BATON ROUGE — The LSU gymnastics squad came up just short of its season average of 195.400 by scoring 195.300 at sixth-ranked Auburn last Friday, so the Tigers only slipped one spot to No. 11 in the latest national rankings released by GymInfo Monday.
The Tigers maintained a top 20 ranking in all four events as LSU (6-2, 1-2 SEC) checked in at No. 3 on vault with a 49.235 season average, No. 13 on bars (48.805), No. 16 on beam (48.605) and No. 18 on floor (48.735).
Individually, senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney took over the No. 1 spot in the national vault rankings with a season average of 9.920. Clare-Kearney increased her average by posting a 9.925 on vault against Auburn. Junior Susan Jackson remained at No. 8 in the vault rankings with a 9.885 average.
Clare-Kearney also ranked eighth on uneven bars with a 9.870 average.
The Southeastern Conference continued to dominate the national team rankings as it has all season as Georgia and Arkansas tied for third with a 196.320 average. Auburn checked in at No. 5 with a 196.225 mark while Florida ranked eighth (196.087) and Alabama was ninth (196.075). Utah took over the top spot in the rankings with a 196.700 season mark.
After spending four of the last five weeks on the road LSU will return home this week to play host to Florida (3-1, 2-1) at 7 p.m. CST Friday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The meet will be broadcast by FOX Sports Net on a tape delay basis.
GymInfo Top 25 ? February 2, 2009
Rank Team Season Average
1. Utah 196.700
2. UCLA 196.480
t3. Georgia 196.320
t3. Arkansas 196.320
5. Auburn 196.225
6. Stanford 196.100
7. Oklahoma 196.094
8. Florida 196.087
9. Alabama 196.075
10. Oregon State 195.635
11. LSU 195.380
12. Nebraska 195.187
13. Missouri 194.975
14. Illinois-Champaign 194.606
15. Penn State 194.556
16. Michigan 194.520
17. Ohio State 194.512
18. Minnesota 194.500
19. Denver 194.275
20. Iowa State 194.269
21. Arizona 194.169
22. West Virginia 194.119
23. Arizona State 194.050
24. Boise State 193.983
25. Iowa 193.931