Suni Lee wins all-around for Auburn, gets first NCAA perfect 10

Suni Lee won the all-around (39.825) and had a perfect 10 in uneven parallel bars, but No. 6 Auburn lost to No. 8 LSU 197.975 to 197.750 in SEC women's gymnastics on Saturday afternoon before 13,569 fans at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. The meet was also nationally televised on ESPNU.

Lee, a freshman from St. Paul, was the all-around gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics last year before embarking on her college career.

She also won the balance beam (9.975) for the Tigers (5-1, 2-1 SEC), but LSU also had two 10s from different gymnasts to win the tight dual.

Lee's all-around score was the nation's best so far this season and also was a program best at Auburn, which tied a program record set on Feb. 27, 2015 with its team score.

"I really proud of the group tonight," head coach Jeff Graba said. "This is a really tough environment at LSU, and they handled it wonderfully. We tied a program record in score and got our first 10 in 20 years. It was great to see the team fight and come away with big routines."

"We gave it all we got today," Lee said. "We know that we still have so much to improve on so seeing these scores is encouraging and it just shows how much potential we have."

Her 10.0 on bars marked the first time since 2004 that a Tiger was awarded a perfect score. In addition, Lee added career highs on vault and floor, scoring a 9.9 and 9.95, respectively.

"This means a lot to me," Lee said. "I've always watched college gymnastics so to be competing in college, to score a 10 and the first 10 at Auburn in a long time feels so surreal."

"Her bars have been like that the last couple weeks," Graba said. "That score shouldn't surprise us because she has been so consistent in this event."

As a team, Auburn put together big scores in every category. The team's 49.475 on vault finished as the third-best score in program history, while the 49.550 on beam came in a tie for second.

"This environment was insane, and I just wanted to use that energy," Groth said. "Our theme for this week was to level up and I think everyone did a little bit better today and it showed."

Next, the Tigers return to Auburn Arena for a Friday night matchup with another top 15 opponent in Missouri.

Former Gophers defensive end Boye Mafe was named the National team player of the game as his team beat the American team 20-10 in the Senior Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

Mafe, who is 6-4, 265 pounds and played for Hopkins High School, had three tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. He was a second team All-Big Ten pick last fall.

Offensive tackle Daniel Faalele, another ex-Gopher, blocked for a National team that passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 114 yards.

The Gophers gymnastics team, led by three-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Year Lexy Ramler and NCAA All-America performer Ona Loper — fourth in the all-around in the 2021 national meet — will face Illinois at 2 p.m. Sunday. It will be the Illini's first home meet this season.

Since Feb. 2, 2010, these teams have met nine teams with the Gophers winning four times in Minneapolis and Illinois five times in their home meets.

After sweeping them two weekends ago on the road, the Minnesota Whitecaps routed the Buffalo Beauts 8-1 Saturday night behind Allie Thunstrom's hat trick at the Tria Rink in St. Paul. She scored two shorthanded goals in the first period and a power-play goal in the second. Taylor Turnquist, Audra Munson, Emma Stauber, Taylor Turnquist and Meaghan Pezon had the other goals for the Whitecaps, who are 4-6-1 in the Premier Hockey Federation. Buffalo is 1-9.

The second game of the series is at noon Sunday.

Bethany Hasz of the Gophers won the 3,000-meter run (9 minutes, 2.34 seconds) in the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind. Teammate Abby Kohut-Jackson (9:04.07) was second. Those are the ninth- and 12th-best times in the country this indoor season.

At the Gophers Classic at the University Fieldhouse, Odell Frye won the women's 60 in 7.38 — the fourth-best time in program history.

The Gophers men's golf team tied Nebraska 2-2-1 and beat Maryland 3-2 in their first matches on the second day of Big Ten Match Play in Palm Coast, Fla.

Lincoln Johnson and Antoine Sale both won 2 up in the No. 1 and 3 pairings, respectively, against the Cornhuskers. Ben Warian won 3 and 2 against Maryland, Will Grevlos 2 up and Bennett Swavely 3 and 1.

The Gophers wrestling team (4-4, 3-3 Big Ten) will face Purdue (9-4, 3-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind.