On Friday February 12th, 2016, the No.8 Auburn Tigers will host the No. 4 Crimson Tide in Auburn Arena at 7:30pm. Alabama just came off a home win against the University of Kentucky, while Auburn is coming off their best score of the season while away at TWU.

AUBURN

The No. 8 Auburn Tigers have recently endured a few trials, followed by reassuring success. While competing at the University of Arkansas, two freshmen, A’mirical Phillps and Emma Engler, suffered season-ending injuries. Without those, Auburn was on pace to have one of their best meets of the year. Due to the injuries, Auburn had to replace four routines that had previously been in line-ups.

The following week, Auburn competed in a quad meet against TWU, Illinois St., and the (then-ranked) No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners. Freshman Sam Cerio grabbed the open spots of bars and beam and scored a 9.775 and 9.8, respectively. Seniors Kait Kluz and RS junior Kelsey Kopec made their season debuts on vault and scored a 9.8 and 9.85. The new additions to the line-ups performed well and seemed to instill confidence in the rest of the team.

Auburn’s best event of the night was floor, in which they scored a 49.475 led by 9.925s from Kluz, senior Caitlin Atkinson, and Junior MJ Rott. Auburn also impressed on vault, having scored a 49.325, even though they only have one vault starting at a 10.0. Be on the lookout for huge vaults from Demers, Rott, and Atkinson. We’ve already seen big numbers on bars this year and are seeing consistent improvements on beam from this young team. It appears that Auburn is becoming increasingly more comfortable and competitive every week. 

Watch Kait Kluz's 9.925 on floor that earned Routine of the Week accolades this past week:

ALABAMA

The No. 4 Alabama Gymnastics team has shown prowess on every event in the past couple of weeks. In the rankings, not one of their events is ranked outside of the top 5, showing that they’re competitive on every apparatus. Last week, Alabama defeated Kentucky at home with a score of 196.775. Just the week before, Alabama scored a 197.575 at the University of Florida, which is one of the highest scores posted so far this season.

Bars appears to be Alabama’s most consistent event, having scored around a 49.3 at most meets this year. However, floor seems to be the team’s best event, considering the fact that they have scored at or just below a 49.5 in multiple meets. The biggest challenge Alabama has faced this season is gaining confidence back on balance beam after having three falls occur in the same night against the University of Arkansas.

After this adversity, the Tide persevered and moved on like it had never happened; the following week they earned a 49.55! Junior Katie Bailey is currently ranked sixth in the All-Around and is clearly coming into her own on all four events.

Sophomore Mackenzie Brannan has performed admirably this season, stepping into the all-around in three meets and earning no less than a 39.325. She has also hit a stride of 9.9s on the uneven bars, after earning the anchor position. Another gymnast to look out for is junior Aja Sims, who recently posted a 9.975 on beam, showing off a huge double tuck dismount. The scoring potential of this team seems limitless when each line-up is “on.” Senior Lauren Beers, sophomores Nicki Geurrero, Kiana Winston, and junior Amanda Jetter all have great scoring potential on the respective events. With a streak of wins hanging in the balance, we expect to see the best of this team when they arrive in Auburn Arena on Friday night.

Check out Aja Sims beautiful beam routine:



Both of these teams are known for their power on floor and their ability to fight for every tenth until the last routine is over. Don’t miss any of the action coming on Friday night.


Related:
Preview: NCAA Teams Compete at Chicago Style
No. 6 Utah Takes On The Huskies At Home
Florida & Arkansas: Friday Night SEC Showdown