BATON ROUGE — After sitting last week with a concussion All-American April Burkholder returned to her winning ways Friday, claiming her fourth all-around title of the season while guiding the second-ranked Tigers to a quad meet victory at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers counted a fall on the beam but still posted a 196.175 in defeating Illinois-Chicago (192.95), New Hampshire (192.375) and Western Michigan (189.975).
“I am disappointed,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We have to be able to compete with consistency because consistency is what wins.
“Tonight we had great vaults, bars was good and then we went to beam and just didn’t compete with the intensity I think that we need to.”
Despite two falls, LSU still swept the medal count on beam as sophomore Kelly Phelan won with a 9.900, Burkholder was second with a 9.875 and sophomore Lisa Rennie tied with two others for third scoring a 9.775.
In addition to her all-around title (39.475), Burkholder also took home top honors on the vault and floor, posting scores of 9.925 and 9.900, respectively.
Sophomore Katherine Hilton completed the Tigers’ sweep of the event crowns, winning the third bars title of her career, and her first of the season, with a 9.875.
Other top performances came from Phelan on the vault (9.875) and floor (9.825), and sophomore Lisa Rennie on the bars (9.800), beam (9.775) and floor (9.825).
Up next, the Tigers hit the road for two meets in three days when they travel to Tulsa, Okla. to face No. 10 Oklahoma on March 11 before heading to Denton, Texas for a dual meet with Texas Woman’s on March 13.
TEAM RESULTS
1. LSU , 196.175
2. Illinois-Chicago, 192.950
3. New Hampshire, 192.375
4. Western Michigan, 189.975
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around – 1, April Burkholder, 39.475.
Vault – 1, April Burkholder, 9.925. 2, Nicki Butler, 9.900. 3, Kelly Phelan, 9.875. 4, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.825. t5, Rikki L’Heureux, 9.800. t9, Annie Gagnon, 9.700.
Bars – 1, Katherine Hilton, 9.875. 2, Nicki Butler, 9.850. t3, Lisa Rennie, 9.800. t3, Annie Gagnon, 9.800. t5, April Burkholder, 9.775. t5, Kelly Lea, 9.775.
Beam – 1, Kelly Phelan, 9.900. 2, April Burkholder, 9.875. t3, Lisa Rennie, 9.775. t6, Terin Martinjak, 9.750. 21, Annie Gagnon, 9.350. 24, Nicki Butler, 8.400.
Floor – 1, April Burkholder, 9.900. t2, Kelly Phelan, 9.825. t2, Lisa Rennie, 9.825. t5, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.775. t5, Lauren Companioni, 9.775. 23, Terin Martinjak, 9.150.