BATON ROUGE — In front of the largest season-opening crowd in LSU gymnastics history, 3,646, Alabama won the Super Six Challenge while LSU finished fourth behind a first-place all-around performance by senior April Burkholder.
Burkholder claimed the 19th all-around title of her career with a 39.375. Junior Kelly Phelan also competed in the all-around for LSU, notching a fifth-place mark of 38.825.
Team competition remained close throughout the evening and the Tigers were in a good position heading into the final rotation, but a few mishaps on the balance beam dropped them into fourth place and allowed Alabama, Nebraska and Iowa State to edge them out at first, second and third, respectively.
“It’s disappointing for us because we didn’t compete our best,” head coach D-D Breaux said of LSU’s performance in the meet. “We beat ourselves, and that’s a disappointing position to be in.”
LSU began the night with a bye. After sitting out the first rotation the Tigers moved to the floor exercise. Kelly Lea opened with a 9.700 and Burkholder closed with a strong 9.850 that won her the floor exercise title for the meet, but a few miscues in between gave the Tigers a 47.850 for their first rotation.
LSU next moved to the vault, where it was again led by Burkholder with a 9.850. Emily Ellis followed with a 9.825. As a team, the Tigers earned a 48.850 mark on the event.
The team then had to sit out again in the fourth rotation with its second and final bye of the night. After four rotations and heading into the last two events, Iowa State held the lead at 146.225 with Nebraska close behind at 145.775.
On the bars, LSU received a solid performance from all competitors to earn a team score of 49.075. Phelan led the way for Tigers competitors with a 9.875 followed by Burkholder with a 9.825. Those scores tied them for first and fifth places for the night.
Heading into the final rotation, Iowa State and Missouri had four-event marks of 194.050 and 192.700, respectively, and LSU held the lead of teams having completed three events with a 146.050 mark.
However, mistakes on the beam proved costly, preventing the Tigers from finishing in the top three. The team notched a 47.850 on the final event of the night.
The Tigers return to action Jan. 15 when they travel to Denton, Texas, for a quad meet featuring Texas Woman’s, Centenary and Utah State.
MEET RESULTS
TEAM SCORING
1. Alabama ? 194.250 (VT-49.050, UB-48.600, BB-48.300, FX-48.300)
2. Nebraska ? 194.100 (VT-49.000, UB-49.150, BB-47.675, FX-48.275)
3. Iowa State ? 194.050 (VT-48.925, UB-48.950, BB-47.825, FX-48.350)
4. LSU ? 193.900 (VT-48.850, UB-49.075, BB-48.125, FX-47.850)
5. Auburn ? 193.675 (VT-48.675, UB-49.025, BB-48.000, FX-47.975)
6. Missouri ? 192.700 (VT-48.425, UB-48.675, BB-47.875, FX-47.725)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
AA — 1. April Burkholder ? 39.375, 5. Kelly Phelan ? 38.825
VT — t1. Ashley Miles (UA), Emily Parsons (UN) ? 9.950, t5. April Burkholder ? 9.850, t9. Emily Ellis ? 9.825, t12. Nicki Butler ? 9.800, t20. Terin Martinjak ? 9.700, t24. Kelly Phelan ? 9.675, 34. Amanda Morales ? 9.550
UB — t1. Kelly Phelan (LSU), Terin Humphrey (UA), Michelle Zabawa (UN), Vanessa Meloche (UN) ? 9.875, t5. April Burkholder ? 9.850, t.10Lisa Rennie ? 9.825, t18. Kelly Lea ? 9.775, t23. Amanda Morales ? 9.750, 33. Emily Ellis ? 9.600
BB — 1. April Burkholder ? 9.850, 12. Lisa Rennie ? 9.650, t13. Kelly Phelan ? 9.625, t19. Nicki Butler ? 9.550, t24. Terin Martinjak ? 9.450, 34. Christina Suhr ? 9.150
FX — 1. April Burkholder ? 9.825, t7. Kelly Lea ? 9.700, 13. Kelly Phelan ? 9.650, t25. Terin Martinjak ? 9.550, 32. Lauren Klein ? 9.125, t33. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.025,