Suni Lee wins individual national championship on the balance beam for Auburn gymnastics
FORT WORTH, Texas — Youth and experience collided on a generational Auburn gymnastics roster this season.
Both almost claimed glory on the sport's biggest stage. In the end, a freshman joined a senior in an exclusive club.
Suni Lee is the program's second-ever individual national champion. She did it with a 9.9625 on the balance beam. Auburn's first champion? That would be senior Derrian Gobourne, who won the 2019 crown on vault. Three years later as Lee joined her in the title club, Gobourne almost crowned herself again (literally).
Lee, an all-around Olympic gold medalist in 2021, was Auburn's anchor on the first rotation. Entering the evening session, there was a five-way tie for the top score on beam (9.9375).
Lee quickly shattered the five-champion hypothetical. She stuck her beam landing. Soon, Iowa's Adeline Kenlin and Missouri's Sienna Schreiber finished close behind her with 9.95 each. Lee finished second in individual all-around competition with a 39.6750, behind Florida's Trinity Thomas.
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Thomas also snatched a national championship from Gobourne. The Auburn senior scored a 9.9625 on floor routine — the same one that electrified Neville Arena crowds all season. The choreography includes her placing an imaginary crowd on her head.
Thomas was Florida's floor anchor in the last rotation of the night. She scored the only perfect 10 of the semifinals in any event.
Lee's championship-winning beam routine helped No. 7 seed Auburn advance to the team finals Saturday (noon CT, ABC).
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Suni Lee wins national gymnastics championships for Auburn
