BATON ROUGE — Following a 195.625-195.550 upset victory over then No. 12 Florida the LSU gymnastics team jumped 12 spots to No. 8 in the country in the latest national rankings released Monday.
Utah and UCLA maintained the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, with season highs of 197.675 and 197.300. Michigan (196.025) held onto the No. 3 spot, while the Tigers upcoming opponent, Alabama, also jumped 12 spots into the No. 4 position with a 195.975. Oklahoma rounds out this week’s top five with a high score of 195.900.
Each of the SEC’s seven teams are ranked among the top 20 this week. Georgia comes in at No. 6 (195.800), Florida at No. 10 (195.550), Auburn is 12th (195.325) and Arkansas (194.925) and Kentucky (194.850) are 16th and 17th, respectively.
The Tigers are once again ranked among the top 25 on each of the fourth individual events. Their highest national ranking comes on the bars where they are tied with Alabama at No. 4 with a 49.200. They are also No. 10 on the floor (49.150), No. 11 on the vault (49.000) and 24th on the beam (48.275).
Individually, LSU has six athletes ranked among the top 25. Senior Annie Gagnon and junior April Burkholder are tied for third in the country on the bars with season highs of 9.925. Sophomores Nicki Butler and Lisa Rennie are also ranked on the event, tied for 15th with scores of 9.850.
Burkholder is also tied for 21st on the floor (9.900), while junior Terin Martinjak and sophomore Kelly Phelan are tied for 22nd on the beam (9.850).
The Tigers return to action this Friday when they travel to Tuscaloosa for a dual meet with No. 4 Alabama.
National Rankings
1 Utah 197.675
2 UCLA 197.300
3 Michigan 196.025
4 Alabama 195.975
5 Oklahoma 195.900
6 Georgia 195.800
7 Arizona State 195.700
8 LSU 195.625
9 BYU 195.575
10 Florida 195.550
11 Michigan State 195.475
12 Auburn 195.325
13 Oregon State 195.200
14 Denver 195.100
15 Iowa State 194.925
– Arkansas 194.925
17 Kentucky 194.850
18 Washington 194.625
19 Nebraska 194.200
20 Penn State 194.125
21 Central Michigan 194.050
22 Maryland 193.975
23 Minnesota 193.925
24 Utah State 193.850
25 Illinois 193.825