ATHENS, Ga. — Despite a slim lead going into the final rotation of the meet, the LSU gymnastics team came up just short, as Georgia exploded for a 49.475 on the floor exercise, edging the Tigers in the final event of the competition here in Athens, Ga., Sunday afternoon, 196.375-196.225.
Suzanne Sears came up with a 9.925 in the final floor performance to seal the victory for the Gym Dogs (5-1). Sears need a 9.800 or better to clinch the victory after freshman Rebecca Lightsey came up with a 9.90 for LSU (4-1) on the beam to push the Tigers over the 196 mark for the first time this season.
“I can’t fault us for anything this afternoon,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We did everything we needed to do. You can’t compete floor against beam, it’s too tough. I couldn’t ask for anything more out of my team.”
The two teams opened the meet on fire with Georgia blasting out to a 49.350 on the vault and the Tigers a 49.025 on the bars in the opening rotation. Beth Boudreaux tied for the title on the bars with a 9.90, while freshman Brooke Cazeaux, a native of Kennesaw, Ga., came up with the best effort of her career, a 9.825.
“I think the 10.0 start values in the vaulting was one of the differences,” added Breaux. “They poured it on it the vault and we were playing catch-up.”
The Tigers then went on to match their season high on the vault in the second rotation with a 48.775. Sophomore All-American Shanyn MacEachern paced the Tigers, finishing tied for third with a season-best effort of 9.850.
Trailing after each of the first two rotations, the Tigers seized the lead after the third rotation, coming up with a season-best 49.150 on the floor exercise. Boudreaux and Nicki Arnstad closed out a strong rotation for the Tigers with back-to-back 9.90s. For Boudreaux, it was a season-best effort, for Arnstad it was a career-best effort.
LSU went to the beam with a 146.950-146.900 advantage. After getting only a 47.825 on the beam last weekend, the Tigers rebounded and put all the pressure on Georgia with a season-high 49.275.
In addition to Lightsey’s 9.90, Abbey Burns matched her effort, while Stacey Wegener came up with a 9.850.
With the meet on the line, Georgia got a 49.475 on the floor, with three of its four scoring athletes scoring 9.90 or better.
LSU returns to action on Friday with the second of three consecutive meets against teams ranked in the top five in the nation. Third-ranked Utah comes to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday evening at 7 p.m. No. 2 Alabama comes to Baton Rouge the following Friday.