BATON ROUGE ? After notching two straight scores of 196.525 or better last week, the LSU gymnastics team jumped four spots to No. 7 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
The Tigers improved their regional qualifying score (RQS) by eight-tenths of a point to 195.955.
The nation’s top four remained unchanged this week as Georgia again tops the standings with an RQS of 196.965. The Gym Dogs are followed by Florida (196.170), Utah (196.160) and Alabama (196.100). Iowa State cracked the top for the first time this season with its RQS of 196.050.
LSU improved its national rankings on each of the four individual events, catapulting to No. 2 on the floor exercise (49.205), No. 8 on the vault (49.090), No. 9 on the bars (48.955) and No. 11 on the beam (48.745).
Individually, several Tigers also improved in the national standings following a pair of strong performances last week.
Junior Kelly Phelan is the nation’s top ranked floor worker with her RQS of 9.910. She has won four straight meet titles in the event.
Phelan also cracked the all-around rankings at No. 16 (39.135).
Joining her in the all-around ranks is senior April Burkholder. The nine-time All-American returned to the standings at No. 3 (39.345) after posting a solid road score over the weekend.
Burkholder is also ranked nationally on the floor and vault, coming in at No. 4 on the floor (9.895) and No. 13 on the vault (9.870).
Senior Terin Martinjak earned national rankings on both the floor (15th) and beam ( 18th) with RQSs of 9.855 and 9.835, respectively.
In addition, junior Lisa Rennie climbed seven spots to No. 18 in the country on the bars (9.850).
The Tigers return to action this Friday when they host Alabama in the dual meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center beginning at 7 p.m.