BATON ROUGE — The No. 5 ranked LSU gymnastics team crushed the Washington Huskies, 196.550- 195.175, Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as they celebrated Senior Night by honoring Kristi Esposito.
“It was kind of sad performing in the PMAC for the last time”, said senior gymnast Kristi Esposito. “It was exciting though.”
The Tigers advance to a record of 5-2-0 over the Huskies.
“I felt that we didn’t prepare quite enough but at the same time the kids are tired and we need time for recovery,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I think we are going to need to be a better beam team in this conference. I feel confident that we will find the six we need for the beam.”
The Tigers won each individual event on the night. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney placed second in the all-round scoring 39.200.
LSU started out the night on vault posting 49.450. Clare-Kearney proved once again why she is the top vaulting athlete in the nation as she placed first in the event for the ninth time in ten meets with a score of 9.975.
Susan Jackson scored posted a high-score with a 9.925. Nicole Lyons and Staci Schwitkis rounded out the top scores for the Tigers as they posted scores of 9.875 and 9.850, respectively.
The Tigers moved to bars for the second event of the night and posted a 49.250. Clare-Kearney placed first and posted her career high with the score of 9.950, grabbing her second event title of the night.
The lone senior, Esposito was not far behind. Esposito and fellow teammate Summer Hubbard tied for third on the event with a 9.850.
Rolling to the third event of the night, the Tigers moved on to the beam posting a 48.400. Jackson and Esposito tied for first with a 9.825.
For the final event of the evening, LSU wrapped up the dual meet on the floor scoring 49.450. Jackson placed first and tied her career-high of 9.975. Rounding-out the top three places were Clare-Kearney and freshman Samantha Engle. Clare-Kearney posted a 9.925, while Engle posted her career-high of 9.900.
Following the Tigers last regular-season home meet, LSU will return to action on the road, participating in a tri-meet in Raleigh, N.C. against North Carolina and North Carolina State. The action will begin at 6 p.m. (CT).
MEET RESULTS
Team
1. LSU ? 196.550 (VT ? 49.450 , UB ? 49.250 , BB ? 48.400 , FX ? 49.450)
2. Washington ? 195.175 (VT ? 48.875, UB ? 48.600 , BB ? 48.750, FX ? 48.950)
Individual (winner plus all LSU competitors)
All-Around ? 1. Ashley Houghting (UW) 39.225; 2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 39.200; 3. Sabrina Franceschelli, 39.050
Vault ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.975; t-2. Susan Jackson, 9.925; 4. Nicole Lyons, 9.875; 5. Staci Schwitkis, 9.850; t-6. Kayla Rogers, 9.825; 10. Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.650
Bars ? 1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.950; t-3. Summer Hubbard, 9.850; t-5. Staci Schwitkis, 9.825; 7. Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.775; 11. Nicole Lyons, 9.150
Beam ? t-1. Kristi Esposito, 9.825; t-1. Susan Jackson, 9.825; 6. Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.750; 9. Summer Hubbard, 9.650; 10. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.350; 11. Samantha Engle, 9.200
Floor ? 1. Susan Jackson, 9.975; 2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, 9.925; 3. Samantha Engle, 9.900; t-4.Sabrina Franceschelli, 9.875; 8. Kayla Rogers, 9.775; 9. Kristi Esposito, 9.750