BATON ROUGE — LSU’s top-ranked gymnastics team closes out its home schedule Friday when in hosts in-state foe Centenary for Senior Night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Action is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
“We have a lot riding on this meet,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “This team has worked hard to get where they are and now the focus needs to be on consistency in their performances and maintaining their national ranking. I fully expect for this team to come out and compete hard, as if they are trying to qualify for the national championships.”
The Tigers (13-3, 5-1 SEC) are riding a nine-meet win streak and a win over Centenary would give them a perfect 8-0 at the Maravich Center this season, LSU’s first unblemished home record since the 2002 campaign.
LSU will depend on the SEC’s reigning Gymnast of the Week, April Burkholder, to continue its current hot streak. Burkholder notched an NCAA-leading 39.825 behind perfect 10.00s on both the vault and beam last week in the Tigers’ win over No. 9 Oklahoma. The performance catapulted her to No. 5 in the country’s all-around rankings as well as top-5 placings on the vault, bars and floor.
Centenary, the defending USAG national champions, bring an even 4-4 record into Friday’s match up. The Ladies posted a season-high 194.300 in their win over Texas Woman’s two weeks ago and are averaging a 191.447 this season.
Centenary has been led by sophomore Kristina Menne. She is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest Independent Conference on the floor and in the all-around.
The Tigers own a 21-1 all-time record against the Ladies, a mark that includes a perfect 13-0 record at home. The two teams met twice during the 2004 season with LSU defeating Centenary 196.500-190.100 in Baton Rouge and 197.650-194.725 in Shreveport.
Following the conclusion of the LSU vs. Centenary meet, the Tigers will recognize its four seniors, Lauren Companioni, Annie Gagnon, Katherine Hilton and Jade Jenkins, for their outstanding contributions to the LSU program over the past four seasons.