Auburn gymnast Sunisa Lee wins SEC Gymnast of the Week

It didn’t take long for Auburn’s Sunisa Lee to make an impact in her last season on the Plains.

The gymnastics team announced Tuesday that Lee has been selected as the SEC Gymnast of the Week for the opening week of the gymnastics season. Lee won three such awards last year, though her first one didn’t come until February in 2022.

Auburn kicked off its year at the 2023 Super 16 Challenge, where it faced off against Michigan, Oklahoma and UCLA in Las Vegas. The team scored 197.350 points, which wasn’t enough to beat the Wolverines or the Sooners but was able to beat the Bruins and start the year off 1-2. Lee was a standout during the matches, however, winning the all-around at 39.750 and scoring a 10 on her beam rotation.

The Olympic gymnast’s sophomore year was announced by Lee to be her last at Auburn during the offseason, as she plans to train for the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris once this collegiate season concludes. Until then, though, she’ll look to help guide the Tigers back to gymnastics’ Final Four, where the team placed fourth in 2022.

Lee will go up against another one of NCAA’s most vaunted gymnasts, Trinity Thomas, when the Tigers face the Florida Gators in Gainesville on Friday.

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire