SALT LAKE CITY — Despite recording its highest road score of the 2003 season on Friday, the 15th-ranked LSU gymnastics team fell to the seventh-ranked Utah Utes, 197.475-196.575, on senior day in the Huntsman Center here in Salt Lake City.
“We did what we came to do out there tonight,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We needed to get a 196-plus score to improve our regional qualifying standings and we we’re able to do that with a very young team.
There is also a chance that we could come back out here for regionals and we wanted to get the team ready for this kind of atmosphere.”
In front of 9,827 fans on Friday, LSU’s April Burkholder led the Tigers to their third-best score of the season and finished second in the all-around competition. Burkholder, LSU’s highly touted freshman from Houston, Texas, earned career-record marks in both the beam (9.950) and the all-around (39.625) events.
LSU (8-7) has remained consistent in its last four meets and has averaged an overall score of 196.444 since Feb. 23.
Utah (6-4) registered its third-best score of the 2003 campaign on Friday in an emotional regular-season finale at the Huntsman Center. With the victory, the Utes upped their overall record in the all-time series to 23-2.
LSU’s best overall performance came in the Tigers’ final event of the contest – the beam.
Lindsay Beddow and Jade Jenkins started off the Tigers’ rotation with identical scores of 9.800, while Megan Durning followed with a 9.900 and Lauren Campanioni turned in a solid mark of 9.750. LSU’s freshmen Terin Martinjak and Burkholder then capitalized on tremendous performances to record scores of 9.850 and 9.950, respectively.
The Tigers accumulated a total of 49.225 in the beam to match their previous third-best score of the season in the event.
At the mid-way point in Friday’s meet, Utah held a .475 advantage over the Tigers after the Utes notched a season-high score of 49.450 in the vault and finished with a mark of 49.325 in the bars. Utah led LSU, 98.775-98.300, after the first two rotations.
The Tigers earned tallies higher than their previous season averages in both the bars and vault competitions on Friday. LSU finished the vault portion of the meet with a score of 49.075 due to a 9.900 performance from Burkholder and a 9.850 outing from Rikki L’Heureax.
L’Heureax’s mark of 9.850 on the vault tied her career-best output. The Tigers’ exceptional freshman from Crawfordville, Fla., had recently scored a 9.850 on the vault against Arkansas.
LSU registered a score of 49.225 in the bars competition behind a season-best performance from senior Brooke Cazeaux. Cazeaux, the Tigers’ native of Kennesaw, Ga., turned in a 9.900 in the bars competition to top her previous season-high mark of 9.850. The score also tied Cazeaux’s career-best performance.
Utah’s 12-time All-American Theresa Kulikowski was unable to perform on Friday due to an injury that she sustained in practice on Thursday. The Ute senior is a three-time NCAA Champion and has won all six of the bars competitions that she’s participated in during the 2003 campaign.
The 15th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will next be in action on Friday, March 21, as the Tigers close out their regular season with a tri-meet versus both Centenary and Texas Woman’s College at 7 p.m. in the Gold Dome located in Shreveport.
TEAM RESULTS
Total – Utah – 197.475, LSU – 196.575
Vault – Utah – 49.450, LSU – 49.075
Bars – Utah – 49.325, LSU – 49.225
Beam – Utah – 49.375, LSU – 49.275
Floor – Utah – 49.325, LSU – 49.000
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top three plus LSU finishers)
All-Around – 1, Melissa Vituj (Utah), 39.675. 2, April Burkholder (LSU), 39.625. 3, Annabeth Eberle (Utah), 38.900.
Vault – 1, Melissa Vituj (Utah), 9.950. 2, April Burkholder (LSU), Annabeth Eberle (Utah), 9.900. 6, Rikki L’Heureux (LSU), 9.850. 8, Brittany Brown (LSU), 9.825. 9, Terin Martinjak (LSU), 9.7750. 10, Lauren Companioni (LSU), 9.725. 12, Lindsey Thompson (LSU), 9.400.
Bars – 1, Veronique Leclerc (Utah), 9.925. 2, Brooke Cazeaux (LSU), Kim Allan (Utah), 9.900. 4, April Burkholder (LSU), 9.875. 6 Lindsay Beddow (LSU), Rikki L’Heureux (LSU), 9.825. 10, Annie Gagnon (LSU), 9.800. 12, Kelly Lea (LSU), 9.350.
Beam – 1, Melissa Vitaj (Utah), April Burkholder (LSU), 9.950. 3. Kim Allan (Utah), 9.900. 5, Terin Martinjak (LSU), 9.875. 6, Megan Durning (LSU), 9.850. 8, Lindsay Beddow (LSU), 9.800. 8, Lauren Companioni (LSU), 9.800. 8, Jade Jenkins (LSU), 9.800.
Floor – 1, Melissa Vituj (Utah), 9.925. 2, April Burkholder (LSU), 9.900. 3, Annabeth Eberle (Utah), 9.875. 4, Terin Martinjak (LSU), 9.850. 8, Lauren Companioni (LSU), 9.800. 9, Brittany Brown (LSU), 9.775. 10, Annie Gagnon (LSU), 9.675. 12, Jade Jenkins (LSU), 9.350.