No. 17 Auburn continues postseason at NCAA Baton Rouge Regional

AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 17 Auburn gymnastics team returns to competition this week, kicking off the NCAA portion of the postseason at the 2026 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, April 2-4. The three-day meet will be held in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and is hosted by LSU.

“NCAA postseason is a new game and we’ve been in this situation before,” head coach Jeff Graba said. “We’re going to have to be clean in all our routines to move on. The more experience in the postseason, the better for this team. So, our focus is to go into Thursday and do what we do every day in practice.”

The Tigers will kick things off in the NCAA Regional Second Round on Thursday, April 2 and will compete in the night session at 7 p.m. CT against regional No. 1 seed LSU and regional No. 4 seed Clemson as well as the play-in winner between Air Force and Nebraska.

The afternoon session of the second round will feature regional No. 2 seed Stanford, regional No. 3 seed Michigan, North Carolina and Utah State.

The top two teams from each of the two sessions on April 2 will advance to the regional final on Saturday, April 4.

The top two squads from the regional final and the top all-around competitor (who is not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the 2026 NCAA Championship, April 16-18, in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition, the top event specialist on each event who is not a part of the advancing team or all-around competitor will advance to the national championship in that event only.

AUBURN LINEUP
Auburn will kick off the meet on beam and follow with floor, vault, bars.

Juniors Julianne Huff and Olivia Greaves as well as sophomore Marissa Neal are among the top eight on all four events. Huff has competed in the all-around 11 times this year and has captured four AA titles.

Auburn leads off on beam and is No. 14 nationally with a 49.158 NQS.

Neal leads the team with a 9.895 NQS and has 11 scores of 9.85 or higher this year with four 9.9s and a 9.925 to her credit. She has also won the event title twice for the Tigers. 

Joining her among the team’s best beam workers is junior Alex Irvine and Huff. Irvine has a 9.890 NQS with 11 scores of 9.8 or better. She’s reached a 9.9 or a 9.925 five times and has one event title.  Huff has a 9.875 NQS and reached a 9.875 or better six times.

The trio will be joined in the top eight by senior Hannah Hagle, juniors Greaves, Emma Wehry and Paige Zancan and sophomore Olivia Ahern. Hagle has a 9.860 NQS, while Ahern has been a steady leadoff for the Tigers for the past two years.

The Tigers move on floor where the squad has a 49.230 NQS.

Neal, Huff, Greaves and Ahern lead the way in the top eight as all four earned All-SEC in the event. Huff has a team-best 9.905 NQS with Neal following with a 9.9 NQS. Neal has three event titles, while Huff has two on the year.

Greaves holds a 9.880 NQS and Greaves, Huff and Neal all have earned a 9.95 at least once this year. Ahern has competed on floor every meet with a pair of 9.9s to her credit.

Joining the crew in the floor top eight is Irvine, sophomore Bryn Bartman, junior Emma Grace Boyd and freshman Charlotte Booth. Bartman has competed on floor in every meet with 11 scores of 9.8 or better.

Vault will be Auburn’s third rotation and has been one of the team’s best events, having a 49.168 NQS.

Zancan leads the way with a 9.900 NQS, while Neal earned All-SEC for her 9.9 at the conference meet. Huff and freshman Mia Leverton have been consistent this year in the event as Huff has a 9.860 NQS and Leverton isn’t far behind with a 9.855 NQS.

Also among the top eight is Greaves, juniors Kaylee Bluffstone and Jersey Woolsey and freshman Brynn Torry. Bluffstone earned her first start as an Auburn Tiger at SECs, while Torry as a 9.9 to her credit.

The team will close out the meet on bars. Irvine and Boyd each earned All-SEC in the event as Irvine leads the team with a 9.885 NQS. Boyd has seven scores of 9.8 or better with a career-high 9.9 this year.

Huff, Booth, Bartman, Greaves, Neal and Hagle are all among the top eight on bars for the team and look to compete for the Tigers this week.