BATON ROUGE — The No. 5 LSU Tigers gymnastics team will travel to Duluth, Ga. for the SEC Championships on Saturday, March 29 for a 3 p.m. (CT) meet at the Gwinnett Center.
Live audio from the meet will be broadcast from the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live. Mike Smith will provide color commentary and Jewel Fourrier will provide analysis.
LSU enters the meet with a 14-3 record, after defeating North Carolina State, North Carolina and George Washington in a quad-meet on March 14 in Raleigh, N.C.
LSU finished the SEC regular season in fourth place, with a 3-3 record.
During the regular season, the Tigers defeated then-ranked No. 8 Arkansas in Fayetteville by a score of 195.900-195.300. They also defeated No. 13 Auburn in a tri-meet in by a score of 197.050-195.475 and No. 20 Kentucky, 195.075-191.200.
However, LSU lost to No. 1 Georgia, 197.550-195.925, No. 3 Florida, 197.925-196.325 and No. 6 Alabama, 196.300-196.125.
“The meet itself is as big as the National Championships,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “The SEC is the leading gymnastics conference in the country, so when you put the level of competition and the level of judges and the quality of the venue, it is the premiere gymnastics event in the nation.”
The Tigers have had a week off from competing, in hopes of resting the athletes, as well as being able to compete with a full lineup. Freshmen Paige Cipolloni and Nicole Lyons missed the meet at North Carolina State because of leg injuries. Additionally, junior Lauren Klein has not competed since she injured her leg against Kentucky.
“We needed the week off more than we needed to compete,” added Breaux. “We are young, and our kids were tired. The freshmen had no idea that this season would take such a physical toll on them. I’ll take rest over the score, and our score stood.”
The Tigers will be looking for strong performances from Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and Susan Jackson, among others. Clare-Kearney held her ground at No.3 in the all-around this week with an RQS of 39.520. Jackson came in at No. 22 in the all-around rankings this week with a 39.305.
The Tigers will have a week off from competition next week. They will compete in the NCAA Regional Championships on April 12.