AUBURN, Ala. — A shaky beam performance in their final rotation cost the Tigers a berth to the Super Six finals Thursday at the NCAA Championships, as they finished fourth in their preliminary session at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
Top-ranked Utah won the early session with a 196.850. Michigan and Nebraska earned the other two spots in tomorrow’s team finals placing second and third, respectively, with scores of 196.575 and 195.875. The Tigers finished with a 195.800.
“It hurts,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We took ourselves out of the meet. We didn’t execute and we gave it away.”
LSU stood in second place heading into its final event, the balance beam. However, with a fall and another two unsteady performances the Tigers mustered just a 48.575.
“We are a good beam team, we just lost focus, lost our composure and lost the meet on the last event,” said Breaux.
Sitting out the sixth rotation with a bye the Tigers were forced to wait and see if their team score would hold through the last rotation.
Nebraska answered with a 49.200 on the floor in that final rotation and squeaked out the .075 margin of victory over the Tigers.
Despite the team disappointment, four Tigers earned All-America honors and three advanced to Saturday’s individual event finals.
SEC and NCAA Central Region Gymnast of the Year April Burkholder earned All-America status on each of the four events and in the all-around, earning first-team distinction in the all-around, vault and floor and second-team honors on the bars and beam. She will compete on both the vault and floor Saturday.
Joining Burkholder in the event finals will be sophomore Lisa Rennie and senior Annie Gagnon. Both qualified on the bars after posting identical 9.875’s in earning first-team All-America accolades.
In addition, junior Terin Martinjak was a second-team All-America selection after scoring a 9.825 on the beam.
The Tigers’ meet began with a 49.175 effort on the floor exercise, a rotation that was highlighted by Burkholder’s 9.900. Freshman Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and sophomore Kelly Phelan also turned in solid efforts as each posted 9.850’s.
LSU then added five solid vault performances to secure a 48.900 on the event in the second rotation. Burkholder recorded her second 9.900 of the afternoon and Clare-Kearney notched a 9.800.
The Tigers sat out the third rotation with a bye, but returned to competition on the bars, notching a 49.150 behind 9.875’s Gagnon and Rennie.
Competition concluded with the beam where Burkholder and Martinjak topped all Tigers with matching 9.825’s.
Competition from the NCAA Championships continues tomorrow evening with the Super Six team finals. LSU will wrap up its season Saturday with Burkholder, Rennie and Gagnon participating in the individual event finals.
TEAM RESULTS (Session I)
1. Utah – 196.850 (VT – 49.250, UB – 49.175, BB – 49.075, FX – 49.350)
2. Michigan – 196.575 (VT – 49.250, UB – 49.200, BB – 48.900, FX – 49.225)
3. Nebraska – 195.875 (VT – 48.700, UB – 49.100, BB – 48.875, FX – 49.225)
4. LSU – 195.800 (VT – 48.900, UB – 49.150, BB – 48.575, FX – 49.175)
5. Penn State – 194.975 (VT – 48.850, UB – 48.925, BB – 48.125, FX – 49.075)
6. Oklahoma – 194.25 (VT – 48.775, UB – 48.850, BB – 47,725, FX – 49.075)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Session winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around – 1, Ashley Postell, UTAH, 39.575. 3, April Burkholder, 39.475. t14, Nicki Butler, 38.925.
Vault – 1, Annabeth Eberle, UTAH, 9.950. t3rd, April Burkholder, 9.900. t13, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.800. t19, Nicki Butler, 9.750. t19, Kelly Phelan, 9.750. t27, Rikki L’Heureux, 9.700. 42, Annie Gagnon, 9.150.
Bars – 1, Rachel Tidd, UTAH, 9.925. t4, Annie Gagnon, 9.875. t4, Lisa Rennie, 9.875. t8, April Burkholder, 9.850. t17, Nicki Butler, 9.800. t26, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.750. 40, Kelly Lea, 9.375.
Beam – 1, Tabitha Yim, STAN, 9.925. t5, April Burkholder, 9.825. t5, Terin Martinjak, 9.825. t16, Kelly Phelan, 9.750. 31, Nicki Butler, 9.600. 32, Lisa Rennie, 9.575. t36, Annie Gagnon, 9.250.
Floor – 1, Courtney Bumpers, UNC, 9.950. t3, April Burkholder, 9.900. t9, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.850. t9, Kelly Phelan, 9.850. t27, Lisa Rennie, 9.800. t31, Nicki Butler, 9.775. t31, Lauren Companioni, 9.775.