AUBURN, Ala. – Whether she's in the gym or the classroom, Auburn's Cassie Stevens shines.
To be honored as the Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year is a remarkable achievement. To do it twice, as Stevens has in back-to-back years, is doubly impressive.
"I like how that award encapsulates both the academic side and the athletic side because I really like to pride myself on both aspects of the sport," said Stevens, who's maintained a 4.0 grade-point-average while working on a master's in exercise science after earning an Auburn University undergraduate degree in information systems management. "Winning it last year was an incredible thing. To win it again was a cherry on top. It means a lot."
In her fifth season, Stevens has excelled. She's competed in all four events in each meet and ranks among the top 15 nationally averaging 39.590 while winning five all-around titles, four on vault, three on beam and one on floor.
"It's just amazing what she's done inside and outside the gym," Auburn coach Jeff Graba said. "A great leader. She's everything to the program."
Stevens and her Tiger teammates travel to the West Coast this week to compete in the NCAA Berkeley Regional. Auburn leads off on floor Friday night at 9 p.m. CT vs. host school Cal, Stanford and the winner of Wednesday's play-in meet between San Jose State and Southern Utah.
"Really excited to go to Cal," said Stevens, whose team concluded the 2023 season at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. "I see it as an opportunity to rewrite the story. There's not a lot of times in life that you get a second chance at things.
"Starting on floor, you end on beam. Floor and beam have proven to be really solid events for our team. If you can start off strong and finish strong, you can't really ask for anything better than that."
While still not a short trip for her family from their home in Phoenix, Arizona, the distance to the Bay Area is less than half as far as it from the desert to the Plains.
"My parents were happy about Cal because it's closer to home for me," said Stevens, who earned All-SEC honors in all-around and vault for the second straight season. "I think it's going to be a fun trip."
Before beginning the westward journey, Graba shared with reporters the formula that's led to Auburn's highest scores this season.
"Building off of each other. It takes a lot of confidence," he said. "If we can get on a roll early, we're in a really good spot. We have to come out of the locker room with the right mindset, and that's on our leaders, our upperclassmen to make sure that happens.
"We've been really good when we haven't dipped our toe in the water; when we've just jumped into the deep end and figured it out."
Added Stevens, "I firmly believe that if we put together four events that we know we're capable of, then we have a really good shot at (advancing)."
Like Drew Watson and Derrian Gobourne in recent seasons, and classmate Aria Brusch this year, Cassie Stevens returned to the Plains for an encore, a decision that paid dividends for herself and for Auburn.
"Think of it as a celebration, a victory lap," she said. "Try not to put too much expectations and pressure on it. Just trying to enjoy it. I was really happy to come back and I'm happy about what I've been able to accomplish this year but we're not done yet."
'We're not done yet'
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer