BATON ROUGE — Despite posting a season-high 195.925 against Georgia last week, the LSU gymnastics team slipped two spots to No. 7 in the latest national rankings with a 195.775 season average.
The rankings’ top five were shaken up with Georgia (196.869) moving into the top spot and Utah (196.475), Florida (196.400), Alabama (196.342) and Michigan (196.033) following suit.
The rest of the top 10 includes Oklahoma (195.825), LSU, UCLA (195.383), Arkansas (195.267) and Oregon State (195.258).
In the individual events, LSU improved on the floor, jumping from No. 4 to No. 2 with an average score of 49.156. The team held their ground on the vault, staying at No. 6 with a 49.069 average. LSU slipped one spot to No. 8 on the bars in addition to falling to No. 13 on the beam.
Individually, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney is ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around, with a 39.481 season average. Only Melanie Sinclair (39.525) of Florida has bettered her.
Clare-Kearney is also tied for the second best average score on the vault with a score of 9.925. The junior from Manchester, Conn., is also listed at No. 10 on the floor (9.881) and tied for 12th on the beam (9.837) and 22nd on the bars (9.837).
The Tigers return to action this Friday, Feb. 1, when they host Kentucky in a 7 p.m. dual meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
National Rankings ? Jan. 28, 2008
Rank
Team Name
Team Ave
1
Georgia
196.869
2
Utah
196.475
3
Florida
196.400
4
Alabama
196.342
5
Michigan
196.033
6
Oklahoma
195.825
7
LSU
195.775
8
UCLA
195.383
9
Arkansas
195.267
10t
Oregon State
195.258
10t
Stanford
195.258
12
Nebraska
195.075
13
Denver
194.600
14
Penn State
194.592
15
Missouri
194.525
16
Auburn
194.200
17
Southern Utah
194.175
18
Boise State
194.162
19
Arizona
194.092
20
Arizona State
194.087
21
North Carolina
193.575
22
Ohio State
193.567
23
S.E. Missouri
193.537
24
Michigan State
193.392
25
Illinois
193.183