BATON ROUGE — The LSU gymnastics team climbed one spot to No. 10 with a regional qualifying score of 195.870 in the latest national rankings released by GymInfo Monday.
The ranking system this week and for the rest of the season was determined by a team’s regional qualifying score (RQS) which is based on a team’s and all-around competitor’s six best regular-season meet scores, but three meets must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score, the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged.
LSU (8-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a 196.625-195.750 victory at Alabama that marked the Tigers first victory in Tuscaloosa since 1976 and head coach D-D Breaux‘s first win at Alabama.
Utah retained the top spot in the poll with a 196.780 RQS while Georgia moved up to No. 2 with a 196.630 RQS. UCLA (196.330), Stanford (196.285) and Auburn (196.200) round out the top five.
The SEC almost made up the entire bottom half of the top 10 as Florida is sixth, Arkansas is seventh, Alabama is eighth and LSU is 10th. Oregon State is just ahead of the Tigers at No. 9 with a 195.970 RQS.
LSU is ranked in the top 10 in three events as the Tigers checked in at No. 4 on vault with a 49.240 RQS. The Tigers are tied for eighth with Auburn on bars with a 48.985 score, and LSU is ninth on beam with a 48.915 mark. LSU is 15th on floor with an RQS of 48.865.
Individually, senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and junior Susan Jackson shot up the all-around rankings as Clare-Kearney checked in at No. 4 with a 39.390 RQS and Jackson is fifth with a 39.370 RQS.
Coming off a spectacular meet at Alabama where she captured her 100th career individual title, Clare-Kearney retained her No. 3 ranking on vault with a 9.910 RQS. Clare-Kearney is also tied for sixth on bars with a 9.865 score, and she is tied for second nationally on floor with a 9.895 score.
Jackson is ranked in the top 16 in three events as she is No. 11 on vault with a 9.875 RQS, tied for 12th on beam with a 9.835 score and is No. 16 on bars with a 9.840 RQS.
Two other Tigers appear in the individual top 25 rankings for the first time as sophomore Staci Schwitkis is tied for 20th on vault with a 9.840 RQS, and sophomore Samantha Engle is tied for 23rd on bars with a 9.825 mark.
LSU will be back in action Friday at home in a tri-meet against North Carolina and Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
GymInfo Top 25 ? February 16, 2009
Rank Team RQS
1. Utah 196.780
2. Georgia 196.630
3. UCLA 196.330
4. Stanford 196.285
5. Auburn 196.200
6. Florida 196.035
7. Arkansas 196.020
8. Alabama 196.010
9. Oregon State 195.970
10. LSU 195.870
11. Oklahoma 195.845
12. Nebraska 195.295
13. Missouri 195.130
14. Illinois-Champaign 194.915
15. Michigan 194.815
16. Ohio State 194.655
17. Penn State 194.630
18. West Virginia 194.320
19. Arizona 194.255
20. Iowa State 194.175
21. Denver 193.980
22. Michigan State 193.920
23. Iowa 193.860
24. Washington 193.810
25. S.E. Missouri 193.685