BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will travel to Seattle, Wash., for the NCAA West Regional Championships it was announced Monday by the NCAA Gymnastics Committee.
The nation’s top 18 teams were seeded around the country at six predetermined regional sites based on each team’s regional qualifying score.
LSU has been matched up with No. 2 Nebraska, host and 11th-ranked Washington, as well as No. 36 Boise State, No. 42 Cal State Fullerton and No. 45 San Jose State to battle for a spot to the NCAA Championships. The top-two teams from each of the six regional meets will advance to the national meet that will be held in Lincoln, Neb., April 24-26.
“We are excited about going to Seattle,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “It’s always hard to beat a team at home, but I feel this team has improved each and every week. With two more weeks of preparation under their belts I believe this team will be up to the challenge.”
LSU is an even .500 against both Nebraska and Washington in the postseason as the Tigers own a 4-4 record against the Cornhuskers and a 1-1 record against the Huskies. LSU trails Cal State Fullerton 4-1 in the postseason, however the two teams haven’t met since the 1990 season. This will mark the first meeting between LSU and both Boise State and San Jose State.
In addition to the team competition, there will be five individual all-around competitors as well as four other individual event specialists competing for a spot at the NCAA Championships. Nirvana Zaher and Jessica Hoffman of Sacramento State, Mandi Burdick and Jesse Currie of Alaska-Anchorage and Corrie McDaniel of Seattle-Pacific have all earned a bid to the regional meet in the all-around, while Kimiye Naraskai of
Sacramento State will compete on the vault and Lynn Schwaebe, Michelle Naito and Tiffany Chan, all of UC Davis, will compete on the bars, beam and floor, respectively.
The Tigers will have two weeks to prepare for the regional meet, as the NCAA West Regional Championships will be held Saturday, April 12 at UW’s Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmonson Pavilion, beginning at 7 p.m. (CST).
2003 NCAA Gymnastics Regional Fields (with national rank)
West Region at Seattle, Wash. (University of Washington)
2. Nebraska
11. Washington
14. LSU
36. Boise State
42. Cal State Fullerton
45. San Jose State
Southeast Region at Athens, Ga. (University of Georgia)
4. Georgia
9. Florida
16. Ohio State
24. North Carolina State
27. North Carolina
31. Maryland
Northeast Region at Ann Arbor, Mich. (University of Michigan)
3. Arizona State
10. Michigan
15. Iowa State
28. New Hampshire
30. Penn State
41. Pittsburgh
Central Region at Tuscaloosa, Ala. (University of Alabama)
5. Alabama
7. Oklahoma
17. Auburn
T21. Kent State
25. Central Michigan
35. Michigan State
South Central Region at Columbia, Mo. (University of Missouri)
1. UCLA
12. Oregon State
13. Iowa
19. Arizona
26. Missouri
34. Illinois-Chicago
North Central Region at Salt Lake City, Utah (University of Utah)
6. Stanford
8. Utah
18. California
21. Denver
20. BYU
23. Minnesota