BATON ROUGE — Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney captured her fifth all-around title of the season to highlight the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers gymnastics team season-high score, 197.050, in their tri-meet victory over 15th-ranked Auburn and West Virginia Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU’s 197.050 is the second-highest Southeastern Conference score heading into Friday night’s meets.
Clare Kearney’s event titles on the vault, beams and floor led her to her season-high all-around score of 39.650.
LSU improved its record to 8-1, including a perfect 4-0 at home. The tri-meet puts Auburn’s record at 4-4 and drops West Virginia’s record to 5-7.
“We had a pretty intense week of practice heading into this meet,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We felt like last week that we had a couple of things working against us with a few of the kids being sick. We knew we were kind of gambling on whether or not we would have a great performance last week. We were lucky to hang on and win. Our preparation this week was very good and was targeted for what we needed tonight.”
LSU opened the meet in strong fashion on the vault where all six Tigers posted season-high scores to put LSU’s total at 49.425. It marked LSU’s highest vault score since the NCAA Regional last season where the Tigers notched a 49.500.
Clare-Kearney highlighted the vault event by matching her season high of 9.950 to take the vault title. It is Clare-Kearney’s sixth-straight vault title this season.
Auburn recorded a 48.075 on bars and West Virginia a 47.375 on beam in their respective first rotations. Those marks placed LSU first after the opening events.
LSU held on to its lead after the second rotation by scoring a season-high 49.275 on bars. The bars score is the highest for the Tigers since they posted a 49.325 against Centenary last season. Clare-Kearney’s career-high of 9.925 led the way for the Tigers. Auburn’s 49.400 on beam and West Virginia’s 47.975 on floor closed out the second rotation of the event.
All six Tigers competing on the beam scored season highs to extend LSU’s lead after the third rotation. LSU’s event score of 49.300 is the highest mark for the Tigers since the SEC Championships last season. Freshman Nicole Lyons, who filled in for an injured Lauren Klein, competed on the beam for only the second time this season and posted a solid 9.850 to contribute to LSU’s lead.
Auburn’s 48.925 on floor and West Virginia’s 48.550 on vault set the stage for the meet’s final rotation.
LSU capped the meet on the floor with a 49.050. Clare-Kearney’s 9.875 led all performers in the event.
Auburn’s 49.075 on vault and West Virginia’s 48.550 on bars concluded the scoring for the evening.
The Tigers will return to action on Friday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. when they travel to Gainesville, Fla. to face the third-ranked Florida Gators.
MEET RESULTS
Team
1. LSU ? 197.050 (VT ? 49.425, UB ? 49.275 , BB ? 49.300, FX ? 49.050)
2. Auburn ? 195.475(VT ? 49.425, UB ? 48.075 , BB ? 49.400, FX ? 48.925)
3. West Virginia ? 192.750 (VT ? 48.550, UB ? 48.850 , BB ? 47.435, FX ? 47.975)
Individual (winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 39.650; 3. Susan Jackson, 39.400
Vault ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.950; t-2. Susan Jackson, 9.900; t-2. Nicole Lyons, 9.900; t-5. Kayla Rogers, 9.850; t-9. Staci Schwitkis, 9.825; t-9. Paige Cippolloni, 9.775
Bars ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.925; t-2. Staci Schwitkis, 9.875; 4. Nicole Lyons, 9.850; t-5. Susan Jackson, 9.825; t-7. Kristi Esposito, 9.800; 16. Summer Hubbard, 9.125
Beam ? 1. Julie Dwyer (Auburn), 9.950; t-2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.900; t-4. Kristi Esposito, 9.875; t-7. Nicole Lyons, 9.850; t-7.. Samantha Engle, 9.850; 9. Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.825; t-10. Susan Jackson, 9.800;
Floor ? t-1.Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.875; t-1. Susan Jackson, 9.875; t-4. Samantha Engle, 9.800; t-4. Kayla Rogers, 9.800; 12.. Kristi Esposito, 9.700; 17. Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.075.