BATON ROUGE- The seventh-ranked LSU gymnastics team travels to Gainesville, Fla., for the Southeastern Conference Championships Saturday evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
The Tigers (12-3 overall, 3-2 SEC) will be gunning for their first SEC title since winning the inaugural conference crown in 1981. The Tigers finished fourth in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a year ago.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to go out and compete for the conference title,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “It’s always a tremendous competition and we feel like we have as good an opportunity as anyone. We’ve been competitive with each of the top teams this year and we
feel like we will be this weekend as well.”
Georgia has claimed eight of the last nine titles, including a decisive victory a year ago and enters ranked second in the nation, while Alabama holds the fourth spot.
The Tigers narrowly missed defeating the Gym Dogs in Athens on Jan. 23, falling by .15 in a meet decided in the final event of the competition.
Two weeks later the Tigers beat then-No. 1 Alabama in a thriller in Baton Rouge when Shanyn MacEachern came up with a 9.925 on the floor to clinch victory.
The Tigers enter the meet red hot after recording the second highest score in school history in their last outing against Auburn on March 3, scoring a 196.950, the third highest score by an SEC team this year.
For the first time in many years, the SEC Championships will not be a one or two team race. While Georgia and Alabama enter as the two highest ranked teams, the Tigers are not far off in the seventh spot and are 3-1 against teams ranked in the top eight in the nation this year.
In addition, host Florida started out slowly this year, but has turned it up considerably, including a close victory over the Tigers at the O’Connell Center on Feb. 25.
“This definitely isn’t a one or two team race, anyone of four schools could win this and we’re in that group,” said Breaux. “Traditionally, Georgia and Alabama have been the two teams to beat, but we’re going to be in that mix and Florida will be tough also.”
Following the SEC Championships the Tigers will learn which of the six NCAA Regional they are assigned to. NCAA Regionals will be held on April 1 with the top two teams from each region advancing to the NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho from April 13-15.