No. 20 Arkansas hosts No. 13 Auburn Friday

FAYETTEVILLE — The 20th-ranked University of Arkansas gymnastics team returns to the gym Friday hosting Southeastern Conference rival and 13th-ranked Auburn at 7:00 p.m., in Barnhill Arena. Arkansas is coming off a big win over No. 18 Kentucky in a meet in which the Gym’Backs posted a season-best 196.350. The Auburn contest is the second in a row at home and the middle meet in a three-meet home stand for Arkansas. "We are again excited to be at home," said co-head coach Rene Cook. "Last Friday (against Kentucky) was very exciting and came down to the wire. We are hoping for more of that same excitement this week. We want to hit our routines and continue with the momentum we started last week." "It’s fun to win," added co-head coach Mark Cook. "It was both teams doing their very best. We’re looking forward to this meet (Auburn) being more of the same." Some of Arkansas’ momentum included a school record 9.95 on the bars from sophomore Emily Peacock. The San Antonio, Texas, native won the event and had a good meet overall. "The team’s been training really hard and doing a great job in practice," said Cook. "It’s nice to see that translate to good scores under pressure in the meet. "The girls have been talking about how hard they are working and they really are." Arkansas will have its hands full with Auburn Friday. The Tigers have been a top 15 team for much of the season and their average scores are slightly better than the Gym’Backs in every category. "Auburn is a good team," said Rene Cook. "But most of the teams ranked from 11 to 20 are pretty similar. It’s just a matter of who hits and Auburn has been hitting. We’re looking forward to the challenge of competing against them and seeing where we stack up." The Auburn meet is the final home SEC meet of the season for Arkansas. The Gym’Backs host Washington, Sunday, March 12, and travel to Nebraska March 19 as the regular season concludes. Arkansas travels to Birmingham, Ala., for the SEC Championship arch 25, followed by the NCAA South Central Regional Championship in Barnhill April 8. Tickets for the remaining home meets are still available. Please call the Lady Razorback Ticket Office at 57-LBACK or log on to LADYBACKS.COM.