BATON ROUGE — The 10th-ranked LSU gymnastics team opens the 2004 season Friday night when it travels to East Lansing, Mich., for a quad meet featuring Michigan State, 17th-ranked Arizona and Western Michigan.
The meet will take place at MSU’s Jennison Fieldhouse and will begin at 7 p.m. (CST).
“We are excited and eager to get this season underway,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I feel like we are prepared as a team and I expect this to be a great meet.”
LSU returns a wealth of talent from its 2003 squad that finished 10th in the nation a year ago. Headlining that squad is 2003 SEC Freshman of the Year April Burkholder. Burkholder proved to be the Tigers’ top performer a year ago, winning 20 individual event titles, including the NCAA West Regional floor crown.
Other key contributors returning for the Tigers include lone senior Lindsay Beddow, junior All-American Annie Gagnon and sophomore Terin Martinjak.
Beddow was a staple in the Tigers’ bar and beam lineups a year ago and looks to also move into the floor lineup this season.
Gagnon earned All-America honors on her specialty, the uneven bars, in 2003 and looks to grab a spot in the all-around later in the season after fully recovering from off season foot surgery.
Martinjak was a solid three event competitor for the Tigers a year ago, recording 11 top-three individual event finishes, including two beam titles.
Not to be overlooked are LSU’s talented group of freshmen, Kelly Phelan (Orlando, Fla.), Lisa Rennie (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Nicki Butler (Virginia Beach, Va.), that are all expected to contribute immediately to the Tiger team.
“This is a very strong freshmen class,” said Breaux. “I’m excited about what they are doing in the gym and I believe they are going to help our team immediately.”
A strong all-arounder, Phelan is expected to see action in all four events in the season opener, while Rennie will likely compete in the bars and beam and Butler should contribute to the vault lineup.
In this weekend’s match up, the Tigers hold all-time series advantages over each of the other three teams competing. LSU has dominated Michigan State 16-2, while holding a more slim 9-7 lead over the Wildcats, a mark that includes a 7-3 record over UA at a neutral site. LSU and Western Michigan have met just one time before, in 1998, when the Tigers prevailed, 189.050-182.850.
Following the season opener, the Tigers will kick off conference action when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a dual meet with the Florida Gators on Fri., Jan. 16.