BATON ROUGE — Following a season-high 196.550 performance against Auburn last week the LSU gymnastics team climbed two spots to No. 11 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
Rankings are based on a team’s regional qualifying score (RQS) for the first time this season. RQS is derived from six scores, a team’s top three away scores plus its next three highest scores, regardless of their home or away status. From those six scores, the high score is dropped and the remaining five scores are averaged, resulting in the RQS.
Defending SEC and NCAA champions, Georgia, tops the standings again this week with a RQS of 196.795. Florida jumped three spots to No. 2 with its RQS of 196.170. Utah and Alabama slipped one spot to No. 3 (196.120) and No. 4 (196.100), respectively, while LSU’s upcoming opponent, Oklahoma, cracked the top five with its RQS of 195.965.
The Tigers stand just outside the top ten with a RQS of 195.155.
In the individual event rankings, LSU either improved or held steady in its positions on three of the four events.
The Tigers jumped three spots to No. 8 floor (48.985), and remained at No. 10 and No. 12, respectively, on the vault (48.990) and bars (48.820), while dropping three positions to No. 18 on the beam (48.395).
Individually, LSU has two athletes ranked among the top 25.
Junior Kelly Phelan is listed at No. 15 on the floor with a RQS of 9.830 and junior Lisa Rennie comes in at No. 25 on the bars with a RQS of 9.815.
The Tigers return to action this week when they host fifth-ranked Oklahoma in dual meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center beginning at 7 p.m.
Team, RQS
1 Georgia, 196.795
2 Florida, 196.17
3 Utah, 196.12
4 Alabama, 196.1
5 Oklahoma, 195.965
6 UCLA, 195.85
7 Iowa State, 195.655
8 Michigan, 195.62
9 Missouri, 195.6
10 Nebraska, 195.44
11 LSU, 195.155
12 Stanford, 195.135
13 Auburn, 195
14 Arizona, 194.97
15 Arizona State, 194.785
16 Denver, 194.38
17 Oregon State, 194.115
18 Kentucky, 194.025
19 Arkansas, 193.425
20 Minnesota, 193.115
21 Illinois-Champaign, 192.99
22 Southern Utah, 192.925
23 Michigan State, 192.745
24 Utah State, 192.72
25 New Hampshire, 192.515