BATON ROUGE — After winning the NCAA Central Regional title this weekend, the LSU gymnastics team learned its fate for the upcoming NCAA Championships on Monday morning and will open in the afternoon session when action begins on April 18 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
LSU ended up in the six-team bracket with Georgia, Utah, Michigan, Nebraska and Arizona. The Tigers are 1-3 against teams from their bracket this season with a victory over Utah and three losses to Georgia. The afternoon session begins at 1 p.m.
The evening session will pit host-Alabama, UCLA, Stanford, Florida, Minnesota and Oregon State.
The Tigers benefited from the draw of the rotations, however, and will start on bars and have the identical rotation to that of their NCAA Central Regional competition. LSU will move to beam for its second rotation before its first bye. The Tigers will then move to floor and vault and have their final bye in the sixth rotation.
“I think it’s a very good draw for us,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I think starting out on bars again is a great advantage, we’ve already prepared for one major competition with this mindset and have been successful.
“I think it enables us to hopefully get off to a good start on a very strong event for us and build some momentum to hit on beam. This past weekend we really turned it up a notch once we hit floor and I think from a confidence standpoint it’s great to know what we’re capable of doing with this rotation.”
The top three teams from each session advance to the Super Six on Friday April 19. LSU will take aim at its first appearance in the Super Six.
“The Super Six has been our goal all year long,” added Breaux. “We started the season at the Super Six Challenge and I said then I want to end the season in the Super Six as well.”
April 18, 2002
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Afternoon session – 1 p.m.
LSU- Bars, beam, bye, floor, vault, bye
Georgia- Vault, bye, bars, beam, bye, floor
Utah- Bye, floor, vault, bye, bars, beam
Michigan- Bye, bars, beam, bye, floor, vault
Nebraska- Floor, vault, bye, bars, beam, bye
Arizona- Beam bye, floor, vault, bye, bars
Evening session – 7 p.m.
Alabama- Bye, floor, vault, bye, bars, beam
UCLA- Beam, bye, floor, vault, bye, bars
Stanford- Bars, beam, bye, floor, vault, bye
Florida- Bye, bars, beam, bye, floor, vault
Minnesota- Vault, bye, bars, beam, bye, floor
Oregon State- Floor, vault, bye, bars, beam, bye