BATON ROUGE — After spending four of the last five weeks on the road the 11th-ranked LSU gymnastics squad will face eighth-ranked Florida at 7 p.m. CST Friday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The meet has been designated “Price is Right Night,” and fans can qualify at the meet to win big prizes by playing different games from the popular game show.
LSU (6-2, 1-2 SEC) is coming off a tough loss at No. 5 Auburn, 196.575-195.300, while Florida (3-1, 2-1) is coming off a victory over Kentucky last week, 195.925-193.850.
“We have worked really hard this season, and this is the midpoint. We need to start scoring high and finding some consistency in what we are doing,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said.
Two of LSU’s most consistent gymnasts ? senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and junior Susan Jackson ? enter the meet against Florida after posting identical 39.500 all-around scores against Auburn. Clare-Kearney picked up her 95th career individual title with a 9.925 on floor. Jackson racked up two titles with a season-high 9.90 on bars and a 9.875 beam score.
For the Tigers to raise their 195.380 season average and defeat Florida the top of the line-up will have to deliver strong performances, including the return of sophomore Samantha Engle on floor.
“We have some questions marks with Sam Engle on floor, and hopefully she will be 100 percent and ready to go,” Breaux said. “We feel the line-up that we used against Georgia was our strongest and gives us our best chance. If everyone hits at the beginning of the line-up, it will build momentum so that the kids at the end of our line-up can score well. That is our ultimate goal.”
As a team Florida is ranked in the top 10 in three events ? first on bars with a 49.281 average, second on floor (49.187) and fourth on vault (49.219). Individually the Gators are led by junior Melanie Sinclair who is ranked sixth in the all-around with a 39.394 mark, and Sinclair also ranks second nationally on bars as she has already posted a perfect 10.0 this season on the event.
Junior Maranda Smith is third nationally on floor with a 9.881 average and is fourth on vault with a 9.908 mark. Senior Corey Hartung ranks ninth on bars with a 9.869 average.
The Gators lead the all-time series record 48-28, but the Tigers lead 12-9 in Baton Rouge.
The meet will be broadcast by FOX Sports Net on a tape delay basis and will air on the network Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. Tiger fans can also keep up with the progress of the meet with live stats on www.LSUsports.net.