Keko Jong makes her return; Auburn gymnastics reclaims six tenths in return to form
Though Auburn dropped the head-to-head to No. 1 Florida as expected, the Tigers bounced back to put up a high 196 with plenty more tenths left out there. Read on for a rewind and explainer.
The first teammate to get to Keko Jong was Sophia Bell. She ran up onto the mat, wrapping her arms around her, giving her a big hug.
Then there was Marissa Neal, Jong’s classmate and roommate, who’s had an up-close view of every trial and setback during Jong’s near-year-long recovery from a torn Achilles. She smiled as she reached her arm around her.
Then came Sophia Greaves, Mia Leverton, Kaylee Bluffstone, running up to also celebrate with Jong just after she finished her bars routine — and behind them every other member of the Tigers’ roster. They surrounded her right there on the landing pad for one big group hug. They hadn’t even gotten the score yet, but that didn’t matter: Jong just competing again made for a special moment for her, and for Auburn’s entire team.
“It was so fun. I’m just feeling a lot of gratitude, and I’m just happy to be back out there,” Jong said. “I was really nervous going into it, but then as soon as I raised my hand, it just felt like normal, like last year. I was just really happy, and it felt fulfilling, because I worked so hard to come back, and the the recovery wasn’t super easy.
“But I’m here now. So I’m excited to be back.”
Jong was eventually given a score of 9.850, tied for Auburn’s best score of the rotation, but the larger story was just getting her back in the lineup — and the larger story for Auburn in the meet was that the Tigers clawed their way to a 196.700 in an imperfect outing. Auburn dug out tenths to get to a high 196 even while leaving several obvious and attainable tenths out on the apparatuses.
It wasn’t quite the scoring outing from the season opener with NC State, but after the first SEC road meet hit a young Tigers team in the jaw last week at Arkansas, the scores from the Florida meet reflect a nice rebound.
Top-ranked Florida won the head-to-head as expected, 197.100-196.700, but Auburn may well be back in the nation’s top 10 after the weekend’s results are tabulated.