BATON ROUGE — The 12th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will close out its regular season Friday when it travels to Shreveport for a tri-meet with Centenary and Texas Woman’s. The meet will be held at 7 p.m. in the Gold Dome.
Friday’s match will mark the first time LSU has faced an unranked opponent in eight weeks. LSU last met an unranked team, Jan. 17, when the Tigers competed against Centenary in a tri-meet at Kentucky.
The Tigers are looking for a second straight solid road score in order to improve their regional qualifying score and national ranking heading into the NCAA Regional Championships, April 12.
“We can’t afford to rest anyone this weekend,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We need to compete hard and come away with a big score in order to improve where we stand in the rankings.”
LSU is coming off a solid performance at Utah last weekend, as the team combined to post its highest road score of the year, 196.575. Freshman April Burkholder highlighted the competition, turning in the third-best all-around score in school history, 39.625, behind three marks of 9.900 or better.
In-state foe Centenary enters the meet with an overall record of 5-8. This will be the second meeting of the season between Centenary and LSU as the Tigers defeated the Ladies, 195.825-189.200, on Jan. 17. LSU leads the all-time series between the two teams 18-1. The Tigers’ lone loss to the Ladies came during the 1984 season when Centenary defeated LSU, 173.50-169.95, in dual-met competition.
Texas Woman’s is 6-15 on the season and coming off a season-best 196.000-194.975 win over Air Force. The Tigers lead the all-time series with the Pioneers 4-0. The two teams last met during the 2001 season when LSU defeated TWU, 195.850-190.625.
Following the Tigers’ trip to Shreveport, LSU will have one week to prepare for the SEC’s top competition as it travels to Birmingham, Ala., for the 2003 SEC Championships. The meet will be held Saturday, March 29, at Bartow Arena.