Auburn gymnastics advances to NCAA Championship finals

AUBURN, Ala. (WSFA) - Auburn has advanced to Saturday’s NCAA Championship finals in gymnastics.

Thursday, the team earned the third-highest score in program history, scoring 197.8375. In the second session of the semi-final round, Suni Lee shined early on beam shoring a 99.625.

“In the past couple meets I’ve been struggling on beam so to come back and build that confidence again means a lot,” Lee told AuburnTigers.com. “The team makes it all so much better because it’s so memorable, and it’s something I’m never going to forget.”

Later, during the third rotation, Derrian Gobourne helped the Tigers into first place momentarily after scoring a 98.75 on vault.

“Making it to the Final Four is just amazing,” Gobourne told AuburnTigers.com. “I had a calmness about myself and the team, even watching the first event I was thinking something great is going to happen. I wasn’t really focused on the outcome. I was just focused on the moment.”

Lee won the beam national championship, finishing second in the all-around. Gobourne was national runner-up on floor and bars.

The Tigers will compete for the national championship Saturday at noon against Florida, Oklahoma and Utah.