BATON ROUGE — The fourth-ranked LSU gymnasts travel to Tulsa, Okla., for a Friday meet with No. 9 Oklahoma at John Q. Hammons Arena at 7 p.m.
The Tigers are coming off a first-place finish at a home quad meet, where they posted a 196.175. That victory improved their record to 11-3 overall (5-1 Southeastern Conference).
Oklahoma boasts a 13-2 overall record, fresh off a 196.325-point performance at Texas Woman’s, LSU’s opponent following the Sooners. They are averaging a 195.464 this year, posting a season-high 196.700 in its win over Georgia.
“I’m looking forward to the tough competition,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “We need as tough of competition as we can possibly get going into SECs. I’m hoping the level of competition will pull better performances from us.”
The meet is being held in Tulsa instead of Oklahoma’s campus in Norman as part of a series of gymnastics events. The LSU and Oklahoma matchup highlights a weekend that also includes the Oklahoma State High School Championships that morning and afternoon and a junior club event Saturday.
“Oklahoma gymnastics has a great tradition, so I imagine there will be a lot of people there and a lot of people rooting for Oklahoma,” Breaux said. “But it will be nice that it’s at a basically neutral site. It will give it more of an SEC Championship feel because it’s a high-level meet against a team we feel we have a rivalry with in a venue that’s not a home university venue.”
LSU is 1-1 on the year at neutral sites.
Junior All-American April Burkholder leads the Tigers into action. She won her fourth all-around title of the season in the quad meet last weekend, posting a 39.475.
“April put together four solid events in our last meet,” Breaux commented. “I think that the better the competition, the better she tends to perform. So I’m really looking forward to her doing well Friday night.”
Oklahoma is led by all-arounders Ashley Cooney and Erin LaBarr. The pair ranks at fifth and ninth in the country in the all-around, respectively.
After the Oklahoma meet, the Tigers move on to Denton, Texas, for a matchup with Texas Woman’s on Sunday.