BATON ROUGE — A pair of international elite gymnasts highlight a group of three signees for the LSU gymnastics team during the fall signing period, head coach D-D Breaux announced Friday.
Susan Jackson of Spring, Texas, Sabrina Franceschelli of Boston, Mass., and Kayla Rogers of Liberty, Mo., all signed national letters of intent to compete for the Tigers during the 2007 season.
“In terms of complete all-around performers, I think this is the strongest, deepest group of athletes we have ever brought into the program,” said Breaux. “I truly believe that this freshmen class will be able to come in and make an immediate impact in our lineups, especially in light of the senior class we will be losing to graduation in the spring.”
Jackson comes to Baton Rouge from Brown’s Gymnastics in Houston where she has been one of the nation’s top level elite performers each of the last five seasons. This past year Jackson competed at the Elite National Classic in Virginia Beach, Va., where she finished fourth in the all-around. She also finished fifth in the all-around at the 2001 USA Championships and third at the Pan Am Games in 2000.
“Susan is a solid and exciting gymnast who competes with the highest possibly level of difficulty,” said Breaux. “She will bring a lot of competitive experience with her into college.”
Franceschelli hails from Massachusetts Gymnastics Center where she trains under coaches Kristen Freundlich and Ivan Ivanov. She competed as an international elite gymnast for five years before dropping down to Level 10 for her senior season.
“Sabrina is a solid all-around gymnast that has excellent competitive experience at the elite level,” said Breaux. “She will add to our depth in all events with floor exercise and balance beam being her strongest events.”
Rogers, an honor student at Liberty High School, currently trains at Great American Express Gymnastics where she has been a three-time national qualifier. She finished second on the vault and 15th in the all-around at the 2004 championship meet. In addition, Rogers won the 2005 Missouri state all-around title.
“Kayla’s strongest event is the vault and she is also a very strong tumbler,” said Breaux. “I see her being an asset in those events as well as the others.”
The 2006 LSU gymnastics season gets underway Jan. 6, when the Tigers host the Super Six Challenge at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.