BATON ROUGE — LSU head gymnastics coach D-D Breaux went coast-to-coast to find her next talented crop of student-athletes as she signed Staci Schwitkis (San Diego, Calif.), Samantha Engle (Plano, Texas) and Nicole Lyons (Mountaintop, Pa.) to national letters of intent to compete for the Tigers’ squad in 2008.
“Individually each one of these athletes is solid and complete, but as a group they are awesome,” said Breaux. “These three are strong, powerful gymnasts that compete with a lot of difficulty. They are equally dynamic in the all-around. They have no standouts events, but only because they are good in all four.”
Engle is a Level 10 athlete that currently trains at the Metroplex Gymnastics in Dallas, Texas. She is a two-time Junior Olympic national qualifier (2004 and 2005) that had to sit out the 2006 season with a wrist injury. In 2005, she was on top of her game, winning the national all-around and beam titles while also finishing fifth on the vault and bars. In addition, she won the 2004 state and regional all-around crowns before going on to place eighth in the all-around at the national meet that year.
“After having to sit out the 2006 season Samantha is eager and enthused about her senior year and her collegiate career,” said Breaux. “She is a strong all-around competitor and the fact that she won the national beam title only made her a more impressive prospect because as I have always said, the team that stays on the beam wins.”
Schwitkis will come to LSU from SCEGA Gymnastics in Temecula, Calif., where she is a three-time Level 10 national qualifier. She is a two-time state and regional champion (2005 and 2006) that in 2005 won the national bars title and finished third on the vault and sixth on the floor. She followed that with a second-place showing on the bars and a fifth-place effort on the vault at the 2006 national meet.
“Staci comes from a club that a rich tradition of putting out college gymnasts that excel,” said Breaux. “She comes in with elite level skills on every event and should make an immediate on our lineup.”
Lyons is a currently a Level 10 gymnast that trained at the elite level for three years, including one season as an international elite. She trains at Northeast Gymnastics Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where she has qualified to the Level 10 Junior Olympic National Championships and placed 10th in the all-around, fifth on the vault and sixth on the bars. She has also won a regional bars title en route to a second-place all-around finish at the regional championships.
“Nicole is a rock solid, strong gymnast that is dynamic and exciting to watch,” said Breaux. “When she is competing she looks like she is having a great time out there and that makes you fall in love with her gymnastics.”
The 2006-07 edition of the Tigers gymnastics team begins competition Jan. 5 when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Super Six Challenge.