SALT LAKE CITY — The LSU gymnastics team’s quest for a Super Six berth begins Thursday evening at the NCAA Championships as competition gets underway from the University of Utah’s Huntsman Center.
The Tigers are slated to compete in the second of two preliminary round sessions that begins 8 p.m. (CT).
A live audiocast of the meet will be available online at www.LSUsports.net to members of the GeauxZone.
The top-three teams from each preliminary round session will advance to the Super Six team finals on Friday where the 2007 national champion will be crowned.
LSU will battle Utah, UCLA, Stanford, Michigan and Denver for those coveted top-three positions. The Tigers, who are making their 19th appearance at the NCAA Championships, are seeking their first ever Super Six bid.
“At this point it is about consistency, not who has the most difficult skills,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux on what it will take to advance to the Super Six.
“With the 12 team here I feel it is a pretty level playing field. It’s going to be about who comes in with their game face on and can stand up to the pressure,” Breaux added.
The pressure will be high and the competition will be stiff for the Tigers as each team in the field has substantial NCAA experience.
Utah has won an NCAA-leading 10 national titles, with UCLA has five to its credit. Both Stanford and Michigan have several Super Six appearances under their belts. LSU and Denver will each be battling for their first.
The battle begins on the uneven bars for the Tigers as they drew the competition order of bars, beam, bye, floor, vault, bye, a rotation that lies in LSU’s favor as it allows the Tigers wrap up competition on their two strongest events.
“I stand by the fact that this rotation order can be a very good one for the team we have,” said Breaux. “If we can start with strong, solid performances on bars and beam it can allow us really put it all out their on floor and vault where I think our scoring potential is the highest.”
LSU will lean on a trio of all-arounders and a pair of returning All-Americans to maximize its scoring potential.
Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, senior Nicki Butler and freshman Susan Jackson are expected to once see action in each of the four events.
Clare-Kearney enters the meet tied with Georgia’s Katie Heenan as the nation’s top-ranked all-arounder. A first-team All-SEC selection, Clare-Kearney has won a team leading six all-around and 26 individual event titles this season.
Butler is a proven four-event standout that has consistently posted scores of 39.200 while showing she has 39.500 potential.
Jackson is the newest to all-around competition, having seen action in all four events in just the Tigers’ last two meets. She has been a solid, consistent scorer for LSU in those outings, going 39.150 and 39.200.
Seniors Lisa Rennie and Kelly Phelan are the returning All-Americans that dot the Tigers’ roster. Rennie, is a two-time selection on the bars, while Phelan earned the recognition on the floor last season.
These five Tigers and their seven other team members will all be crucial cogs in the wheel as competition gets underway tomorrow.