BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore April Burkholder’s perfect score on the floor exercise Friday wasn’t enough to push the Tigers past No. 2 Alabama in their first home meet of season. Alabama won, 197.600-196.750 before the second-largest crowd the PMAC has ever held for a gymnastics meet.
The 20th-ranked Tigers fell to 0-2 in the SEC with the loss, but there were some bright spots. They posted more consistent performances on the balance beam and uneven parallel bars in this meet than in their previous two outings. Freshman Lisa Rennie was second on the beam with a 9.925 and junior Annie Gagnon was third on the bars with a 9.900.
“I was happy tonight,” head coach D-D Breaux said. “Not satisfied, but I thought the girls gave as much as they could tonight.
“Rikki L’Heureux gave us some consistency leading on the bars. I feel like from this point we will be able to manage that event better.”
L’Heureux stepped into the Tigers’ beam lineup for the first time this season and nailed a 9.800.
Burkholder won the all-around competition with a 39.400. She won the floor exercise and was third on the vault.
Alabama held a slight lead after the first rotation, scoring a 49.400 on the bars while the Tigers managed a 49.150 on the vault. They built on the lead until the last rotation, which LSU won 49.450-49.375.
Alabama maintained its perfect record, moving to 7-0 on the season.
The Lady Tigers will be home again next Friday to face Centenary and Texas Women’s University.
TEAM RESULTS
1. Alabama 197.600
2. LSU 196.750
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
Vault – 1, Ashley Miles (UA), 9.950. t3, April Burkholder, 9.900. t5, Nicki Butler, 9.825. t5, Nicki Butler, 9.825. t8, Rikki L’Heureux, 9.800. t8, Lindsey Thompson, 9.800. 10, Brittany Brown, 9.775. Bars – 1, Jeana Rice (UA), 9.975. 3, Annie Gagnon, 9.900. t5, Lisa Rennie, 9.850. 7, Katherine Hilton, 9.800. t9, April Burkholder, 9.750. t9, Rikki L’Heureux, 9.750. 11, Lindsay Beddow, 9.650.
Beam – 1, Jeana Rice (UA), 9.950. 2, Lisa Rennie, 9.925. 7, Terin Martinjak, 9.825. t8, Lindsay Beddow, 9.800. t8, Kelly Phelan, 9.800. t10, April Burkholder, 9.750. t10, Jade Jenkins, 9.750.
Floor – 1, April Burkholder, 10.0. t5, Brittany Brown, 9.875. t5, Terin Martinjak, 9.875. t5, Kelly Phelan, 9.875. t9, Lisa Rennie, 9.825. 11, Kelly Lea, 9.675.
All-Around – 1, April Burkholder, 39.400.