AUBURN, Ala. — The No. 11 Auburn Tigers (10-4, 3-3) lose their first meet at home of the season and lose for a second time to the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners (13-1, 6-1) with a final score of 196.900 to Oklahoma’s 197.925.
“This was a tough meet. It’s been a tough month. We’ve had to shuffle four new lineups in the last 22 hours, and that’s the third time we’ve had to do that,” Coach Jeff Graba said.
For Auburn, this was a tough meet, especially with Keko Jong’s lower leg injury that kept her out of the rotation tonight, in addition to Marissa Neal’s and Olivia Hollingsworth’s injuries, which have kept them out of the rotation. It’s been a tough month lineup-wise for the Tigers.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, showed why they are the number one team in the country since they not only won the meet but also had a clean sweep of the highest scores across all four events and in the All-Around as well.
Elle Mueller won Vault with 9.975, Faith Torrez won Bars with 9.950, and Jordan Bowers won Beam with 9.950, Floor with 9.925, and the All Around with 39.675.
Despite the loss tonight, though, Auburn did have solid performances from gymnasts who have been fighting to get into the rotation and who may not have been expecting to compete at all tonight.
One gymnast who stood out tonight was Sarah Zois. “Zois went from doing one event to basically doing the all-around, and I thought that was fantastic,” Coach Graba said. Zois scored 9.775 on Vault, 9.875 on Beam, and 9.825 on Floor, all of which are solid scores for a gymnast who was only expected to compete in one event tonight.
The second gymnast who stepped up to the plate tonight was Sophia Bell, who competed on both Floor and Vault, especially since she anchored the Tigers on Vault. Bell was impressive since she changed which Vault she was doing from a one & a half to a full.
“It’s definitely a flexible position,” Sophia Bell said. “I was expected to hit either one, and I was certain that either one I got put in, I was going to hit.
Bell had Auburn’s only score of 9.900 on Vault and was one of five gymnasts for the Tigers who scored 9.900 or higher. The other 9.900s went to Alex Irvine and Olivia Greaves on Bars, and Sophia Groth on Beam, with Gabby McLaughlin receiving a 9.925 on Beam, which was the Tigers' highest individual score on any apparatus.
“For them to come in and fight as they did, I’m just really proud of them at this point.” Coach Graba said. “You can’t teach fight. So, I’m glad they have that in them, and we can clean up all the things that we need to.”
As Auburn approaches the end of the regular season, they are going to need to find a way to keep the fight alive in them, especially with the number of injuries they have faced so far this season.
Auburn has a longer week this week before heading to Missouri for their final away meet of the season on Sunday, March 9 at noon CT on the SEC Network.
