BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — After a final practice at UAB’s Bartow Arena Friday afternoon, the 12th-ranked LSU gymnastics team is set to take on the conference’s best Saturday at the 2003 SEC Championships. Action is scheduled to begin here at 6 p.m. (CST).
Entering the conference championships five of the field’s seven teams are ranked among the nation’s top-20. Two-time defending SEC champion Georgia sits in the nation’s No. 4 spot, while defending national champion Alabama is ranked fifth. Florida enters the meet ranked eight in the nation and the Tigers follow in 12th. Auburn rounds out the field of top-ranked competitors, coming in at 16th.
“If we compete the way we have the last few meets I think we have an opportunity to do very well this weekend,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I am expecting that this team will come out ready, compete hard and put themselves in position to be successful.”
The Tigers enter the meet on a red hot streak having scored 196.000 or better in seven of their last eight outings, including a season-high 197.225 performance at Centenary last weekend.
On the coattails of its 197-plus performance, LSU will aim for its first SEC title in 22 years, as the Tigers last won the SEC title during the 1981 season. Since then, LSU has finished in the top-three nine times, including most recently in 2000 when the Tigers placed second overall. LSU has finished fourth at the conference meet each of the last two seasons.
The Tigers will be led by freshman all-arounder April Burkholder. The reigning SEC Gymnast of the Week, Burkholder enters the meet having posted the SEC’s top marks on the floor (10.000) and in the all-around (39.875) this season.
The Tigers will also look to veterans Brooke Cazeaux and Lindsay Beddow to lead this young squad. Cazeaux, LSU’s lone senior, has been a steady contributor on the bars this season, while Beddow has proven to be a rock in both the Tigers’ bar and beam lineups to date.
At the media luncheon held prior to today’s final practice, the meet’s rotations were determined by a blind draw. For the third straight year the Tigers will start on the balance beam. Following the beam LSU will go bye, floor, bye, vault, bye, before concluding the meet on the uneven bars.
“This is a great rotation for us,” said Breaux. “Beam in the neutralizing event. For this young group we have competing it allows us to get it done and out of the way, while the rest of the field will still have the challenge waiting ahead for them.”
Following the SEC Championships, the Tigers will take its first weekend of the season off as it prepares for the NCAA Regional Championships, April 12. LSU’s destination for the regional meet will be determined following the conclusion of the other conference meets around the country this weekend.