day and sophomore Derrian Gobourne close out the rotation. Day and Gobourne lead the squad with a 9.860 and a 9.840 NQS, respectively.
The Tigers will move on to beam in the quad meet format for rotation two. Senior Emma Slappey leads off once again for the squad with Brusch following in the second slot. Stevens is third and junior beam specialist Meredith Sylvia is down in the fourth spot. Watson and senior Skyler Sheppard will conclude the rotation for the Tigers.
The third rotation moves Auburn to floor with Stevens and Sheppard kicking things off. Brusch and Day follow after scoring big for the Tigers last week. Brusch put together a 9.875, while Day set a season high with a 9.9. Watson is fifth and Gobourne will anchor. The sophomore leads the team with a 9.855 NQS in the event.
Auburn caps the day on vault where the squad is eighth nationally with a 49.225 NQS. Sheppard and junior Jada Glenn will go first for the team. Day is third and Stevens will go fourth. Watson and Gobourne will close out the day. Watson is ranked seventh nationally with a 9.920 and Gobourne is 22nd at 9.880.
Auburn will also have exhibition competitors in each event. Freshman Piper Smith is down for vault and classmate Anna Sumner is going on bars. Redshirt freshman Molly Frack is slated for beam and Sabados will compete on floor.
SERIES HISTORY
Auburn and New Hampshire have faced off 10 times with Auburn holding an 8-2 overall record. The two squads last met at the 2016 NCAA Ann Arbor Regional where the Tigers came away with a first-place finish to advance to the NCAA Championship. The last time Auburn visited Durham was in 2004 for another quad meet where the team came in first.
The Tigers are 6-0-1 against Central Michigan. After kicking off the series at home in 1996 with a win, Auburn and CMU have faced off six more times in a neutral setting. The last meeting was in 2017.
Auburn is 3-0 vs. the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers came to the Plains in 2018 and the Tigers took the victory.
UP NEXT
Auburn will face Alabama in the annual Elevate the Stage meet in Birmingham. The two squads will go head-to-head at 7 p.m. CT in the BJCC Friday, March 13.