BATON ROUGE — LSU’s gymnastics team dropped two spots to No. 6 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
LSU tied the second best score in school history Friday (197.525) in its defeat of Ohio State, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers among the top-five as both Stanford and Utah jumped ahead of them in the standings.
UCLA earned top billing for the third straight week with an RQS of 197.900. Georgia is No. 2 for a second consecutive week (197.410) and the Cardinal improved to No. 3 (197.350). Utah moved up two spots to No. 4 (197.340), while Alabama fell out of the top three for the first time this season, dropping to fifth with an RQS of197.325. The Tigers follow in sixth with a 197.215.
LSU is ranked in the top-10 on each of the four individual events for a second consecutive week. The Tigers are sixth on the vault (49.330), eighth on the floor (49.435), ninth on the beam (49.195) and 10th on the bars (49.245).
Sophomore April Burkholder leads a trio of Tigers that are ranked individually. The Houston native is the top ranked all-arounder in the SEC, sitting at No. 3 nationally with an RQS of 39.635. She is behind only Jeanette Antolin and Kate Richardson of UCLA who are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with RQSs of 39.790 and 39.730.
Burkholder is again ranked on three of the four individual events. She slipped one spot to No. 3 on the floor (9.960), jumped six spots into a two-way tie for seventh on the beam (9.925) and held steady at fifth on the vault (9.935).
All-American Annie Gagnon continued her climb in the bars rankings, moving up two spots into a three-way tie for sixth with an RQS of 9.925.
After entering the vault standings at No. 12 last week, freshman Nicki Butler cracked the top 10 for the first time in her career, moving into a five-way tie for ninth with a RQS of 9.920.
LSU closes out the regular season this Friday when it travels to Shreveport for a dual meet with Centenary at 7 p.m. in the Gold Dome. The Tigers will wrap up the home schedule Friday, April 2, when it hosts the NCAA Central Regional Championships at the Maravich Center.
National Rankings – March 8
Rank Team Name Team RQS Region Ave High
1 UCLA 197.900 W 197.057 198.875
2 Georgia 197.410 SE 197.198 198.050
3 Stanford 197.350 W 197.056 198.875
4 Utah 197.340 NC 197.103 198.050
5 Alabama of 197.325 C 197.300 197.925
6 LSU 197.215 C 196.702 197.525
7 Florida 197.020 SE 196.920 198.025
8 Washington 196.865 W 196.453 197.550
9 Iowa State 196.850 NC 196.736 197.625
10 N. Carolina 196.840 SE 196.186 197.350
11 Arizona 196.775 SC 196.397 197.300
12 Oklahoma 196.745 SC 196.330 197.300
13 Nebraska 196.720 SC 196.497 197.750
14 Oregon St. 196.710 W 196.236 197.675
15 BYU 196.660 NC 196.033 197.550
16 Iowa 196.610 NC 196.375 197.150
17 Auburn 196.435 C 196.150 197.000
– Missouri 196.435 SC 196.350 197.350
19 Michigan 196.410 NE 196.133 197.125
20 Denver 196.395 NC 195.840 197.875
21 Arkansas 196.235 SC 196.094 196.625
22 Arizona St. 196.095 SC 196.036 198.450
23 W. Virginia 195.830 SE 195.494 196.725
24 Michigan St.195.825 C 195.190 196.775
25 Penn State 195.715 NE 195.581 196.375