BATON ROUGE — For the second time in three weeks the sixth-ranked LSU gymnastics team cracked the 197.000 barrier as it rolled to a convincing 197.175-196.275 victory over No. 17 Penn State Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The team total, the highest for the Tigers this season, ranks as the 13th-best in school history and is the fifth-highest point total in the NCAA this season.
“That’s the kind of performance that will take them to the next level,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux on her team’s effort. ”Once we got our momentum going it was fabulous. We demonstrated tonight the kind of performances that we see in practice everyday.”
The Tigers would not be denied Friday night as they posted four event scores of 49-plus for just the third time this season. LSU notched season-highs on both the floor and bars, turning in spectacular efforts of 49.500 and 49.300, respectively. The Tigers were nearly as good on the vault and beam adding marks of 49.275 and 49.100.
Individually, the Tigers continued to feed off the performances of its nationally-ranked all-arounders.
Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney was sensational in all four events, not posting a score below 9.875, as she tallied a career-high 39.675 for the night’s all-around crown, her fourth of the season.
Clare-Kearney’s total, the seventh highest in school history, was fueled by four individual event scores that were good enough to either share or claim outright each of the night’s event titles.
“Ashleigh was solid throughout the meet,” said Breaux. “She was basically flawless and just did a fantastic job.”
The Manchester, Conn., native continued her dominance of the vault, winning her ninth event title in 10 meets this season with a near-perfect 9.975. She also topped the competition on the beam, scoring a career-high 9.900.
On the bars, Clare-Kearney shared the win with teammates Nicki Butler and Lisa Rennie as well as Penn State’s Corissa Pirkl as each recorded marks of 9.875.
The floor saw Clare-Kearney and sophomore Lauren Klein share the spotlight as both outshined the competition with scores of 9.925.
Not to be overlooked was Butler, who while winning a share of the bars title, also turned in a complete four-event performance to tally a career-high 39.525 to finish second in the all-around standings.
The senior from Virginia Beach, Va., electrified the crowd with an improved floor routine that could arguably be considered one of the most difficult in the country because of its demanding tumbling passes. She was awarded a season-high 9.900 for her effort.
Butler matched that score on the vault and added a season-highs of 9.875 on the bars and 9.850 on the beam to round out the evening.
Other impressive performances came from senior Kelly Phelan and freshman Susan Jackson.
Phelan, a regular in the all-around, competed in just three events and was spectacular in each one. She capped the night with a 9.900 on floor. That effort came on the heels of a pair of 9.850s on the vault and beam.
Jackson also had two scores of 9.850 to her credit on the night, posting the scores on the bars and floor.
The Tigers return to action this Friday, March 16, when they close out their regular season home schedule against No. 8 Nebraska at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.
MEET RESULTS
Team
1. LSU ? 197.175 (VT ? 49.275, UB ? 49.300, BB ? 49.100, FX ? 49.500)
2. Penn State ? 196.275 (VT ? 48.975, UB ? 49.100, BB ? 49.150, FX ? 49.050)
All-Around ? 1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 39.675. 2, Nicki Butler, 39.525.
Vault ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.975; 2. Nicki Butler ? 9.900; t3. Kelly Phelan ? 9.850; 6. Amanda Morales ? 9.800; t8. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.750; 12. Kayla Rogers ? 9.625
Bars ? t1.Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.875; t1. Nicki Butler ? 9.875; t1. Lisa Rennie ? 9.875; 5. Susan Jackson ? 9.850; t6. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.825; t10. Summer Hubbard ? 9.775
Beam ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.900; t3. Nicki Butler ? 9.850; t3. Kelly Phelan ? 9.850; t8. Kristi Esposito ? 9.775; 10. Sabrina Franceschelli ? 9.725; 11, Susan Jackson ? 9.400
Floor ? t1, Lauren Klein ? 9.925; t1, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney ? 9.925; t3, Kelly Phelan ? 9.900; t3, Nicki Butler ? 9.900; 6, Susan Jackson ? 9.850; 7, Kristi Esposito ? 9.825