BATON ROUGE — The LSU gymnastics team will open its season on Jan. 11 holding the No. 11 ranking, as the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll was released on Thursday.
With a wealth of talent returning that includes three All-Americans off last year’s team that finished ranked 18th, LSU head coach D-D Breaux was quite pleased with her team’s preseason ranking.
“I’m very pleased to ranked No. 11 in the nation heading into our season,” said Breaux, entering her 25th year at LSU. “It gives us room to move up but I think it also shows a respect for what we have coming back. We have an incredibly tough schedule this year which will definitely make us match ready when the major competitions roll around at the end of the season.”
Breaux couldn’t have produced a more difficult schedule, as nine of the 12 teams she will face this year enter the season in the top 25. Breaux’s Tigers will also face five of the top 10 teams in the preseason poll.
LSU opens next weekend at the Super Six Challenge in Gainesville, Fla., next weekend, matching up with No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Alabama, No. 7 Florida and 12th-ranked Penn State.
Following a home meeting with unranked Auburn on Jan. 18, LSU begins a stretch of seven straight meets against ranked opponents starting with a return trip to Florida on Jan. 25.
LSU will host fifth-ranked Utah on Feb. 1, before hosting Alabama the following week. On Feb. 15 the Tigers will travel to No. 14 Denver before returning home to face 16th- ranked Iowa and 24th-ranked Kentucky in consecutive weeks. LSU then travels to Georgia on March 8 to end its grueling stretch of ranked opponents.
“I’ve said it all along, I think we have the most difficult schedule in the nation,” added Breaux. “We’ll see the best competition in the nation this year and we intend to prove that we belong right there with them.”
LSU enters the 2002 season looking for its fifth NCAA Championship appearance in the last six years. The Tigers will host the NCAA Central Regional on April 6 at the Maravich Assembly Center. Tickets are on sale for all regular season home competitions at the LSU Ticket Office, located in the Athletic Administration Building or by calling (225) 578-8226.
GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll
Rank Team Points First Place
1 UCLA 912 29
2 Georgia, U. of 840
3 Michigan, U. of 838 3
4 Alabama, U. of 825 2
5 Utah, U. of 778 2
6 Nebraska, U. of 744 1
7 Florida, U. of 667
8 Stanford Univ. 647
9 Arizona State 582
10 Oregon State 510
11 LSU 488
12 Penn State 435
13 Oklahoma, U. of 349
14 Denver 346
15 Minnesota, U. of 330
16 Iowa, U. of 246
17 Arizona, U. of 238
18 Ohio State 233
19 Washington, U. of 231
20 Iowa State 228
21 West Virginia Univ. 204
22 Maryland 196
23 Brigham Young (BYU) 170
24 Kentucky, U. of 157
25 North Carolina State 124