DURHAM, N.H. — A berth to the NCAA Championships will be on the line for the third-ranked LSU gymnastics team Saturday in Durham, N.H., when it participates in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships at the Whittemore Center Arena.
The Tigers enter the meet as the region’s top-seeded team and will be joined by No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 15 Arkansas, New Hampshire, Rutgers and Pittsburgh. The top-two teams will advance to the NCAA Championships, April 21-23, in Auburn, Ala.
“We are approaching this meet just like any other,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “It’s just another opportunity to capitalize on in achieving a good seeding for the national championships.”
The Tigers will be seeking their seventh trip to the NCAA meet in the last eight years, as well as a second consecutive regional title. LSU, the winner of a total of eight regional crowns, won last year’s Central Regional in Baton Rouge, knocking off top-seeded BYU.
With two other ranked opponents in the field, a third regional title in four years for the Tigers will take a clean, consistent competition according to Breaux.
“We have seen Oklahoma and Arkansas this season, but I believe they are both much improved teams from earlier in the year,” said Breaux. “I think the key for us is going to be hitting that first rotation and then building on that momentum throughout the meet.”
The Tigers will start competition on the bars, an event in which they are ranked No. 3 in the country. SEC Gymnast of the Year April Burkholder as well as All-American Annie Gagnon and All-SEC selection Lisa Rennie should provide the Tigers with a solid anchoring force in the first rotation as each enters the meet ranked among the top-15 n the country on the bars.
Burkholder as well as freshman Nicki Butler should be a factor in the all-around after guiding the Tigers to a second-place finish at the SEC Championships two weeks ago. Burkholder and Butler each earned all-conference accolades for their third and fourth-place finishes, respectively.
Other key contributors will be freshman Ashley Clare-Kearney and sophomore Kelly Phelan. Two of the Tigers’ most dependable athletes, Clare-Kearney is currently ranked in the nation’s top-10 on both the vault and floor, while Phelan is listed among the top 25 on both the beam and floor.
Action from tomorrow’s regional championships will begin at 5 p.m. (CT).