COLUMBUS, Ohio — Despite a shaky beam performance in the final rotation the third-ranked LSU gymnastics team came away with its fifth straight win Sunday afternoon at St. John Arena, defeating No. 22 Ohio State, 195.600-194.075.
“I was pleased with the first three rotations,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “The new people we used in the lineup did a great job. Then we went to beam and fell apart. We had no intensity and we lost our concentration. For a team to be ranked this high they need to be able to hit on the beam.”
The Tigers tallied a season-low 47.925 on the event in the meet’s final rotation after having to count a fall towards the team score and notching just one score of 9.800 or better.
LSU began the meet on a more positive note, notching a 49.000 on the bars to Ohio State’s 48.400 on the vault.
Sophomore Lisa Rennie won the event for the second straight meet, posting a 9.850. Senior Katherine Hilton wasn’t far behind finishing second with a season-high 9.825. Sophomore Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, junior April Burkholder and senior Annie Gagnon all tied for third with identical marks of 9.775.
LSU added a 49.200 on the vault in the second rotation to build its lead to 1.425 at the midway point. Clare-Kearney and Burkholder tied for top honors on the event with scores of 9.900. The titles marked the third for both Clare-Kearney and Burkholder on the event this season. Sophomore Nicki Butler added a 9.875 to round out the meet’s top three.
The Tigers continued their dominance on the floor posting a 49.450 behind a meet-winning 9.950s from Clare-Kearney and junior Terin Martinjak. The score marked a career-high for Clare-Kearney, while it was a season-best for Martinjak.
Next up, the Tigers close out the regular season SEC schedule when they travel to No. 19 Auburn for a dual meet on Friday.
TEAM RESULTS
1. LSU – 195.600 (VT – 49.225, UB – 49.000, BB – 47.925, FX – 49.450)
2. Ohio State – 194.075 (VT – 48.400, UB – 48.400, BB – 48.475, FX – 48.800)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around – 1, Karley Walek, OSU, 38.250.
Vault – t1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.900. t1, April Burkholder, 9.900. 3, Nicki Butler, 9.875. 5, Annie Gagnon, 9.800. 6, Kelly Phelan, 9.750. t8, Rikki L’Heureux, 9.675.
Bars – 1, Lisa Rennie, 9.850. 2, Katherine Hilton, 9.825. t3, April Burkholder, 9.775. t3, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.775. t3, Annie Gagnon, 9.775. t7, Kelly Lea, 9.750.
Beam – 1, Elizabeth Meaney, OSU, 9.850. 2, Terin Martinjak, 9.800. 3, Kelly Phelan, 9.750. t7, Annie Gagnon, 9.625. t7, Lisa Rennie, 9.625. t7, Lauren Companioni, 9.625. 12, April Burkholder, 4.750.
Floor – t1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.950. t1, Terin Martinjak, 9.950. 3, Lisa Rennie, 9.875. t4, Kelly Phelan, 9.850. t6, Jade Jenkins, 9.825. t8, Kelly Lea, 9.775.
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