BATON ROUGE — The LSU gymnastics season will open on Friday night at Kentucky with the Tigers ranked eighth in the nation according to the GymInfo Preseason Coaches poll. The Tigers are one of four SEC teams to be ranked in the top 10 in the nation entering the season.
The No. 8 national ranking is the Tigers’ second top 10 preseason ranking, as they rank ninth in the Sports Illustrated For Women poll released a week ago.
UCLA holds the No. 1 spot, followed by a Georgia team that comes to Baton Rouge to face the Tigers on Jan. 19, Michigan, Utah and Alabama to round out the top five. Nebraska, Stanford, LSU, Penn State and Florida round out the top 10.
The Tigers opened the season ranked ninth a year ago and finished in that position at season’s end.
LSU begins its rigorous schedule on Friday night at 6 p.m. against Kentucky. On tap this season for LSU are home meets with No. 2 Georgia and No. 10 Florida, along with road meets at No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Nebraska. GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll (Top 10)
Rank Team
1. UCLA
2. Georgia
3. Utah
4. Michigan
5. Alabama
6. Nebraska
7. Stanford
8. LSU
9. Penn State
10. Florida