BATON ROUGE — For the second straight week the LSU gymnastics squad checked in at No. 11 in the national rankings released by GymInfo Monday.
LSU (7-2, 2-2 SEC) is coming off a season-high in its 196.800-195.825 victory over Florida, and the Tigers increased their season average from 195.380 to 195.617.
Utah remained No. 1 with a 196.730 average, followed by UCLA (196.480) at No. 2. Georgia (196.475), Stanford (196.300) and Alabama (196.265) round out the top five.
The SEC was well-represented in the top 10 with Auburn at six, Arkansas at seven and Florida at nine.
LSU was ranked No. 3 on vault for the second straight week with a 49.221 season average, and the Tigers also remained No. 13 on bars with a 48.908 average and stayed put at 18th on floor with a 48.767 average. LSU jumped one spot from 16th to 15th on beam with a 48.721 average after setting a season high with a 49.300 against Florida.
Individually, after posting a season-high 39.625 all-around score senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney moved into the top 10 of the all-around rankings at No. 9 with a 39.342 season average. Clare-Kearney is also ranked in the top 10 of three events ? No. 6 on floor with a 9.883 average, No. 6 on bars with a 9.875 average and third on vault with a 9.912 mark.
Junior Susan Jackson remained eighth on vault with a 9.887 average.
LSU will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on fifth-ranked Alabama (3-2, 2-2 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. CST Friday in Memorial Coliseum.
GymInfo Top 25 ? February 9, 2009
Rank Team Season Average
1. Utah 196.730
2. UCLA 196.480
3. Georgia 196.475
4. Stanford 196.300
5. Alabama 196.265
6. Auburn 196.175
7. Arkansas 196.112
8. Oklahoma 196.075
9. Florida 196.035
10. Oregon State 195.742
11. LSU 195.617
12. Nebraska 195.385
13. Missouri 195.130
14. Penn State 194.875
15. Minnesota 194.755
16. Michigan 194.754
17. Illinois-Champaign 194.705
18. Ohio State 194.655
19. Iowa State 194.460
20. Arizona 194.255
21. Boise State 194.181
22. Denver 194.121
23. West Virginia 194.119
24. Arizona State 194.044
25. Iowa 193.995