No. 18 Gymnastics Hosts NCAA Regional on Saturday - AuburnTigers.com

No. 18 Gymnastics Hosts NCAA Regional on Saturday First round of NCAA action begins at 6 p.m. in Auburn Arena.

Caryn Kadous

April 5, 2012

AUBURN - No. 18 Auburn gymnastics hosts five programs as well as individual competitors for Saturday’s NCAA Auburn regional in Auburn Arena at 6 p.m.

The Tigers welcome Georgia, Oregon State, Michigan, West Virginia and Michigan State to The Plains. Auburn is hoping to bounce back from a disappointing finish at the 2012 SEC Gymnastics Championship two weeks ago.

“Typically, it has been our recipe to bounce back,” Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. We’ve practiced really well. We’ve had three intra squads and done really well in all three with three different lineups. Everybody is coming to play so to speak. We are relatively healthy. I fully expect we are going to have a good night.”

With four ranked teams competing on Saturday in Auburn Arena, the regional has been called one of the most difficult and for Graba there is no doubt in his mind as to the level of talent that will be on display.

“I think everybody that is in this regional believes it is the toughest,” Graba said. “I know I’m biased because we are here. You look at the teams and pedigree of the programs and it doesn’t take long to realize that it is going to take two teams having really good nights to get out of here and move on. Our challenge is to stay focused. We absolutely have to do our deal as best as we can. Then, when the meet is finished, we can look up and see what happens. If we get caught up, it will be a really short, not fun night.”

Tickets are still available by calling 855-AUB-2010 or by visiting www.AUBTIX.com. Links for live stats and live video can be found on the regional central page that is linked above. For the latest on Auburn gymnastics, follow @AUGymnastics on Twitter.