BATON ROUGE — The top-ranked LSU gymnasts (14-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) performed at home for the last time this season, bidding its seniors farewell with a 196.900-190.375 win over Centenary in front of a season-high 4,088 in the Maravich Assembly Center.
Four seniors were honored following the meet. Lauren Companioni, Annie Gagnon, Katherine Hilton and Jade Jenkins all competed for the last time in the PMAC.
“These seniors have really brought stability, and all of them are very conscientious and academically what you want a student-athlete to be,” head coach D-D Breaux said. “We’re really relying on their leadership and experience into the post-season.”
April Burkholder won her sixth all-around title of the season with a 39.600. Nicki Butler followed with a second-place mark of 39.175.
“I felt that the performance that April gave tonight was definitely a national-championship performance,” Breaux commented.
The top-ranked team in the country opened the night by displaying just how they received that ranking. The fourth-ranked vaulting team notched a season-best 49.550 led by marks of 9.950 by both Burkholder and Kelly Phelan.
The 49.550 was also the second highest mark on vault in program history, behind only the 49.625 posted last year against Centenary.
LSU began bars with a fall, but the remaining competitors stuck their routines and earned the Tigers a 49.200 as a team on the event.
Lisa Rennie took home the bars title for the third meet in a row and sixth time this season with a meet-high 9.900.
On the next rotation, the top-ranked beam team in the country experienced a few difficulties on that event. But the Tigers escaped a fall and a few wobbles and still came out with a 48.975.
Burkholder won the event for the second time in three weeks with a 9.900.
“We have not competed beam here like we have on the road,” Breaux said. “And that concerns me a lot. I understand we have a lot of difficulty, but we just need to be more aggressive and aware of what’s going on around us.”
The Tigers moved to the floor to close out the night. Behind solid performances, the team notched a 49.125. Burkholder and Ashleigh Clare-Kearney led all scorers with identical marks of 9.925.
“I’ve seen our best, and for us to stay where we are we need to do our best in the next three outings,” Breaux said. “The pressure’s on us. We’ve got three training opportunities before SECs, and we intend to take advantage of every minute of it.”
This meet closed out the regular season for the No. 1 team in the country. They travel to Duluth, Ga., this weekend for the SEC Championships, which begin Saturday at 5 p.m.
MEET RESULTS
Team Competition
1. LSU – 196.900 (VT-49.550,UB-49.250,BB-48.975,FX-49.125)
2. Centenary – 190.375 (VT-47.925,UB-45.875,BB-47.875,FX-48.700)
Individual Scoring (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
AA -1. April Burkholder 39.600, 2. Nicki Butler 39.175
VT – t1. Kelly Phelan, April Burkholder 9.950, t3. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, Nicki Butler 9.900, 5. Rikki L’Heureux 9.850, 6. Jade Jenkins 9.775
UB – 1. Lisa Rennie 9.900, t2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, Nicki Butler 9.850, t4. April Burkholder, Annie Gagnon 9.825, 9. Kelly Lea 9.150
BB – 1. April Burkholder 9.900, 2. Nicki Butler 9.850, 3. Lisa Rennie 9.800, 4. Terin Martinjak 9.775, t6. Kelly Phelan 9.650, 11. Annie Gagnon 9.075
FX – 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, April Burkholder 9.925, t2. Kelly Phelan 9.875, t5. Lauren Companioni 9.825, 9. Nicki Butler 9.575, t10. Kelly Lea 9.575