BATON ROUGE — The eighth-ranked LSU gymnastics team opens the 2005 season Friday when it travels to East Lansing, Mich., for quad meet with Michigan State, No. 20 Denver and Ball State.
The meet will begin at 7 p.m. (CT) at MSU’s Jennison Fieldhouse.
“We are looking forward to getting out there and competing again,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “There are always a lot of questions marks heading into the first meet, but I’m expecting this team will settle down and do the gymnastics they are capable of doing. The plan is to start slow and do safe, good, clean gymnastics.”
The Tigers will have a wealth of experience to draw from as it returns 13 letterwinners from a the 2004 squad that finished the season ranked seventh in the nation, won the NCAA Central Regional title and posted eight of the top 15 team scores in school history.
Headlining the list of returnees is the reigning SEC and NCAA Central Regional Gymnast of the Year, April Burkholder. The Houston native earned four All-America awards last season, while finishing second in the all-around at the NCAA Championships.
Expected to join Burkholder in the all-around this year is sophomore Kelly Phelan. Phelan saw all-around action five times during her inaugural campaign, posting a career best 39.350.
Also returning to the squad is senior and two-time All-American Annie Gagnon. The Montreal, Quebec, native is expected to be a mainstay in the vault, bars and beam lineups this season.
In this weekend’s match up, the Tigers hold all-time series advantages over each of the three competitors. LSU is 18-2-0 against Michigan State and has won the last five meetings between the two teams. The Tigers are 5-1 against Denver, a mark that includes a 2-0 record at a neutral site, and a perfect 3-0 against Ball State.
“We can’t go into this meet with our guard down,” said Breaux. “Denver is a national level team and our meets with Michigan State are always close. We are the team that everyone wants to beat.”
Following the Michigan State quad meet the Tigers will return to Baton Rouge open both the home and SEC schedules against No. 6 Florida on Fri., Jan. 14. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.