Gymnastics Earns First Ever No. 1 National Ranking

BATON ROUGE — Two strong road wins over the weekend catapulted D-D Breaux‘s LSU gymnastics team to its first ever No. 1 national ranking Monday. The team had previously spent the last two weeks at No. 3.

The Tigers win over No. 20 Kentucky Friday coupled with their victory at No. 22 Ohio State on Sunday gave LSU the two solid road scores it needed to post the nation’s leading regional qualifying score (RQS), the total that determines the remainder of the season’s national rankings as well as the upcoming NCAA Regional Championships seeding.

“This is a culmination of everything that has happened in the season so far,” said Breaux. “With the exception of our first meet and a couple single events here and there this team has displayed consistency and determination throughout.”

The country’s top five are all separated by less than fourth-tenths of a point. The Tigers lead the pack with a 196.575. Two-time defending national champions, UCLA, follow with a 196.465, while Michigan (196.365), Utah (196.350) and Nebraska (196.215) round out the top five.

Four other SEC teams are listed among the top 20 as Florida comes in at No. 6 (196.160), Georgia is eighth (195.790), Arkansas is 11th (195.075) and Auburn is 20th (194.050).

“The challenge will now be to stay in that top three. We need to continue to build towards the end of the season and improve our scores in order to secure a good seeding at the regional championships,” said Breaux.

Breaux will look to her top ranked vault and floor teams to help maintain the squad’s overall ranking. The Tigers had been listed at No. 2 on the floor each of the last three weeks, while previously holding down the No. 4 position on the vault. LSU is also listed at No. 3 on the bars and No. 7 on the beam.

Individually, LSU has seven athletes listed among the top 25. Four-time All-American April Burkholder is the nation’s top ranked floor worker with an RQS of 9.910. She is also listed at No. 6 on the bars (9.855), No. 11 on the vault (9.880) and No. 22 in the all-around (39.085).

Sophomore Lisa Rennie owns top 15 rankings on both the bars and beam. She is ninth on the beam (9.855), an event in which she has won four of the last five meet titles, and 11th on the bars (9.845), where she is the winner of two straight event crowns.

Junior Terin Martinjak is ranked for the first time this season, she enters the standings at No. 14 on the floor (9.870) and No. 24 on the beam (9.840).

Other among the top 25 include senior Annie Gagnon at No. 6 on the bars (9.855), freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney at No. 9 on the vault (9.885) and sophomores Kelly Phelan and Nicki Butler in 11th on the beam (9.840) and vault (9.880), respectively.