BATON ROUGE- The sixth-ranked LSU gymnastics team is set for a showdown of nationally ranked teams, as the Tigers face No. 19 Florida, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 12 North Carolina State in a four-way meet in Gainesville, Fla., at 6 p.m. Friday night.
The Tigers (9-2 overall, 2-1 SEC) are peaking at the right time and enter Friday night’s meet fresh off a season-best 196.800 showing in their blow out of Centenary in Baton Rouge a week ago.
“Overall, this will be our toughest competition of the season and that’s how we’re approaching it,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “Every team is this field is ranked and more than capable of winning. We’re the highest ranked team in the field so we know they’ll be gunning for us. We’re as ready as we can be and we’ve got to be prepared to have our best meet of the season.”
The Tigers are only 16-26 all-time against Florida, but won convincingly the last time the two teams met in the regular season, taking a 196.950-194.975 decision in Baton Rouge. Shanyn MacEachern won the all-around with a remarkable 39.600 effort, going 9.90 or better on each apparatus with the exception of the beam.
LSU has not won in Gainesville, however, since 1990.
The Tigers have never lost to either Iowa State or North Carolina State during the regular season, boasting a 2-0 record all-time against the Cyclones and a 4-0 record against the Wolfpack.
Following their four-way meet in Gainesville on Friday, the Tigers return home next Friday for their final home competition of the season, a dual-meet with SEC rival Auburn. The meet will be the final home competition for seven of the most accomplished seniors in school history.