BATON ROUGE — For the third time this season junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney has been named the SEC Gymnast of the Week by the conference office. She is the only athlete to have been recognized by the league three times this year.
Clare-Kearney either won outright or shared each of the four individual event titles en route to the all-around crown in the Tigers’ win over Centenary last Friday. The Manchester, Conn., native won her third straight all-around title and her sixth this season with a career-best 39.775 performance. The score is the best in the nation this season and is tied as the fourth-best score in school history.
In recording her all-around victory, Clare-Kearney posted career-high marks of 9.975 on the floor, 9.925 on the beam and 9.900 on the bars, and she was just off career-high pace on the vault, notching a 9.975.
With her performance, Clare-Kearney jumped to No. 1 in the country in the national all-around rankings. She is also listed at No. 1 vault, No. 6 on the floor and No. 16 on the beam this week.
Clare-Kearney and the rest of the LSU gymnastics team return to competition this Saturday when they travel to North Little Rock, Ark., for the SEC Championships at Alltel Arena.