BATON ROUGE — Two straight solid road performances have catapulted the LSU gymnastics team into the top 10 for the first time since the preseason coaches poll as they jumped three spots to No. 9 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
The rankings, based on a team’s regional qualifying score (RQS) for the first time this season, are derived from six team scores. The RQS adds together a team’s top three road scores, plus it’s next three highest scores from either home or road meets. The highest of the six scores is dropped and the remaining five scores are averaged, resulting in the RQS.
Florida and Georgia held on to the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, for the sixth straight week with RQSs of 197.115 and 197.080. Stanford (196.530), Alabama (196.155) and Utah (196.080) round out the top five.
The bottom half of the top 10 includes UCLA (195.930), Oklahoma (195.740), Nebraska (195.625), LSU (195.345) and Iowa State (195.120).
Other SEC teams in the top 25 include Auburn at No. 12 (194.965) and Arkansas at No. 14 (194.800).
The individual national rankings are headlined by junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney‘s position at the top of the vault standings. The Manchester, Conn., native has been ranked No. 2 on the event for the last six weeks, but jumped into a tie with Nebraska’s Emily Parsons at No. 1 with a RQS of 9.945.
Clare-Kearney is also one of LSU’s three all-arounders ranked among the nation’s top 20. She is listed at No. 14 with a RQS of 39.035.
Senior Kelly Phelan is the Tigers’ top-ranked all-around performer, earning a No. 12 national ranking for her 39.070 RQS score. Phelan is also listed at No. 13 on the floor (9.845) and No. 8 on the vault (9.875).
Fellow senior Nicki Butler has earned the No. 16 all-around ranking with her RQS of 38.985. She is also tied with Phelan at No. 8 on the vault.
In addition, sophomore Lauren Klein made her season debut in the floor rankings, entering the standings at No. 12 with a RQS of 9.860.
The Tigers return to action with two meets this week. They welcome top-ranked Florida to the PMAC this Friday at 7 p.m. and then turn around and travel to Lincoln, Neb., on Sunday to participate in Nebraska-hosted Masters Classic.
National Rankings ? Feb. 19
Rank
Team
Team RQS
1
Florida
197.115
2
Georgia
197.080
3
Stanford
196.530
4
Alabama
196.155
5
Utah
196.080
6
UCLA
195.930
7
Oklahoma
195.740
8
Nebraska
195.625
9
LSU
195.345
10
Iowa State
195.120
11
Denver
195.025
12
Auburn
194.965
13
Arizona
194.825
14
Arkansas
194.800
15
Oregon State
194.745
16
Penn State
194.545
17
Missouri
194.250
18
Ohio State Univ.
194.140
19
BYU
193.790
20
West Virginia
193.685
21
North Carolina State
193.575
–
Iowa
193.575
23
Kent State
193.425
24
Illinois-Champaign
193.255
25
Utah State
193.085