AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn gymnastics team enters the week ranked No. 20 per RoadtoNationals.com. The weekly rankings are based on the team's average in overall score over the last two meets.
The Tigers hit the road this week, traveling to No. 7 LSU for a 7:30 p.m. CT contest in Baton Rouge Friday, Jan. 17.
"I try not to get too wrapped up in rankings this early since they won't be completely accurate until halfway through the season," head coach Jeff Graba said. "However, being ranked in the Top 20 right now is a good spot for us and there is no doubt LSU is extremely good. We have our hands full as we travel to a very tough place to compete so we will definitely need to clean up some things this week at practice."
This week's top five has Oklahoma (No. 1) and Florida (No. 2) separated by less than .200, while Denver, Utah and UCLA round things out. All eight SEC teams are in the Top 20.
Auburn stands No. 13 overall on vault, having an average of 49.000. The Tigers are in the Top 25 on both bars (No. 25) and beam (No. 18) and are ranked No. 29 on floor.
Junior Drew Watson is tied for fourth nationally on vault with a 9.900 average, while sophomore Derrian Gobourne stands tied for 13th at 9.887. Watson is also 13th on floor (9.900) and senior Gracie Day is 27th on bars (9.850).