BATON ROUGE — Junior Nicki Butler won the all-around competition, tallying an impressive 39.300, but it wasn’t enough to lift her Purple squad to victory Friday night at the LSU Gymnastics Practice Facility as the Gold team edged the Purple team, 195.675-195.400, in the team’s final intrasquad before the 2006 season.
Each team competed five athletes on each event and all scores were counted towards the team total.
“I am very pleased with how we performed tonight,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “The team is in good shape and they looked good out there. They were focused and intense and really came out and performed.”
Butler, who lead all scorers, was consistent across the board recording scores of 9.900 on the vault, 9.875 on the floor, 9.850 on the bars and 9.675 on the beam.
She was challenged in the all-around by senior All-American April Burkholder and junior Kelly Phelan who notched scores of 39.150 and 39.075, respectively.
Burkholder’s top effort came on the vault were she posted a 9.900 to finish in a three-way tie for third with Butler and sophomore Emily Ellis.
Phelan was exceptional on the floor exercise, debuting a new routine that garnered a meet-best and near perfect 9.975. She also finished second on the vault with a 9.950.
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney also had an impressive evening. Just three weeks back into full practice after limited fall training because of wrist surgery, Clare-Kearney proved she will be more than ready come January. The sophomore won the vault competition with a stellar 9.975 effort. She also finished tied for second on the beam with a 9.875 and scored a 9.850 on the floor.
Other performances of note came from All-Americans Lisa Rennie and Terin Martinjak. Rennie won the bars with a 9.925, while Martinjak took home top honors on the beam with a 9.925.
A few fresh faces also turned heads Friday evening as freshmen Lauren Klein and Amanda Morales turned in solid performances. Klein finished second on the floor with a 9.950. She also notched an impressive 9.850 as the lead-off performer on the beam. Morales turned in a pair of second-place finishes, scoring 9.875’s on both the bars and beam.
“I think we can come away from this with a fair evaluation of where we are,” said Breaux. “I now have a clear picture of what we need to do between now and January to get this team ready to compete.”
The Tigers begin the 2006 season Friday, Jan. 6, when they host the Super Six Challenge at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 6 p.m.
TEAM RESULTS
Gold — 195.675
Purple — 195.450
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 3 only)
All-Around ? 1, Nicki Butler, 39.300. 2, April Burkholder, 39.150. 3, Kelly Phelan, 39.075.
Vault — 1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.975. 2, Kelly Phelan, 9.950. t3, Nicki Butler, April Burkholder, Emily Ellis, 9.900.
Bars — 1, Lisa Rennie, 9.925. 2, Amanada Morales, 9.875. 3, Nicki Butler, 9.850.
Beam — 1, Terin Martinjak, 9.925. t2, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, Amanda Morales, 9.875.
Floor — 1, Kelly Phelan, 9.975. 2, Lauren Klein, 9.950. 3, Terin Martinjak, 9.925.