SEC Championship Session One

Individual Event Streams: Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Quad Box

Recap

The Big Storyline: Kentucky had a resurgent afternoon, earning only the second ever top four SEC finish from the afternoon session. Raena Worley’s 39.500 in the all around was still good enough for the fourth best total of the day. Auburn broke its 197 streak but was in contention for first in the session; unfortunately, ending the day on one of their weaker events, vault, kept the Tigers back. Missouri ended the night with a hit beam rotation and avoided placing last in the conference, which is an upgrade from where it’s been for most of the season.

Postseason Implications: Kentucky will likely travel to Salt Lake City for its regional; we’ll find out where Missouri and Auburn go at the selection show. 

Records: Kentucky earned its best team score in program history at an SEC championship.

Preview

• No. 14 Kentucky | 196.969 NQS | 197.100 season high
• No. 15 Auburn | 196.831 NQS | 197.125 season high
• No. 23 Missouri | 196.444 NQS | 196.850 season high

Note: No. T-16 Georgia was scheduled to compete in this session of the SEC championship but backed-out on Thursday because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing. The team is expected to have a full roster for regionals starting on April. Georgia has a 196.781 NQS and a 197.325 season high.

If you can only watch one meet, here’s why it should be this one… It’s unlikely a team in this session will take home the SEC title, but the competition is as fierce as ever. Kentucky and Auburn are back to back in current NQS standings. All three of these teams are some of the youngest in the NCAA and have surged during the second half of the season. For the majority of the athletes competing, it will be their first quad meet competition. The teams will gain important experiences with a louder environment, a podium floor and constant competition.  

If this is one of many meets you’ll be watching, don’t miss this… A show-stopping performance by Derrian Gobourne on floor will be a highlight of the weekend. Gobourne has the capability of winning the SEC title despite being in session one. Aria Brusch was absent from floor with a shoulder injury for the majority of the season, but returned in the final week of regular season competition. Make sure you tune in for one of the best Yurchenko fulls in the country at the end of the first rotation from Kentucky’s Cally Nixon. This meet should give some top freshmen in the country an opportunity to shine. Gabrielle McLaughlin and Bailey Bunn have been extremely consistent and solid for their respective teams on beam. 

What’s the bigger picture to keep an eye on? With Georgia’s absence from the competition, the team will not have a chance to be seeded for regionals as it currently can do no better than No. T-16 in which is loses its current tie-breaker with Illinois. Georgia expects to have a full roster back for regionals, but it’s worth noting that preparedness for the meet may be a concern.

Past Champions

• Kentucky: 0 titles
• Auburn: 0 titles
• Missouri: 0 titles
• Georgia: 16 titles, last won in 2008

Records Watch

• Team: 198.375 (Georgia, 1997)
• Vault: 49.800 (Georgia, 1997)
• Bars: 49.700 (Georgia, 2014)
• Beam: 49.625 (Florida, 2019)
• Floor: 49.725 (Georgia, 2004)

Last Time Out

LSU won its third consecutive SEC Conference title led by Sarah Finnegan’s perfection on floor. Florida was not able to overcome the Tigers campaign, but tallied the highest beam rotation score in SEC Championship history. Florida is favored to take home the title as its undefeated thus far in 2021. However, nothing is certain in gymnastics and there could be an upset in the cards. Teams in session one likely will not be named the champion, but a podium finish is possible. 

*Special thanks to Drew Porche for all of the Records Watch data provided in this preview.