No. 4 Auburn Suffers Narrow 196.500-196.250 Loss to No. 1 Florida - AuburnTigers.com

No. 4 Auburn Suffers Narrow 196.500-196.250 Loss to No. 1 Florida Puckett captures balance beam title.

Rachel Inniss

Jan. 16, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Fourth-ranked Auburn (1-2, 0-2 SEC) was narrowly defeated by top-ranked Florida (2-0, 1-0 SEC) 196.500-196.250, Friday night in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The Tigers had five season or career-best marks in the loss.

"They are an awesome team, but by having a bad event that opened the door that we couldn't keep open," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "We went 49.025 on beam the last rotation which is awesome, but couldn't hold off Florida's incredible floor score of 49.450. Someone once told me, once is luck, twice is coincidence but three times in a row means you own it. I hope we will continue to get the respect that we deserve as one of the top teams in the country."

Senior Lindsey Puckett captured her first balance beam title of the season (9.9), was the runner-up on vault (9.875) and placed third in the all-around (39.400). Sophomore Rachel Inniss and senior A.J. Mills completed the Auburn sweep on beam, posting scores of 9.875 and 9.850, respectively.

Freshman Kendall Swartz led the way for the Tigers in the opening rotation on uneven bars, scoring a career-high 9.85. A trio of 9.8s were scored by freshman Allyson Sandusky and Puckett and Mills. Krissy Voss started the rotation off by recording a 9.725 and was followed by Carmen Nelms' 9.725. Auburn's bars score of 48.975 marked a season high. Leah Vining was the Tigers' exhibitionist.

Florida began the meet on vault, scoring a 49.225.

From bars to vault, the Tigers matched their season-high mark of 49.050. Puckett's 9.875 was the high score for Auburn, followed by 9.8s from the freshmen duo of Kylie Shields and Sandusky, along with Mills.

The Gators' registered a 48.975 in their second rotation on bars.

High scores were everywhere in the third rotation with Auburn on floor exercise. Two individuals, sophomore Katie Hurley and senior Claire Seiffert recorded career-high scores of 9.825 to pace the Tigers to a season-high floor score of 49.200. Mills had a 9.875, followed by Inniss with a 9.850. Voss exhibitioned for the Tigers on floor.

While the Tigers were tumbling on floor, Florida was on the balance beam and scored a 48.325.

Auburn concluded the meet on beam and was led by Puckett as the anchor. Her 9.9 gave the senior her first beam title of the season. Inniss scored a 9.875 and Mills provided a 9.85 to give the Tigers a 49.025 on beam. Lauren Brzostowski opened beam with a 9.725. Shields was in exhibition for Auburn on beam.

Florida concluded on floor with a 49.450.

The Tigers will return to Auburn and Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 23, to face No. 24 Iowa State at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on auburntigers.com.

Uneven Bars - 48.975
Krissy Voss 9.725
Carmen Nelms 9.725
Allyson Sandusky 9.8
Kendall Swartz 9.85
Lindsey Puckett 9.8
A.J. Mills 9.8

Vault - 49.050
Lauren Brzostowski 9.725
Kylie Shields 9.8
Allyson Sandusky 9.8
Krissy Voss 9.775
A.J. Mills 9.8
Lindsey Puckett 9.875

Floor Exercise - 49.200
Carmen Nelms 9.775
Katie Hurley 9.825
Claire Seiffert 9.825
Rachel Inniss 9.85
A.J. Mills 9.875
Lindsey Puckett 9.825

Balance Beam - 49.025
Lauren Brzostowski 9.725
Katie Hurley 9.675
Rachel Inniss 9.875
Allyson Sandusky 9.425
A.J. Mills 9.85
Lindsey Puckett 9.9

All-Around A.J. Mills 39.325
Lindsey Puckett 39.400