BATON ROUGE- Led by seven Scholastic All-Americans, including three athletes with perfect 4.0 grade point averages, the LSU gymnastics team finished third in the nation in combined GPA among NCAA gymnastics teams.
The Tigers, who registered a combined 3.5760 team GPA, were the highest ranking SEC or major University in the nation. SouthernUtah (3.6810) and Wilson College (3.6600) ranked first and second respectively.
LSU ranked one spot ahead of both Alabama and Utah who tied for fourth. The Tigers had the highest team GPA of any team qualifying for the 12-team field at the 1999 NCAA gymnastics championships.
“It’s our priority and it’s our mission to not only focus on athletics, but academics. To focus on the student part of the term student-athlete,” said LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breuax. “I’m glad that we’re able to have that balance to have the third highest GPA in the nation and the highest among major universities, and also be a consistent top 10 program athletically.”
Stacey Wegener, Leah Concannon and Abbey Burns all registered perfect 4.0 grade point averages over the 1998-99 academic year.Kerry Descalopoulis (3.8880), Jennifer Conrad (3.8060), Kimberly Descalopoulis (3.8000) and Colleen Barger (3.6870) all receivedScholastic All-American honors as well.
In addition, every member of the LSU gymnastics program that was eligible earned a spot on the SEC Academic Honor Roll last year.
Athletically, the Tigers qualified for the 12-team field at the1999 NCAA gymnastics championships and missed advancing to the “Super Six” round by five-hundredths of a point, the slimmest of margins.
The LSU gymnastics team will open its 2000 season on Jan. 8 witha meet against Michigan State, Ohio State and Oregon State in East Lansing, Mich.