CONTRIBUTED BY AU ATHLETICS
AUBURN —
The No. 5 Auburn gymnastics team will open the 2023 season at the inaugural Super 16 presented by Ozone in Las Vegas. The two-day, four-session meet will take place Jan. 6 and 7 at the Orleans Arena and the 16-team competition is the largest regular season women’s collegiate gymnastics invitational.
“This is such a great opportunity for our sport,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “Being on podium is a big deal for any team, especially at the start of the season. This is an exciting time for collegiate gymnastics and we’re thankful to be a part of it.”
The field features the last three national champions in No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan and No. 10 UCLA. In addition, 14 teams are ranked in the WCGA preseason poll, including six in the top 15 — Oklahoma, Michigan, Auburn (No. 5), California (No. 8), UCLA, and Oregon State (No. 14).
Also set to compete will be Stanford, Iowa, Georgia, Washington, BYU, Arizona State, North Carolina, Southern Utah, Fisk and Rutgers. Fisk will be making its debut as the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to have a women’s collegiate gymnastics team.
The Tigers are set to compete Saturday, Jan. 7, with session groupings and times announced at a later date.
Three Olympic medalists will be competing in the Super 16 — Auburn sophomore Sunisa Lee, UCLA’s Jordan Chiles and Oregon State’s Jade Carey.
In addition to Lee, Auburn returns All-Americans Derrian Gobourne, Sophie Groth and Sara Hubbard as well as a stellar senior class that features All-SEC performers Aria Brusch and Cassie Stevens.
The team’s No. 5 preseason ranking is the highest in program history as the Tigers are coming off a Final Four finish at the 2022 NCAA Championship. The squad returns all but two routines from last season.
All-session tickets are on sale to the public now and range from $79 to $291, plus fees. Tickets may be purchased online through the Orleans Arena website. Discounted tickets will be available through participating gym clubs. For group of gym club tickets, email gymnationtickets@gmail.com. For more information, visit Super16gymnastics.com.