BATON ROUGE — After a season-high 197.050 effort at Alabama last week, the LSU gymnastics team jumped one spot to No. 7 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
With rankings based on a team’s season average for the first time this year, the poll’s top two spots flipped this week as UCLA took over at No. 1, averaging a 196.500, and Utah fell to No. 2 with a 196.433 average. Michigan (196.000) and Alabama (195.675) remained at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, while Florida jumped to No. 5 (195.650) and Georgia (195.500) and LSU (195.467) follow.
The Tigers are ranked in the top 15 on each of the four individual events for the first time this season. LSU is listed at No. 3 on the floor (49.133) and No. 4 on the bars (49.017), as well as No. 10 on the vault (49.150) and No. 15 on the beam (48.517).
Four Tigers are ranked individually this week. Junior April Burkholder holds down LSU’s top ranking, coming in at No. 10 on the bars with a season average of 9.867.
Sophomore Kelly Phelan is tied for 19th on the beam (9.875) and senior Annie Gagnon is tied for 20th on the bars (9.833). In addition, freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney broke into the rankings for the first time in her career. She is tied for 25th on the floor, averaging a 9.850.
The Tigers return to action this Friday when they host No. 15 Michigan State in their first of three straight home meets at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Meet is set to begin at 7 p.m.
| Rank | Team Name | Team Ave |
| 1 | UCLA | 196.500 |
| 2 | Utah, U. of | 196.433 |
| 3 | Michigan, U. of | 196.000 |
| 4 | Alabama, U. of | 195.675 |
| 5 | Florida, U. of | 195.650 |
| 6 | Georgia, U. of | 195.500 |
| 7 | L.S.U. | 195.467 |
| 8 | Brigham Young Univ. | 195.092 |
| 9 | Denver, U. of | 194.850 |
| 10 | Iowa State | 194.842 |
| 11 | Oklahoma, U. of | 194.767 |
| 12 | Arkansas, U. of | 194.483 |
| 13 | Auburn Univ. | 194.375 |
| 14 | Oregon State | 194.108 |
| 15 | Michigan State | 194.075 |
| 16 | Southern Utah Univ. | 194.050 |
| 17 | Arizona State | 193.983 |
| 18 | Kentucky, U. of | 193.917 |
| 19 | Penn State | 193.892 |
| 20 | Arizona, U. of | 193.567 |
| 21 | Ohio State Univ. | 193.500 |
| 22 | Washington, U. of | 193.500 |
| 23 | Nebraska, U. of | 193.425 |
| 24 | Minnesota, U. of | 193.392 |
| 25 | Central Michigan | 193.200 |
?