LEXINGTON, Ky. - It was a tough night for the No. 11 Auburn Tigers (8-2, 1-1) as they traveled to the No. 7 Kentucky Wildcats (4-2, 2-1) for their SEC gymnastics road test. The Tigers finished the evening with a 196.600 while the Wildcats finished the evening with an overall score of 197.050.
In addition to winning the overall meet, Kentucky’s Skylar Killough-Wilhelm won the individual all-around, finishing the night with 39.400 over Auburn’s Katelyn Jong who scored 39.325. Despite losing the all-around though, Jong had some of Auburn’s highest scores of the evening and won one of the four individual event titles for the Tigers.
Kentucky gymnasts had high scores on vault, bars, and floor, but Katelyn Jong scored 9.950 on beam, her highest score on the apparatus this season. She won the individual event title, continuing Auburn’s dominance on the apparatus.
In addition to Jong, Marissa Neal had another spectacular night for the Tigers, scoring a 9.925 on beam and a 9.850 on floor. Neal and Jong were the only two members of the Auburn gymnastics team to score a 9.900 or higher, with Neal’s on beam and Jong’s on bars and beam.
While the Tigers did have a tough night overall, especially in the middle two rotations, they started strong on Bars, especially Alex Irvine. Irvine has opened for the Tigers for three straight weeks now, and her scores continue to climb higher every week, with this week's score being 9.850. Irvine opened the rotation with a strong routine, and Jong closed out with a 9.900, her fourth 9.900 of the season.
Auburn’s second rotation on vault was not as strong for the Tigers with Sarah Zois scoring 9.650 and anchor Paige Zancan scoring 9.625 respectively, a low score for her, but she does know how to bounce back. However, in her return to Auburn’s vault rotation, Julianne Huff scored the second-highest vault of the night and had her season best with a score of 9.875.
Sadly, for the Tigers, their third rotation on the floor would see the Tigers score the lowest overall on the apparatus since their first meet, and fifth-year senior Olivia Hollingsworth injure herself during her floor routine. During her first floor pass, Hollingsworth injured herself and had to be carried off, which put the Tigers in a tough position for the rest of the meet.
The Tigers closed out the floor rotation with 49.050 and headed to the beam for the final rotation. The Tigers are the 6th-best team in the nation on the apparatus, and it showed tonight with Olivia Greaves stepping up and filling in for Hollingsworth after her injury and scoring a 9.875.
While it was a tough night overall for the Tigers, their final rotation on the beam showed why they are the 6th-best team in the nation on the apparatus, and they showed both their mental and physical toughness in the face of adversity with the way they closed out the night.
Next up, the Auburn Tigers will face the Georgia Bulldogs back home in Neville Arena for the gymnastics version of the Deep South’s oldest rivalry. The first rotation will begin at 7:00 CT and will be on the SEC Network+.
