BATON ROUGE — The ninth-ranked LSU gymnastics team heads to Birmingham this weekend in search of its first conference title in 21 years, as the Tigers’ join an elite field at the SEC Championships on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Five of the six teams competing at the Bartow Arena on Saturday night are ranked, including three in the top 10 in what is annually among the toughest conference championships in the nation.
“I think we have as good a shot as anyone in the field this weekend,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We’ve competed very well, particularly as of late. We’re where we want to be. We started off a little slow and have gradually worked our way up to peak now at the heart of our season.”
The second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is the highest ranked team on hand while defending champion Georgia sits in the No. 3 spot. LSU is ninth followed by No. 18 Florida and 19th-ranked Kentucky among teams competing this weekend. Auburn is the only unranked team on hand this weekend.
The Tigers have been red hot as of late, however, and have scored 196.000 or better in six of their last seven meets and over 197.000 in two of their last three. The Tigers will take aim at their first SEC title since 1981.
LSU finished the SEC regular season with a 3-2 record for the third consecutive year, picking up wins over Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn, while dropping decisions to Georgia and Florida.
“It’s probably going to take a 197 to win the event this weekend,” added Breaux. “The team that does what they’ve done all year to get to this point, that makes the least mistakes will win.”
LSU enters the SEC Championships on the heel of a school record 197.675 in its tri-meet victory over Rhode Island and Centenary. The Tigers’ senior class dominated “senior night” as Marina Degteva won the vault and floor titles, Beth Boudreaux the beam and bars and Nicki Arnstad the all-around.
More important to the Tigers’ effort last weekend, however, was that for the fifth time in seven weeks they did not count a fall.
“There’s no margin for error this weekend,” said Breaux. “We’ve got to hit beam, we’ve got to hit bars, we can’t count a fall and win this meet. We’ve got to put together four strong rotations if we’re going to compete for the title.”
The rotations have yet to be determined for Saturday’s meet. The draw will take place at the pre-SEC Championship press conference in Birmingham on Friday afternoon. Breaux will represent LSU, as will Beth Boudreaux.
Following the SEC Championships, LSU will take next weekend off before returning to action at the NCAA Central Regional, to be held at the Maravich Assembly Center on April 6 at 6 p.m. LSU will learn its five opponents for the regional on Tuesday.