BATON ROUGE- With seven seniors on the roster for the 2000 season, the LSU gymnastics team took a major step in reloading for the 2001 season, signing four top prospects to letters of intent, head coach D-D Breaux announced Tuesday.
Lindsay Beddow of Tampa, Fla., Amanda Mueller of New Berlin, Wis., Jessica Thompson of New Orleans and Kristen Uransky of Norfolk, Va., all signed with LSU and will enroll next fall.
“We recruited against some of the best programs in the nation to sign these athletes,” said Breaux. “To be able to bring a class like this to LSU next fall is a great accomplishment and we’re proud to have these athletes join our program.
“We’ve still got more work to do and there are a couple of people we still think we can sign, we’re not done, but this is a great group we’re bringing in and a great start.”
Beddow is an all-arounder with particular strength in the bars and has qualified for and competed at numerous national championships. She joins LSU from the same USA gymnastics program that produced current All-American Colleen Barger.
“Lindsay is potentially the finest bar-worker coming out in the nation this year,” said Breaux. “I think she has world class potential. The fact that she comes from the same program as Colleen lends great credibility to her training habits and character.”
Mueller is another all-around competitor, who like Beddow, has qualified for and competed at numerous national championships.
“Amanda is a solid all-arounder who with four good events,” added Breaux.
Thompson comes to LSU from Sacred Heart Academy in New Orleans and trains at the Elmwood Gymnastics Academy. While she has all-around potential, the vault is her strongest area.
“We’re always excited when feel like we sign one of the top kids out of Louisiana and we feel like we’ve done that with Jessica,” said Breaux.
Finally, Uransky has competed at the highest level and is what Breaux terms an “elite gymnast.” Uransky trains at the Excalibur Gymnastics Academy in Virginia Beach and has competed internationally and as part of the field at the USA Championships.