BATON ROUGE — Following a season-high 197.050 effort against Florida last Friday, the LSU gymnastics team moved up to one spot to No. 8 in the latest national rankings released Monday.
The Gators remain atop of the standings for a seventh straight week with a NCAA-best 197.245 regional qualifying score. Georgia (197.095), Stanford (196.530), Alabama (196.345) and Utah (196.095) encompass the top five.
The bottom half of the top 10 includes UCLA (196.075), Nebraska (195.895), LSU (195.830), Oklahoma (195.740) and Iowa State (195.450).
Other SEC schools in the top 25 include Arkansas at No. 12 (195.245) and Auburn at No. 14 (195.165).
In the four individual events, the Tigers either maintained or improved each of their national rankings.
LSU remains the nation’s second-ranked vaulting team while improving its RQS to a 49.300.
The Tigers made their biggest leap of the week on the floor, jumping six positions to No. 7 (48.975). LSU also moved up one spot to No. 8 on the bars (48.955) and two spots to No. 13 on the beam (48.655).
Individually, junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney moved into sole possession of the nation’s No. 1 ranking on the vault. She shared the ranking last week with Nebraska’s Emily Parsons, but a meeting-winning 9.950 on the event versus Florida bumped her RQS to a 9.950, edging her past Parsons at 9.945.
Clare-Kearney is also listed in the all-around rankings for a second consecutive week. She is 18 th with a RQS of 39.070.
Joining Clare-Kearney in the all-around standings are seniors Kelly Phelan and Nicki Butler.
Phelan notched a season-best 39.375 against the Gators to jump from 12 th to eighth in the standings with a LSU-best RQS of 39.300. She is also listed at No. 7 on the vault and No. 14 on the floor.
Butler also posted a season-high all-around score against UF, but slipped one spot to 17 th in the overall standings (39.100). She did improve one position to No. 7 in the vault rankings.
Also listed among the national standings are sophomore Lauren Klein and freshman Summer Hubbard. Klein is ranked 13th on the floor (9.865), while Hubbard re-enters the bars rankings at No. 15 (9.855).
The Tigers return to action this Friday when they travel to Alabama for a 7 p.m. dual meet.
National Rankings ? Feb. 26, 2007
Rank
Team Name
Team RQS
1
Florida
197.245
2
Georgia
197.095
3
Stanford
196.530
4
Alabama
196.345
5
Utah
196.095
6
UCLA
196.075
7
Nebraska
195.895
8
LSU
195.830
9
Oklahoma
195.740
10
Iowa State
195.450
11
Oregon State
195.315
12
Arkansas
195.245
13
Denver
195.170
14
Auburn
195.165
15
Michigan
195.155
16
Penn State
195.005
17
Arizona
194.825
18
Ohio State
194.455
19
Missouri
194.360
20
Kent State
194.255
21
West Virginia
194.070
22
North Carolina State
194.055
23
Illinois-Champaign
194.040
24
Iowa
193.985
25
Michigan State
193.955