BATON ROUGE — After a convincing 197.250-191.425 win over Michigan State last Friday the LSU gymnastics team jumped three spots to No. 4 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
After a week at No. 2, Utah regained the nation’s top spot, averaging a 196.544. Michigan improved to No. 2 (196.131) and UCLA dropped two spots to No. 3 (196.055). The Tigers are the top ranked team in the SEC this week, averaging a 195.912. Florida rounds out the top five (195.875).
LSU is listed among the top 15 on each of the four individual events for a second straight week. The Tigers improved to No. 2 on the floor with their season average of 49.237. They remained at No. 4 on the bars (49.062) and are listed at No. 7 and No. 12 on the vault (48.937) and beam (48.675), respectively.
Individually, junior April Burkholder cracked the all-around rankings for the first time this season. The winner of two straight all-around titles, she is listed at No. 23 this week with a season average of 39.100. She is also tied for 10th on the bars, averaging a 9.862.
Sophomore Kelly Phelan is ranked nationally on three of the four events. She is 17th on the beam (9.831), tied for 22nd on the vault (9.844) and tied for 25th on the floor (9.859).
Also in the rankings are freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, senior Annie Gagnon and sophomore Nicki Butler. Clare-Kearney catapulted 14 spots to No. 11 on the floor (9.887), Gagnon improves six spots to No. 14 on the bars (9.844) and Butler returned to the vault rankings at No. 19 (9.850).
The Tigers return to action this Friday when they host No. 13 Arkansas in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 7 p.m.
| Rank | Team Name | Team Avg. | High |
| 1 | Utah, U. of | 196.544 | 197.675 |
| 2 | Michigan, U. of | 196.131 | 196.525 |
| 3 | UCLA | 196.055 | 197.300 |
| 4 | L.S.U. | 195.912 | 197.250 |
| 5 | Florida, U. of | 195.875 | 196.950 |
| 6 | Alabama, U. of | 195.844 | 197.175 |
| 7 | Georgia, U. of | 195.450 | 195.850 |
| 8 | Brigham Young Univ. | 195.092 | 195.575 |
| 9 | Nebraska, U. of | 195.081 | 196.800 |
| 10 | Oklahoma, U. of | 195.050 | 195.900 |
| 11 | Iowa State | 195.025 | 195.850 |
| 12 | Denver, U. of | 194.885 | 195.275 |
| 13 | Arkansas, U. of | 194.650 | 195.150 |
| 14 | Penn State | 194.494 | 196.300 |
| 15 | Auburn Univ. | 194.306 | 195.325 |
| 16 | Michigan State | 194.075 | 195.475 |
| 17 | Southern Utah Univ. | 194.050 | 195.525 |
| 18 | Kentucky, U. of | 193.937 | 194.850 |
| 19 | Ohio State Univ. | 193.925 | 194.775 |
| 20 | Central Michigan | 193.906 | 194.675 |
| 21 | Washington, U. of | 193.894 | 195.075 |
| 22 | Arizona, U. of | 193.875 | 194.800 |
| 23 | Arizona State | 193.837 | 195.700 |
| 24 | Oregon State | 193.669 | 195.200 |
| 25 | Minnesota, U. of | 193.469 | 193.925 |