Special to the News

02/27 at 12:15 AM

The No. 16 Auburn gymnastics team (2-5, 2-4 SEC) was defeated by No. 4 Florida (6-2, 5-1 SEC), 195.700-196.800, on Friday night at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. 

Auburn set a season-high on bars with a 49.150, eclipsing its previous season-best of 49.125 that was set during the Arkansas meet.

“We had a good night, all in all. We only had one fall, but on everything else we were just a little off,” said head coach Jeff Thompson. “Every vault, we took a step. Our bars were good, we wobbled a little bit on beam, but I thought we finished really strong on floor. Unfortunately, our opponent is one of the top four teams in the country.”

Auburn began the night on vault, with four of the six Tigers scoring a 9.75. Freshman Maya Wickus was the lone Tiger to hit the 9.8 mark in the third position as Auburn totaled a 48.800 in the event.

Florida jumped out to an early lead, as all-five scorers for the Gators eclipsed the 9.85 mark on bars. UF was led by Elizabeth Mahlich, Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith’s 9.875’s to give Florida a 49.325.

The Tigers went from vault to bars in the second rotation, where a trio of Auburn gymnasts, senior Carmen Nelms, sophomore Kylie Shields and freshman Petrina Yokay scored a 9.85’s. Sophomore Allyson Sandusky marked a 9.825 in the sixth position as Auburn scored a season-high on the apparatus with a 49.150.

Florida continued its hot start in rotation two with a 49.300 on vault, an event where the Gators are ranked No. 3 in the country. The Gators were paced by Courtney Gladys’ 9.9, as well as Smith’s and Ashanee Dickerson’s 9.875 to extend its lead after two rotations 98.625-97.950.

Looking to close the lead, Auburn took to its best event, beam, in rotation three. Junior Katie Hurley scored a 9.75 in the second spot while Voss scored a 9.825. She was immediately followed by a 9.8 by Sandusky and Shields’ 9.75 to give Auburn a team beam score of 48.775.

Florida was on floor in rotation three scoring a 49.075. Dickerson led the Gators with a 9.875, while King and Amy Ferguson marked 9.825’s to stretch the Gator lead to a 147.700-146.725 with one rotation remaining.

Auburn was on floor in the final rotation, freshman Toi Garcia returned to the floor exercise after a four-meet hiatus to score a collegiate-best 9.825. Shields followed by duplicating the 9.825 mark in the fourth position, resulting in both Garcia and Shields tying for third in the event. Junior Rachel Inniss capped off the Tiger floor performance with a 9.85, marking the third-straight meet she has hit at least a 9.85 in the event and placed second. In all, Auburn registered an event total of 48.975.

The Gators concluded the night on beam, where Dickerson led the way scoring a 9.875 for the Gators, while Ferguson and King tallied 9.825’s to close out the night with a 49.075 for Florida.

Shields was Auburn’s top all-around scorer on the all-around with a 39.175 and placed third, while Voss scored a 39.100 to come in fourth.

“It’s a little frustrating that we didn’t break the 196 barrier at home when we’ve been able to do it on the road, but all in all, I’m proud of the kids for battling back from the stomach bug we had this week and we’ll look forward to next week. It’s Senior Night and there should be a good crowd to wrap it up.”

The Tigers return to action next Friday, hosting the Denver Pioneers at 7 p.m. The event is currently slated as the final event in the storied history of Beard-Eaves-Memorial oliseum. Final event T-shirts will be given away to the first 300 fans, coupled with several other promotions throughout the night.

Track & field opens SEC Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships began Friday at the University of Arkansas with the multi-event competitions.

The women concluded the pentathlon competition Friday, while the men finished the first four events of the heptathlon.

In the pentathlon, senior Amelia Anderson finished sixth for Auburn with 3,755 points, earning the Tigers 3 points in the team standings. Anderson, competing in just the second pentathlon of her career, finished with the third-best total in school history and best mark since 1989. Her point total was good enough to be an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Anderson was in ninth place after three events, but had a strong performance in the long jump (19-2.75) to put her in position to move up further in the 800 meters (2:25.06).

