Suni Lee, Aleah Finnegan perfect in The Jungle as No. 5 Auburn edges No. 9 LSU
AUBURN, Ala. – The Jungle. There was no more fitting nickname for the arena hosting a top 10 showdown between the No. 5 Auburn Tigers and No. 9 LSU Tigers on Friday night, with the matchup coming down to the final rotation.
Ultimately, Auburn topped LSU – 197.750-197.500 – in what turned out to be a heated meet that saw Auburn fans booing the LSU gymnasts upon their entrance to a sold out Neville Arena.
“They did a really good job of trying to stay focused throughout this whole thing,” Auburn Head Coach Jeff Graba said. “Last week, I felt like we needed to challenge ourselves, get a little better mentally, and our approach needed to be refined. And for the most part, I thought we did a really good job tonight.”
Through four rotations, Auburn never surrendered the lead, but it was close the whole meet, with LSU earning its own perfect score, hitting all of its beam routines, and consistently putting pressure on the home team Tigers to deliver.
The meet started evenly matched as Auburn opened on vault and LSU on bars. Both teams delivered average performances on their respective events. It was the little details – landings, handstands, rhythm – that kept both squads from notching more than one score above 9.9. For Auburn, that 9.9+ came from fifth year Derrian Gobourne, who led the team with a 9.925 for her Yurchenko one-and-a-half. LSU’s Haleigh Bryant was the lone 9.9+ for the Bayou Bengals on bars. There, she earned a 9.950 in the anchor position for a nearly flawless set that included a stuck double front half dismount.
After one, Auburn led 49.325-49.275 – a 0.050 difference that could be attributed to LSU having to count a score under 9.800 (Ashley Cowan’s 9.775).
The second rotation saw perfect scores from both Tiger teams, with Auburn’s Suni Lee earning a 10 on bars for the second-straight meet (her first-ever 10 on bars at home), and LSU’s Aleah Finnegan earning her first-ever 10 on vault for her flawless roundoff ½ on, front pike (Omelianchik) – the second-straight week she’s received a 10 after earning her first-career 10 last Friday on floor.
After two, Auburn led LSU by 0.200 – 98.825-98.625 – thanks to a season-high 49.500 on bars and LSU once again having to count a score in the 9.7s.
The one major blemish in Auburn’s season-high 197.750 was a fall from Olivia Hollingsworth in the leadoff spot on beam. With the pressure on as the home team needed to drop that score, the remaining five athletes delivered, producing hit after hit. Notably, Gabby McLaughlin earned a 9.900 before Lee closed things out with a 9.950.
Partway through the rotation, it seemed like LSU might nab the lead after three thanks to a 49.45 on floor – highlighted by a 9.975 from Finnegan and a 9.925 from Alyona Shchennikova – but Auburn headed to arguably its best event with a 0.025 lead – 148.100-148.075.
“Coming off of beam, we had a little bit of a mess up,” Gobourne said following the meet. “But we huddled together, and we just wanted to be strong and get it done because we knew that we could.”
In the end, Auburn just needed to get over that hump on beam as the blue and orange’s season-high 49.650 on floor was the cherry on top, clinching the win. All of the team’s counting scores went 9.9+, including a pair of 9.975s from Lee and Gobourne to close. While they made it look easy, that final push and show of perseverance was needed. LSU earned its own season high on beam with a 49.425. Finnegan highlighted that rotation for the Louisiana Tigers as well, posting a 9.950 as she bested the reigning Olympic all-around champion with a 39.800 four-event total to Lee’s 39.775.
“When we come together and put it all together – like we did on floor, I thought, today – we can be unstoppable,” Lee said. “And I think that’s something that’s so exciting about [Auburn], because you never know what we’re capable of. Once we put it all together, it’s going to be a whole different team.”
From a bird’s eye view, it was a promising outing for both Tiger teams, especially with the first ranking by National Qualifying Score (NQS) around the corner. LSU recorded its best road score of the season, and Auburn continues to build as it eyes another Four on the Floor berth. But six weeks into the season, both teams are clearly in need of rest and recovery if they want to make a meaningful postseason push.
“Pretty happy with where we are right now, but we definitely are tired, beat up, and need a little rest at this point,” Graba said. “…We just really have to have our depth build. Having Olivia Hollingsworth upgrade her vault was a big deal because that allows us to have five 10.0 vaults. Now we can rest somebody if we need to and still have a decent score on vault.
“There’s a lot behind the scenes that we’re trying to accomplish. Some of it worked out today and some of it didn’t, but pretty happy with our depth. But we’re gonna experiment a lot coming up.”
Where Livvy goes, controversy follows
As has been the case all season, TikTok sensation and LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne was at the center of an entertaining meet despite not competing.
While the disruption wasn’t anything major, the Auburn student section didn’t miss the opportunity to highlight Dunne. As LSU was being introduced at the start of the meet, the student section shouted, “SUCKS,” after every gymnast was introduce, with Dunne being the lone exception. The 20-year-old received a loud, and particularly masculine, applause from the crowd.
Graba wasn’t necessarily opposed to the jeers that seemed to be in jest – after intros, the crowd wasn’t noticeably negative to LSU – but he did think there shouldn’t have been an exception for Dunne.
“If you’re going to boo, you can’t not boo Livvy,” Graba said lightheartedly.
As for the Auburn crowd booing LSU when they entered the arena, Graba wasn’t a fan of that.
“I don’t like the booing, because I really respect what those other athletes are doing,” Graba said. “I do like the energy that we bring; I don’t mind some negative energy… I mean, we got heckled when we were up in Alabama. That’s to go with it, but you know, all of those athletes at LSU, I recruited – tried to get here. They’re all good kids. (I call them kids because I’m 50-something years old.) But [the booing] is the only thing that bugs me a little bit. We could just not clap… I’d like Auburn to be the energy place, and the booing gets to me a little bit.”
Graba added that, in addition to being a bad look, things like booing can light a fire in the opposing team, putting a chip on their shoulder that could lead to an even more competitive meet.
