BATON ROUGE — In a very tight match that came down to the final performances, the No. 20 LSU gymnastics team upset No. 12 Florida by a .075 margin to open its home and Southeastern Conference schedule in front of 2,040 in the Maravich Center.
Winning the meet in the final rotation of competition, the Tigers rebounded from a third-place finish at Michigan State last weekend to defeat the Gators, scoring a 195.625 over Florida’s 195.550.
“To pull it out in the end like that was great,” coach D-D Breaux said of the team’s slim victory over conference foe Florida. “After last weekend’s performance, we trained extremely hard this week preparing for this. We focused not so much on details tonight, but on the overall picture.”
April Burkholder, LSU’s lone competitor in the all-around, took the second-place title with a mark of 38.900. Florida’s Breanne King took first with a 39.275 and Ashley Reed third with a 38.575.
The Tigers started the night on vault, earning a 49.000 on the first rotation. Kelly Phelan led the team on that event, tying for second with a 9.850 mark.
They next moved to uneven bars where they received a score of 49.200. Two Tigers tied for the top spot in the event. Burkholder and Annie Gagnon each earned a 9.925 to lead all competitors. Lisa Rennie brought in a 9.850 to give the Tigers all three top marks on the bars.
After the second rotation, LSU led Florida by a score of 98.200 to 97.575. However, miscues on the beam by the Tigers and a performance on the floor for the Gators where each competitor scored a 9.800 or above put Florida ahead after the third rotation, 146.800 to 146.475.
The Tigers followed with a strong performance on floor led by Terin Martinjak with a score of 9.875. Phelan and Ashleigh Clare-Kearney each brought in a 9.850 to help the Tigers in the final rotation as well. With a 49.150 overall mark on that event and a 48.750 on the balance beam by the Gators, LSU retook the lead and edged Florida for the team title.
“Now that we have the confidence, we can start focusing on the details and improve each meet,” Breaux said.
The Tigers’ next challenge will be against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 21.
TEAM RESULTS
LSU – 195.625 (VT – 49.000, UB – 49.200, BB – 48.275, FX – 49.150)
UF – 195.550 (VT – 49.175, UB – 48.400, BB – 48.750, FX – 49.225)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Event winner plus all LSU competitors)
Vault – 1. Katie Rue, UF, 9.900, t2. Kelly Phelan 9.850, 5. April Burkholder 9.825, t7. Nicki Butler, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, Rikki L’Heureux 9.775, 12. Lindsey Thompson 9.250.
Bars – t1. April Burkholder, Annie Gagnon 9.925, 3. Lisa Rennie 9.850, t6. Katherine Hilton 9.775, 9. Kelly Lea 9.725, 11. Nicki Butler 9.200.
Beam – 1. Breanne King 9.850, t3. April Burkholder, Kelly Phelan, Lisa Rennie 9.775, 8. Lauren Companioni 9.675, 11. Annie Gagnon 9.275, 12. Terin Martinjak 9.100
Floor – 1. Tiffany Murry, UF, 9.925, 2. Terin Martinjak 9.875, t3. Kelly Phelan, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 9.850, t7. Nicki Butler 9.800, 11. Kelly Lea 9.775, 12. April Burkholder 9.375
All-Around – 1. Brenna King, UF, 39.275, 2. April Burkholder 38.900