With starters still snakebit in certain spots, Auburn gymnastics sees status quo challenged by exhibition routines
Here's a look at the athletes who made a push for starting spots in exhibition against Kentucky, and a look at where the Tigers go after leaving another meet unsatisfied.
After an injury shakeup put the Tigers off kilter, things went sideways on bars once again this season, leading the Auburn gymnastics team to count a fall and log a season low on the apparatus Friday night in a home loss to Kentucky.
Auburn scored an unsatisfying total of 196.275. The Tigers were all but out of the head-to-head competition with Kentucky after bars in the second rotation, which saw Marissa Neal come off in the leadoff spot when she lost control rotating a handstand, then saw Charlotte Booth fall to her knees on her dismount.
But the bars rotation ended with junior Emma Grace Boyd hitting on her exhibition routine, picking up a score better than three of Auburn’s starting scores and matching a fourth. In the same way, on beam, West Virginia transfer Emma Wehry picked up an exhibition score that was better than the score for four Auburn starters — giving the Auburn coaching staff something to think about when setting starting lineups in the future.
“That’s what I want,” Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said after the meet. “We need people that are knocking on the door, so that everybody else has to up their game.”
College gymnastics 101
In college gymnastics, six gymnasts start on each apparatus with five scores counting. In some meets, teams have the option to send a seventh athlete up on the apparatus in what’s called an ‘exhibition’ routine — which does not count in any way but is scored, allowing programs to get that additional feedback from the judges.
Any options to shake things up may well be welcomed by Graba and the staff if Auburn’s struggles continue, particularly on bars. Auburn’s bars team was already much-maligned going into Friday’s meet. Graba and the gymnasts maintain that Auburn does well on bars in practice, but now five weeks into the season still haven’t put it together in front of judges in live meets.
“We are repeat offenders on bars. They’ve lost their confidence, for some reason, in pressure situations,” Graba said. “We’re better than that in practice. We’ve changed things up a lot and they continue to rise to the occasion in practice. So, obviously, we’ve just got to keep pushing and keep our head down, and if and when it clicks, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”
Boyd logged one start on bars earlier this season but could have played her way into another look in a starting role after scoring a 9.800 in exhibition. She would’ve improved Auburn’s score had she replaced the 9.225, 9.325 or 9.725 thrown by three Auburn starters.
Wehry on beam scored a 9.825, better than the 9.750, 9.775 and two 9.800s thrown by Auburn starters. Wehry’s score was a curious one: She was given a 9.900 by one judge and a 9.750 by the other, making for a huge discrepancy in the scoring from the two judges. Regardless of what went right or wrong with the two judges, the Auburn coaches have the routine on tape and can assess for themselves what they think the routine would score when considering who to start in future meets.
College gymnastics 101
In regular-season dual meets, two judges score each routine and the average of the two numbers is the final score for each routine.
Earlier this season, Alex Irvine played her way into a starting spot on beam. She didn’t begin the season as a starter on beam, but in the opener against NC State she scored a 9.900 on beam in exhibition. She has started every meet since for Auburn on beam.
“That’s the recipe for success,” Graba said. “I think those people make us think. Emma Grace was in and out of the lineup, and I think what you’re seeing is somebody actually starting to — her training’s catching up. She had five weeks off there in the fall all the way through Christmas, and this is not a sport you cram for the final. You have to prepare for this. So she’s starting to get there and that’s fun to see. And, yeah, Emma Wehry’s making us think too.”