Sellout Crowd Sets Stage for Massive Rivalry Showdown Between Alabama and Auburn

Ashley Johnston will coach against her former team and the reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee in the Power of Pink meet.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The last time there was this much buzz around a gymnastics meet in Tuscaloosa, the current Crimson Tide gymnasts were roaming the halls of their elementary and middle schools. 

For the first time since 2014, Coleman Coliseum is sold out for an Alabama gymnastics meet for this Friday's matchup with the Auburn Tigers.

The Crimson Tide is coming off its best meet of the season. The Tigers are coming off their best season in program history, in large part thanks to Olympic all-around champion and Auburn sophomore Suni Lee.

Oh, and on top of all that, it is also the Power of Pink meet—the event launched by Sarah Patterson 19 years ago to bring awareness and raise funds for breast cancer, which has brought in more than 250,000 people to Coleman Coliseum over the last two decades. 

Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston competed in the meet as a gymnast for the Crimson Tide and now gets to coach in it for the first time while facing the her former team. (She was an assistant coach at Auburn from 2019-2022.)

"There’s a lot of emotions around it," Johnston said earlier in the week. "I think the biggest one for me is coaching at a Power of Pink meet. I can remember as an athlete going out there to compete and seeing the seats and everything just packed with those pink shakers. There was just nothing like it. And so being able to step into that watching our ladies march out with a breast cancer survivor, that is what means everything to me. It's using gymnastics as a platform to make bigger change in this world."

As part of the Power of Pink week festivities, the Alabama gymnasts went to DCH Regional Medical Center earlier in the week to spend time with cancer patients. Because of restrictions with the COVID pandemic, it was the first time since the 2020 season that student athletes got to participate in the hospital visit. 

For senior Makarri Doggette, who scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars last meet, the Power of Pink takes on extra meaning as her grandmother is a breast cancer survivor.

"I love competing during this meet because I know I'm competing for something way bigger than myself and for her," Doggette said. "So that's why that means so much to me."

The gymnasts will don pink leotards. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and use pink shakers and towels given out. And breast cancer survivors will be honored before the meet to set the stage for the rivalry matchup with Auburn.

The Tigers are ranked No. 6 and have scored above a 197 in every meet so far this season. In what was once a lopsided rivalry with Alabama winning over 100 matchups in a row from 1980 to 2016. Auburn has won the last two meetings in Neville Arena, including last year's regular-season dual meet, but has yet to win inside Coleman Coliseum. 

Johnston downplayed the significance of the Auburn rivalry, calling this meet "no different" than other SEC meets, but for fifth-year senior and Tuscaloosa native Sania Mitchell, there was no toning down what it means when the Crimson Tide and Tigers face off.

"We say it’s the Iron Bowl of gymnastics," Mitchell said. It’s Auburn Hate Week. It’s always a fun meet."

It's not often that the Olympic all-around champion competes in Coleman Coliseum. In fact, it's never happened, but it will this Friday with Lee for the Tigers. Johnston actually coached Lee at Auburn last season. 

While she obviously has an elite skillset, she is on the same scoring scale as all other gymnasts in the meet. Unlike elite gymnastics or international competition, no matter what level of skills or tricks are added to a routine, the maximum score in a collegiate competition is a 10.0.

Auburn gymnast Suni Lee / Jake Crandall-USA TODAY NETWORK

"We can't get distracted with any individual athlete as we approach a competition," Johnston said. "We are all on the same playing field. We all start from a 10.0. Everybody just has to find their edge, and be on their game. And nobody is immune to that.”

This will be Lee's only trip to Coleman Coliseum as she announced before the season that it would be her last season competing collegiately. 

Wins and losses don't matter as much in gymnastics as other sports because it is score averages, not win/loss record, that determine seeding in the postseason. And while Alabama scored a season high of 197.325 last week at Kentucky, the Crimson Tide has dropped two meets in a row. And Alabama is "playing to win" this week according to Johnston.

That's why she wants her team to approach the meet against Auburn without holding back. Alabama posted a big score on the road, but has the potential to post an even higher score at home this week and continue to gain momentum in front of the huge home crowd. 

"We're really talking about competing and going big and having the courage to step up in those moments and just commit to it," Johnston said. "Not to go in with a cautious attitude or cautious approach, but to really just commit and go after it. And so that's what we're talking about is competing, playing to win. And again, I don't just mean winning the meet. I mean winning the moment, winning the approach, winning the next step forward.”

There are a lot of external factors that could affect the team this week— whether its the sellout crowd, rivalry matchup, Power of Pink or high-profile gymnast for the other team. Doggette called it a "good overwhelming" and said the large crowd will fuel herself and her teammates. Despite all the festivities and pageantry, it ultimately will come down to what happens on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. 

"This meet in particular is very special, but at the same time, we’ve still got to compete in a gymnastics meet," Mitchell said. "So just taking everything for what it is and staying in the moment and just getting out there and handling your business.”

The Crimson Tide will be trying to score above a 197 at home for the first time this season, and the Tigers are seeking their first ever win inside Coleman Coliseum as both teams continue to try and climb in the rankings. 

No. 11 Alabama and No. 6 Auburn will compete Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

See also:

How to Watch: No. 4 Alabama Basketball at LSU

Alabama Announces 'Yea Alabama' as Official University NIL Entity

Debate on Which School Can Claim Jalen Hurts Focused on Wrong Things: All Things CW