AUBURN, Ala. – First, freshman Sunisa Lee debuted another never-before-performed skill on bars.
For an encore, she scored a 10.0 on beam, the first by an Auburn gymnast at Auburn Arena.
All in a meet's work for the Olympic all-around gold medalist.
"So surreal," Lee said. "It really does feel like a family the way we all celebrated together. It's not like anything I've ever experienced in my life. It was pure happiness. Our energy was way up there."
Lee won the all-around Friday with a 39.775 to lead No. 5 Auburn to a 197.925-197.150 win over Kentucky, the highest score in program history and the Tigers' seventh consecutive 197 or better.
"I was really proud of the girls, the way they settled down and kept building throughout the meet," Auburn coach Jeff Graba said. "We're going to look back on this and feel like this made us better."
"We can only go up from here," Lee said. "I feel like each week we're getting better."
One week after debuting a dazzling vault, Lee performed the Nabieva on bars, earning a 10.0 from one judge and scoring a 9.975. It's a maneuver that had never been performed before in collegiate gymnastics; one Lee first executed nearly a decade ago while attending Auburn's camp for juniors.
"It's so fun for me," Lee said. "I want people to not know what I'm going to do. I get to look back and say I made history."
"She needs to be challenged," Graba said. "She gets bored easily. We need to continue to challenge her and take the kids' gloves off."
Junior Aria Brusch returned triumphantly after sitting out the past two meets, scoring a career-high 9.95 on bars.
"I was excited to be back in the lineup," Brusch said. "I took that time to rest. Sometimes breaks are good. I'm happy to be able to contribute again.
"It's incredible to see us build on one another. It's awesome to see that we're finally doing it consistently. We're getting those scores that we really worked for. We've been shooting for 198. That's our goal. We're getting closer and closer every week."
"Aria's a rock," Graba said. "When she returns, everybody settles down."
Tied after three rotations, it came down to Auburn's floor routines vs. Kentucky's beam scores. The Wildcats applied pressure with two 9.950s but Auburn answered with five 9.9s or better, totaling a whopping 49.675 -a program record - while Kentucky had to count one of two beam falls.
The Tigers trailed 49.450-49.275 after the first rotation, highlighted by freshman Sara Hubbard's 9.875 on vault, a career best.
Freshman Sophia Groth got Auburn off to a strong start on bars, leading off with a career-high 9.875. Junior Cassie Stevens preceded Brusch and earned a career best 9.925, helping Auburn score 49.575.
After a slow start on beam, the Tigers' finished strong with Groth's 9.950, sophomore Gabby McLaughlin's 9.925 and Lee's 10.0 to tie Kentucky 148.250-148.250.
On floor, freshman Sara Hubbard led off with a 9.9, followed by Drew Watson's 9.925 and Stevens' 9.9. When the Wildcats scored a second 9.95 on beam, the heat was on Lee and Gobourne, who each earned a 10.0 from one judge while scoring 9.975s to share the event title and clinch victory for Auburn.
The Tigers' home meet next Friday will be the program's first in Neville Arena, which will be formally renamed before Auburn and Florida compete at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ with a share of the SEC championship on the line if Auburn wins.
"They're one of the best teams in the country," Graba said. "This is only the second time in the history of our program that we've been in the position to win the SEC regular season championship. We're ready to go but you've got to bring your A game. We've got to be better than this."
