Gymnastics Slips to No. 2 in National Rankings

BATON ROUGE — After a week as the country’s top-ranked program, the LSU gymnastics team slipped one spot to No. 2 in the latest national rankings, released Monday.

Nebraska took over the reigns at No. 1, improving its regional qualifying score by over half a point to 196.720. The Tigers are on the Cornhuskers heels with a RQS of 196.660, while Utah (196.645), UCLA (196.465) and Michigan (196.365) round out the top five.

Each of the SEC’s six other teams are listed among the top 20 this week. Florida, Alabama and Georgia are all within .150 points of each other in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. Arkansas is No. 13, Kentucky is No. 16 and Auburn is No. 20.

The Tigers are still ranked No. 1 nationally on the floor. They are also No. 2 on the beam and third on both the bars and vault this week.

Individually, LSU has a season-high seven athletes ranked among the top 25 in at least one event. Sophomore Lisa Rennie owns the Tigers top rankings. She is listed at No. 2 on the beam and No. 12 on the bars.

Despite sitting out last week with a concussion, All-American April Burkholder maintained her presence in the standings. She is fourth on the floor, 12th on the bars, 15th on the vault and 25th in the all-around.

Fellow All-American Annie Gagnon improved to No. 5 on the bars and cracked the beam rankings at No. 25.

Freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney moved up one spot to No. 8 on the vault. She is also ranked on the floor for the first this season, coming in at No. 7.

Others among the top 25 include Kelly Phelan at No. 11 on the beam and No. 18 on the floor, Nicki Butler in 12th on vault and Terin Martinjak in 21st on the floor.

The Tigers return to action this weekend when they host Illinois, New Hampshire and Western Michigan Friday at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.