BATON ROUGE — It wasn’t the flawless performance they had hoped for, but the No. 4 LSU gymnastics team (4-3, 2-1 SEC) did what it needed to defeat the No. 13 Arkansas Gym’Backs (3-2, 2-2 SEC), 196.925-195.725, in front of 1,959 in the Maravich Center on Friday night.
“We had some great performances, and we had some that I felt were sub-par but not unexpected,” head coach D-D Breaux said of the night’s performance.
For the first time in her career, sophomore Kelly Phelan won the all-around with a career-high score of 39.400. Burkholder came in second with a 39.150.
“There were a few things here and there I could have done better, but overall I was very happy with my performance,” Phelan said.
“I thought Kelly did a great job,” Breaux added. “Her vault was outstanding, her floor routine is so entertaining, and she just looks like a cat on the beam. I was very proud of her.”
The Tigers opened once again without any troubles on the vault, scoring a 49.375 to start the competition. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney led all scorers with a season and career-high 9.925. That mark earned her the first event title of the freshman’s career.
Burkholder and Nicki Butler followed with 9.900s to tie their season-highs and earn LSU all three vault titles.
LSU saw similar success in the second rotation with a 49.925 mark on the bars. Behind a 9.900 from Burkholder, the Tigers increased their lead to .775 heading into the third event.
The Tigers and Gym’Backs each had some miscues in their third events. After an opening fall on the beam by LSU, the rest of the competitors knew sticking their routines would be crucial.
“When the first person falls on the beam, that puts so much pressure on everyone else,” Breaux said.
Lisa Rennie came through again, winning her second straight beam title with a 9.900.
Everything else went well until a rare fall on Burkholder’s dismount from the beam. That allowed Arkansas to within .650 of the Tigers.
Both teams headed to their best event for the final rotation of competition. LSU ranked at No. 2 in the nation on the floor and Arkansas No. 8 on beam.
As usual, the Tigers were almost flawless on that event and secured their victory with a 49.550. Burkholder scored a perfect 10.00 to highlight the rotation and win the title on floor. LSU also took home the second and third-place marks for the event. Clare-Kearney and Phelan tied for third with 9.900s and Terin Martinjak earned a 9.925 for second.
“I think we trained really hard for this week and went into this almost looking toward next week,” Breaux said.
The Tigers will conclude their three-match homestand next weekend against No. 7 Georgia at 7 p.m.
RESULTS
Team Competition
1. LSU -196.925 (VT- 49.375, UB- 49.225, BB- 48.775, FX- 49.550)
2. Arkansas – 195.725 (VT- 48.700, UB- 49.125, BB- 49.000, FX- 48.900)
Individual Scoring
All-Around – 1. Kelly Phelan, 39.400, 2. April Burkholder, 39.150.
Vault – 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.925, t2. April Burkholder, Nicki Butler, 9.900, t4. Annie Gagnon, Kelly Phelan, 9.825, t7. Rikki L’Heureux, 9.775.
Bars – 1. Emily Peacock (UA) 9.925, 2. April Burkholder, 9.900, t3. Annie Gagnon, 9.875. t5. Kelly Lea, Lisa Rennie 9.825, t8. Nicki Butler, Kelly Phelan, 9.800.
Beam – t1. Lisa Rennie, 9.900, 3. Kelly Phelan, 9.875, t4. Annie Gagnon, Terin Martinjak, 9.825, 10. April Burkholder 9.350, 11. Lauren Companioni, 9.250.
Floor – 1. April Burkholder 10.00, 2. Terin Martinjak, 9.925, t3. Kelly Phelan, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.900, t6. Lisa Rennie, Nicki Butler, 9.825.