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CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah University needed a 9.875 or higher in its final routine on Monday night to capture a win and Shannon Coughlin delivered, recording a career-best 9.900 on floor to give the T-Birds a 195.475 victory. Auburn finished in a close second with a 195.425, followed by Brigham Young University which had to count a fall en route to a 194.250.

"Our floor team did a great job to get us the win tonight," head coach Scott Bauman said after the meet. "Although, the thing that helped us the most was our great crowd and the atmosphere that is in the Centrum Arena every meet. Our fans really are the X-factor in every victory for us."

Southern Utah began on vault and competed only five gymnasts, scoring a 48.500. Lindsey Schultz led the way for the T-Birds, scoring a 9.800 as the senior finished fifth overall on the event.

Following the first rotation both teams trailed Auburn as the Tigers finished on bars with a 49.050 with BYU scoring a 48.700 on floor.

Southern Utah continued to trail both schools following the second rotation as the Cougars tallied a 49.075 on vault to take over first place. The Thunderbirds did make up some ground on Auburn as the Tigers finished on beam with a 48.675 with SUU scoring a 48.900 on bars.

Michaela Chernoch proved to be the biggest reason for the T-Bird success, scoring a career-best 9.850 on the event to finish in second place. Lauren Jeffrey wasn't far behind as the junior also scored a career-best 9.800 and was followed by Ari Lamb with a 9.775. Brooke Cersosimo returned to the line-up, despite an injury suffered at the University of Missouri, to also tally a 9.775 with Caitlin Kennedy rounding out the team score with a 9.700.

The team totals after the second rotation had BYU in first with a 97.775, Auburn in second with a 97.725 and SUU in third with a 97.400.

Southern Utah moved to beam in the third rotation and began the event, hitting its first five routines en route to a 48.800 on the event. Two Thunderbirds scored in the 9.8's with Lamb posting the top mark with a 9.850. Her mark was good enough for second place overall and she was joined in the top five by Shannon Coughlin with a 9.800, finishing fourth, and Alyssa Click with a 9.775, finishing fifth.

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The Thunderbirds moved ahead of Brigham Young during the rotation as the Cougars had to count a fall on bars, but continued to trail Auburn University. However, the Tigers had to count a neutral deduction on floor as a pair of gymnasts stepped out of bounds during floor routines to keep the door open on a Thunderbird comeback. The standings following the third rotation were: Auburn (146.675), Southern Utah (146.200) and Brigham Young (146.125).

SUU opened the final rotation with a 9.800 on the floor exercise as Chernoch got the team off on the right foot. The scores only grew from there as Lamb (9.800), Jeffrey (9.850) and Click (9.850) set up Schultz' score of a 9.875. However, the Thunderbirds still trailed the Tigers by ..05 and needed at least a 9.875 on the final routine to win the meet. Coughlin's career-best and first-place finishing 9.900 on the final performance sealed the victory as Southern Utah came from behind for the 195.475 to 195.425 win.

Lamb posted a career-best 39.175 to finish second in the all-around on the night, finishing behind Auburn's Kylie Shields (39.300).

Southern Utah will close out its regular season on Saturday afternoon when the Thunderbirds host the University of Iowa and Utah State University at 2:00 p.m. The meet in the Centrum will also coincide with senior day and head coach Scott Bauman's 20th year with over 100 alumnus anticipated to attend the meet.

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