GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For the third straight week the No. 7 LSU gymnasts will go up against a team ranked in the top five when they travel to meet second-ranked Florida and No. 16 Penn State in a tri-meet at the O’Connell Center on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
The Tigers (9-7, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) are looking to improve upon their regional qualifying score of 195.955 in their final road meet of the regular season.
“At this point, that’s what every team in the country is trying to do,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “Everyone is looking to create consistency, find your best line-up and improve your standing in the country for your regional seeding. We’re looking forward to a different venue, and of course some really tough SEC and out-of conference competition.”
No. 2 Florida comes to the meet with a 13-2 (3-2 SEC) record and an RQS of 196.315. The Gators’ season-best was a 196.950 back on Feb. 10 in a quad meet. They are coming off of their second highest score, a 196.525 they notched at Arizona in a tri-meet with Arizona and BYU.
LSU faced Florida twice in 2005, both times earning a victory. The Tigers recorded a dual meet victory at home and then bettered the Gators’ mark in the SEC Championships.
Sixteenth-ranked Penn State enters with a 9-3 mark, currently riding a three-meet winning streak. The Nittany Lions own a RQS of 195.130 and notched a season-best 196.625 in their win over Ohio State on Feb. 25.
LSU last met Penn State in the 2005 NCAA Championships, defeating the Nittany Lions, 195.800-194.975.
“It’s a great opportunity because you have a team that’s ranked No. 2 and a team that’s ranked No. 16, so you get somebody ranked above and below you,” Breaux said. “We’re hoping that we can go to their arena and do what all these other teams have done in our arena, and that’s go and have a great meet. We’ve hosted three meets with all three teams leaving with their best performance and highest score of the year.”
Individually, all-arounders April Burkholder and Kelly Phelan lead the Tigers gymnasts. Burkholder ranks seventh in the all-around with an RQS of 39.345 and also in the floor (No. 7) and vault (No. 17). Phelan, 22nd in the all-around, is also the nation’s top-ranked floor worker with her RQS of 9.910.
Freshman Corey Hartung paces the Gators’ team. Hartung lists at 20th in the all-around and holds rankings in each of the four individual events as well. Senior Meredith Hoover, named the Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Week for last week’s efforts, anchors the Penn State squad.
Breaux said the Tigers have stressed quality performances in practice and she hopes that will lead to quality performance in their meet.
“I expect the best out of everyone this week,” she said. “We’ve really tried to focus on consistency and quality of performance as opposed to quantity of repetitions. Sometimes when we do that we’re able to have our best performances.”
In addition, Phelan and senior Terin Martinjak, both from the state of Florida, are looking at this meet as a sort of homecoming. According to Breaux, the two gymnasts have been extremely focused heading into it.
“This is going home for Kelly, and I think she’s really looking forward to going and seeing some family friends,” Breaux said. “Terin is from Florida as well and has a lot of friends at the University of Florida that she went to high school with. Competing on three events is a big deal for her, as is Kelly in the all-around. I think those two are really focused on this meet with an excitement and anxiousness.”
This meet completes the road slate for the Tigers, who also close out their regular season at home March 17 against UCLA before heading to SEC Championships on March 25.
Don’t miss a minute of the action from Gainesville as LSU presents a live gymnastics audiocast on www.LSUsports.net. The broadcast will begin at 6 p.m. CT and is free to all Tigers fans.
NOTE: In addition to the FREE audiocast, the Geaux Zone will include a live streaming video to its members that will not be free to the public. The video is courtesy of the University of Florida’s Gator Vision service.
Jeff Palermo will be handling the Tigers’ play-by-play duties. He will be joined by analysts Megan Durning and Jewel Pollock.
The link to the free audiocast will be displayed on the “Live Video/Audio” page on LSUsports.net at 6 p.m. CT
Live stats for the meet also will be available online at www.gatorzone.com.