BATON ROUGE — Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney‘s meet-winning 39.375 in the all-around propelled the 12th-ranked LSU gymnastics team to a 195.750-194.775 victory over No. 11 Auburn Friday night at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
“I though we fought hard through the entire competition,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. We had a slight edge through each turn of this meet, but we fought for every single tenth of a point we got tonight.”
The all-around win marked the second of the season for Clare-Kearney, who has now won three individual overall titles during her career.
“Ashleigh was just awesome tonight,” said Breaux. “Before this meet she was determined to put together four good events. She practiced hard all week and really worked on staying in the process. She did that tonight and it paid dividends.”
Also posting solid all-around efforts for the Tigers were seniors Nicki Butler and Kelly Phelan. Butler finished third in the overall standings with a 39.225, while Phelan was fourth with a 39.200.
“Nicki and Kelly just continue to give us 100 percent in every meet. You can’t ask for more than that,” added Breaux.
The Tigers began the meet with a solid 48.775 effort on the bars. Auburn was just as consistent over on the vault posting an identical 48.775 for the early tie.
Clare-Kearney led the individual effort for the Tigers on the event, scoring a meet-best 9.850. Phelan and Butler each posted scores of 9.775 to round out LSU’s top three.
LSU jumped out to 97.900-97.600 lead in the second rotation behind a dynamic 49.125 performance on the vault.
Clare-Kearney, the nation’s second-ranked performer on the vault, continued to show her dominance on the event, notching a near-perfect 9.975 to punctuate the end of the Tigers’ lineup. The score was good enough for the meet title on the event, Clare-Kearney’s sixth in seven meets this season.
Also posting impressive marks on the event for the Tigers were Butler and Phelan who recorded scores of 9.900 and 9.800, respectively. Marks that were good enough for second and third place finishes.
In the third rotation, Auburn closed in on LSU’s lead scoring a 48.950 on the beam to the Tigers’ 48.800 on the floor to bring the team totals to 146.725-146.550 with one rotation to go.
Sophomore Lauren Klein led all scorers on the event with a 9.900. Klein’s score was good enough for the meet title, her third on the event this season. In addition, Phelan turned in a 9.775 and freshman Susan Jackson added a 9.750.
LSU secured the victory in the final rotation, posting a 49.025 behind five scores of 9.700 or better.
Clare-Kearney, Butler and Phelan again led the squad with a trio of 9.850 performances. Freshman Sabrina Franceschelli added a 9.775 and senior Lisa Rennie contributed a 9.700 to round out the Tigers scoring on the event
The Tigers return to competition, Friday, Feb. 23, when they welcome top-ranked Flroida to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. dual meet.
MEET RESULTS
Team
1. LSU ? 195.750 (VT ? 49.125, UB ? 48.775, BB ? 49.025, FX ? 48.825)
2. Auburn ? 194.775 (VT ? 48.775, UB ? 48.825, BB ? 48.950, FX ? 48.225)
Individual (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around ? 1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 39.375. 3, Nicki Butler, 39.225. 4, Kelly Phelan, 39.200.
Vault ? 1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.975. 2, Nicki Butler, 9.900. t3, Kelly Phelan, 9.800. t5, Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.750. 9, Kayla Rogers, 9.700. t11, Lauren Klein, 9.650.
Bars ? 1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.850. t2, Nicki Butler, 9.775. t2, Kelly Phelan, 9.775. 10, Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.700. 11, Susan Jackson, 9.675. 12, Summer Hubbard, 9.325.
Beam ? 1, Julie Dwyer, Auburn, 9.900. t3, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.850. t3, Kelly Phelan, 9.850. t3, Nicki Butler, 9.850. 6, Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.775. 9, Lisa Rennie, 9.700. 11, Susan Jackson, 9.650.
Floor ? 1, Lauren Klein, 9.900. t3, Kelly Phelan, 9.775. 5, Susan Jackson, 9.750. t8, Nicki Butler, 9.700. t8, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.700.t8, Kristi Esposito, 9.700.