BATON ROUGE — Two dominating road wins over the weekend helped the LSU gymnastics team regain the country’s No. 1 national ranking Tuesday.
The Tigers improved their regional qualifying score over three-tenths of a point to 196.990 to upend Utah who slipped one spot to No. 2 (196.960). Nebraska (196.750) and Alabama (196.670) also moved down one spot each into third and fourth, respectively, while UCLA remained at No. 5 (196.610).
LSU returned to the top five in each of the individual event rankings. The Tigers took over the nation’s No. 1 position on the beam after posting the top two beam scores in school history last week, improving its RQS to 49.325. LSU is also listed at No. 1 on the floor for a fourth consecutive week (49.410).
LSU sits just .025 points shy of the country’s top position on the bars climbing to No. 2 with a RQS of 49.230. The Tigers also improved to No. 2 on the vault (49.305).
For the third consecutive week the Tigers have seven individuals ranked among the top 25. Sophomore Lisa Rennie is the country’s top-ranked beam worker with her RQS of 9.930. She is also listed at No. 12 on the bars (9.875).
All-American April Burkholder catapulted 20 spots in the all-around rankings, landing at No. 5 with a score of 39.420. She is also ranked third on the floor (9.920), sixth on the vault (9.910) and 11th on the bars (9.880).
Holding down a pair of top 10 rankings is freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney. She improved to No. 4 on the floor (9.915), while remaining at No. 9 on the vault (9.905).
All-American Annie Gagnon and sophomore Kelly Phelan are also ranked nationally on two events this week. Gagnon moved up two spots to No. 5 on the bars (9.895) and cracked the beam standings for the first time this season at No. 20 (9.865). Phelan is listed at No. 7 on the beam (9.900) and 18th on the floor (9.890).
Others among the top 25 include sophomore Nicki Butler at No. 16 on the vault (9.895) and junior Terin Martinjak in 24th on the floor (9.880).
The Tigers close out their 2005 home schedule Friday when they host Centenary at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
| National Rankings – MAR. 14 | |||
|
Rank |
Team Name |
Team RQS | High Score |
| 1 | L.S.U. | 196.990 | 197.850 |
| 2 | Utah, U. of | 196.960 | 197.850 |
| 3 | Nebraska, U. of | 196.750 | 197.100 |
| 4 | Alabama, U. of | 196.670 | 197.175 |
| 5 | UCLA | 196.610 | 197.850 |
| 6 | Florida, U. of | 196.605 | 196.950 |
| 7 | Michigan, U. of | 196.540 | 197.800 |
| 8 | Georgia, U. of | 196.520 | 197.275 |
| 9 | Oklahoma, U. of | 196.070 | 196.700 |
| 10 | Iowa State | 195.980 | 196.925 |
| 11 | Penn State | 195.495 | 196.650 |
| 12 | Oregon State | 195.480 | 195.975 |
| 13 | Brigham Young Univ. | 195.445 | 196.425 |
| 14 | Arkansas, U. of | 195.335 | 195.725 |
| 15 | Central Michigan | 195.265 | 196.050 |
| 16 | Utah State | 195.250 | 195.900 |
| 17 | Denver, U. of | 195.150 | 196.000 |
| 18 | Washington, U. of | 194.875 | 195.275 |
| 19 | Minnesota, U. of | 194.835 | 195.775 |
| 20 | Arizona, U. of | 194.800 | 196.375 |
| 21 | Missouri, U. of | 194.790 | 196.225 |
| 22 | Kentucky, U. of | 194.765 | 196.025 |
| 23 | Auburn Univ. | 194.730 | 195.725 |
| 24 | Kent State | 194.705 | 195.500 |
| 25 | Stanford Univ. | 194.660 | 196.025 |