March 24, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The No. 14 Auburn gymnastics team will open the 26th annual Southeastern Conference Championships on vault Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Both head coach Jeff Thompson and sophomore gymnast Julie Dwyer were on hand for the annual media luncheon and draw on Friday at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, where all seven institutions randomly drew its starting event.

Following the media luncheon and draw, the Tigers made their final preparations for the championships with their scheduled practice session at 3:30. Each team was allotted a 20-minute warm-up per event.

Similar to Olympic and other international competitions, the 2006 SEC Championships will be held on a podium for the first time in the 25-year history of the meet. Saturday's meet will feature seven of the top 20 programs in the country, making it the premier conference championship in the country. The league is headlined by No. 1 and 14-time SEC Champion, Georgia.

Auburn's best finishes at the championships were a pair of third-place showings in 1992 and 1993. At the last two conference championships, the Tigers have posted their two highest scores in championship history en route to finishing fifth in 2004 and sixth in 2005.

Prior to drawing vault to begin the championships, Auburn had begun the last four championships on bars.

Already this season, Auburn has turned heads by earning their first win at LSU since 1992 and also coming within the closest margin of defeating Georgia in series history and the closest to knocking off Alabama since March 13, 1979.

Auburn is led by sophomore Julie Dwyer, who is ranked eighth in the all-around with an RQS of 39.405. Dwyer is also ranked fifth on beam with an RQS of 9.905.

Saturday's meet is being televised on a tape-delayed basis by Fox Sports South and will air on March 30 at 6 p.m. Live scoring will be available at Auburn's official website, www.auburntigers.com. Tickets for the meet run from $11-$14 and can be purchased by calling Ticket Master at 1-800-277-1700.