Meanwhile in the heptathlon, senior Jager Livingston finished the opening day of competition in 10th place with 2,538 points. Livingston, whose strongest day of competition is the second day, finished Friday’s competition with a personal-best mark of 1.85 meters (6-0.75) in the high jump and will complete the remaining three events today.

“Coming into the meet, I felt pretty good about our women’s team,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “All year long we’ve been pretty solid. Tonight we got started with a gutsy performance by Amelia, and those 3 points were big because some of our top competitors didn’t score as many points as they were supposed to, so that gives us a big boost. I have a really good feeling about our women’s team, but we have to come out focused on Saturday and build off what we started tonight.”

Competition at the SEC Indoor Championships will resume today. Nine finals will be contested, while the bulk of the finals will take place on Sunday.

Softball drops 2 at NFCA Leadoff Classic
COLUMBUS, Ga. — After being no-hit by Kent State’s Kylie Reynolds in an eight-inning, 1-0 loss to the Golden Flashes, the Auburn softball team then dropped a nine-inning, 5-4 decision to Illinois State to open the NFCA Leadoff Classic on Friday.

The win was the first of the season for Kent State.

Kent State’s Sarah Starr was placed at second in the bottom of the eighth inning on the automatic tiebreaker rule.

Auburn’s Anna Thompson (3-4) struck out the first two batters of the game, Starr attempted to steal. Tiger catcher Elizabeth Eisterhold threw to third with no one covering, allowing Starr to score the winning run.

It was the second extra-inning loss on a throwing error for Thompson, who did not allow a hitter to reach base in 4 2/3 innings of work in the game.

Reynolds went the distance, striking out five and walking one for the Golden Flashes.

The Tigers (7-5) will face Virginia Tech at 10 a.m. and Southern Illinois at 3 p.m. today as the tournament continues.

In the second game of the day, Thompson again took the loss on the mound in relief, allowing four runs — only one earned — on four hits with two walks and 12 strikeouts in five innings of work.

Jordan Birch earned the win for the Redbirds, pitching all nine innings, allowing four runs, one earned, on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Abby Olson smacked a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to give Illinois State a 5-3 lead.

The Tigers’ Kyndall White was placed at second as part of the automatic tiebreaker, and came around to score on a leadoff double by Amber Harrison to cut the lead to one run.

That was as close as the Tigers would get.

Equestrian hosting Baylor today
The No. 2 ranked Auburn equestrian team will face No. 7 Baylor today at 1 p.m. at the Auburn Equestrian Center.

“Baylor has always been one of the most balanced teams,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “This year their wins have been led by the Hunt Seat side. If their Western team finds their chemistry this week against Auburn, they’re still going to have their work cut out for them because of how well our girls are riding.”

Auburn is 9-2 on the season, while Baylor is 7-5. The Tigers have wins over No. 8 Texas Christian, Southern Methodist, Tennessee-Martin, No. 3 Texas A&M, Sacred Heart, Delaware State, No. 5 South Carolina, No. 9 New Mexico State and No. 4 Oklahoma State.

Riding for the Tigers in Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat are Chelsea Anheuser, Anna Becker, Katie Breedlove, Dottie Grubb and Lindsay Portela, with Ali Loprete on exhibition, Rachel Cooper on demonstration and Grace Socha as the alternate. Riding in Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences are Grubb, Loprete, Maggie McAlary, Anna Schierholz and Socha, with Coryn Bergenty on exhibition, Elise Fraza on demonstration and Portela as the alternate.

Riding for the Tigers in Western Horsemanship are Bailey Dymond, Jessica Jones, Kylie Miller, Lauren Rooney and Indy Roper, with Jessica Remey on exhibition, Casey Fowler on demonstration and Kristin Hansen as the alternate. Riding in Western Reining are Kelsey George, Lyndsey Jordan, Paige Monfore, Kim Pope and Roper, with Kristin Hansen on exhibition and Lydia Hinshaw as the alternate.