BATON ROUGE — The seventh-ranked gymnastics team defeated No. 5 Nebraska, 197.025-143.750, Friday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as they celebrated Senior Night by honoring Nicki Butler, Kelly Phelan, Lisa Rennie and manager James Dutschke.
Due to academic reasons, Nebraska elected not to bring a full squad to the meet. As a result they competed anywhere from three to five gymnasts in each event.
“I think the girls maintained their focus and put together a good competition. It’s hard because you don’t have that intensity of competition. We have been stressing in practice that we want them to compete to raise the level of intensity in the meet,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “It became a non-competition for the team title tonight, but we always tell the kids to stay in their ?Purple Zone’ and not even look at their opponent. This was a real test for them.”
The Tigers swept the top-three places in the all-around competition as they were led by junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney with a score of 39.650. In their final performance in the PMAC seniors Phelan and Butler grabbed second and third place as they posted scores of 39.300 and 39.125, respectively.
LSU started out the night on vault and posted 49.375. Clare-Kearney proved once again why she is the nation’s top-ranked vaulter as she placed first in the event for the tenth time in eleven meets with a score of 9.950.
Butler tied her career-high with the same score to share the event title with Clare-Kearney. Phelan and Amanda Morales rounded out the top scores for the Tigers as they posted scores of 9.875 and 9.850, respectively.
The Tigers moved to bars for the second event of the night and posted a 49.050. Clare-Kearney tied her career-high with a score of 9.875, and grabbed her second event title of the night.
Butler was not far behind in placing second on the event with a 9.850. Rennie rounded out the top scores as she posted a 9.800 which tied for third place in overall scoring.
For the third event of the night the Tigers moved on to the beam. Phelan led all Tigers with a season-high 9.900. Clare-Kearney and junior Kristi Esposito followed with identical scores of 9.875, which tied for second place in overall scoring.
For the final event of the night, Clare-Kearney placed first in her third event of the night as she posted a 9.950 on the floor. Sophomore Lauren Klein posted the same score to share the event title.
Freshman Susan Jackson rounded out the top scores on the floor with a 9.875 to place third on the event. The Tigers earned a team score of 49.425 to end the night.
Up next, the Tigers wrap up the regular season dual meet schedule when they travel to Shreveport, La., for a meet with in-state foe Centenary on Friday, March 23, at 7 p.m. in the Gold Dome.
Meet Results
Team
1. LSU ? 197.025 (VT?49.375;UB?49.050;BB?49.175;FX?49.425)
2. Nebraska ? 143.750 (VT?39.075;UB?27.650;BB?47.550;FX?29.475)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 39.650; 2. Kelly Phelan ? 39.300; 3. Nicki Butler ? 39.125
Vault ? t1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.950; t1. Nicki Butler ? 9.950; 4. Kelly Phelan ? 9.875; 5. Amanda Morales ? 9.850; 7. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.750; 9. Kayla Rogers ? 9.700
Bars ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.875; 2. Nicki Butler ? 9.850; t3. Lisa Rennie ? 9.800; 5. Summer Hubbard ? 9.775; t6. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.750; 8. Kelly Phelan ? 9.725
Beam ? 1. Kelly Phelan ? 9.900; t2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.875; t2. Kristi Esposito ? 9.875; 6. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.775; 7. Lauren Klein ? 9.750; 8. Nicki Butler ? 9.725
Floor ? t1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.950; t1. Lauren Klein ? 9.950; t3. Susan Jackson ? 9.875; 5. Kristi Esposito ? 9.850; 7. Kelly Phelan ? 9.800; 9. Nicki Butler ? 9.600