BATON ROUGE — The No. 11-ranked LSU gymnastics team posted a season-high 195.025 to Iowa’s 191.100 to win its meet Friday in the Maravich Assembly Center.
“It was a one-point improvement over what we did last week,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux commented, “but it was probably a 10-point mental improvement. We did much bigger gymnastics and had several girls really step up tonight.”
Junior Nicki Butler won the all-around with a mark of 38.875. It was the first all-around title of her career. April Burkholder, who won the individual title on every event except beam, came in second in the all-around because of a fall on that event.
Prior to the meet, LSU alumnae gymnasts were recognized and introduced to the crowd.
The Tigers began competition on the vault. Despite having a wobble and a fall by the first two performers, LSU notched a 49.00 with solid vaults from the remaining competitors. Burkholder led all scorers with a 9.90 followed by Emily Ellis with a 9.850 and Butler with a 9.825.
LSU moved to bars for the second rotation, where it notched a 48.550. Kelly Lea led off for the Tigers with a 9.725 followed by Kelly Phelan who posted an identical score. Those marks were enough to tie for second on the night, behind only Burkholder who notched a 9.750 to win the event title.
After two rotations, LSU led Iowa, who posted a 48.550 and 48.475 on the bars and vault, respectively, by a 2.20 margin.
The Tigers’ next event was the beam, an event it had struggled on its first two meets of the year. Except for a fall by Burkholder on her mount, the remaining competitors managed routines without a fall to post a team score of 48.450 for the event. Lisa Rennie recorded a meet-high mark of 9.825 and Terin Martinjak notched a second-place score of 9.725.
“Our beam performance was better tonight,” Breaux added. “It wasn’t about the fear of falling, but it was about pushing through adversity and staying on the beam.”
Headed to the final rotation, LSU led Iowa, 146.00-143.275.
The Tigers gave five solid performances on the floor to close competition, including a meet-high 9.900 from Burkholder. Martinjak posted a 9.825 followed by Butler and Lauren Klein with identical marks of 9.800.
LSU recorded a 49.025 on that final event to Iowa’s 47.825 on the beam, making the final score 195.025-191.100 in the Tigers’ favor.
The LSU gymnasts travel to Fayetteville, Ark., next Friday for a meet with the Arkansas Lady’Backs at 7 p.m. They have another meet at Georgia on Feb. 4 before returning to the PMAC for the next home meet Feb. 10 against Kentucky at 7 p.m.
MEET RESULTS
Team Competition
1. LSU — 195.025 (VT-49.00, UB-48.550, BB-48.450, FX-49.025)
2. Iowa — 191.100 (VT-48.475, UB-46.875, BB-47.825, FX-47.925)
Individual Results (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
AA — 1. Nicki Butler — 38.875, 2. April Burkholder — 38.850, 4. Kelly Phelan — 38.325
VT — 1. April Burkholder — 9.90, 2. Emily Ellis — 9.850, 3. Nicki Butler 9.825, t5. Kelly Phelan 9.775, t8. Terin Martinjak — 9.650, 12. Kelly Lea — 9.250
UB — 1. April Burkholder — 9.750, t2. Kelly Lea, Kelly Phelan — 9.725, t4. Lisa Rennie — 9.70, 6. Emily Ellis — 9.650, 8. Nicki Butler — 9.550
BB — 1. Lisa Rennie — 9.825, t2. Terin Martinjak — 9.725, 4. Nicki Butler — 9.70, 5. Christina Suhr — 9.625, 8. Kelly Phelan — 9.575, 11. April Burkholder — 9.300
FX — 1. April Burkholder — 9.90, 2. Terin Martinjak — 9.825, t3. Nicki Butler, Lauren Klein — 9.800, t5. Kelly Lea — 9.700, 12. Kelly Phelan 9.250