AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn gymnastics team enters the week at No. 15 in this week's rankings per RoadToNationals.com with an NQS of 196.831. With their ranking, the Tigers will be the No. 6 seed at the 2021 Southeastern Conference Championships, the league announced Monday.
Rankings are based on a team's Nationals Qualifying Score (NQS). This season, the NQS is determined based on the average between a team's top two road scores and top two home scores.
The two-session SEC Championship will be held Saturday, March 20 inside the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Tigers will compete in the afternoon session alongside fifth-seeded Kentucky, seventh-seeded Georgia and eighth-seeded Missouri. Auburn will start on bars and follow to beam, floor and vault.
Action in the afternoon session will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network with Bart Conner and Kathy John Clarke on the call.
In the national rankings, Florida and Oklahoma are tied at the No. 1 spot with an NQS of 197.944. LSU is third with Michigan and Utah rounding out the Top 5.
The rest of the Southeastern Conference continues to be ranked in the Top 25. Alabama stands at No. 8, while Arkansas is ninth. Kentucky comes in at No. 12, while Georgia (No. 16) and Missouri (No. 21) round out the league.
The Tigers are among the Top 25 in all four events. The squad is 13th overall on beam (49.275) and tied for 13th on bars (49.313). Auburn is tied for 16th on vault (49.156) and stands 25th on floor (49.200).
Junior Derrian Gobourne is among the Top 30 in three events for the Tigers. She ranks tied third nationally on floor with a 9.956 NQS and is tied for 13th with a 9.913 on bars. Her 9.984 on vault ranks her tied for 30th.
In addition, Gobourne is tied for 29th in the all-around with a 39.313 NQS.
Senior Drew Watson is tied for 30th on vault with a 9.984 NQS and freshman Gabby McLaughlin stands tied for 17th on beam (9.919).
