BATON ROUGE — After posting a season-high 197.400 against Illinois-Chicago and North Carolina last week, the LSU gymnastics team moved up four spots to No. 6 in the latest rankings released by GymInfo Monday.
The Tigers score of 197.400 marks the second-highest score in a meet this season, trailing only second-ranked Utah’s 197.525. LSU’s regional qualifying score increased by nearly four-tenths of a point from 195.870 to 196.250.
Southeastern Conference rival Georgia took over the top spot in the rankings with a 197.015 RQS while Utah, last week’s No. 1, dropped to second with a 196.885 score. Stanford checked in at No. 3 with a 196.590 RQS, while UCLA was No. 4 (196.340) and Auburn rounded out the top five with a 196.260 score.
Florida is ranked one spot behind LSU at No. 7 with a 196.220 RQS while Arkansas (196.210) is ninth and Alabama (196.010) is 11th.
LSU (10-2, 3-2 SEC) recorded season-high event scores on bars and floor with a 49.500 and 49.475, respectively. The score on bars marks the highest total since March 15, 2002 when LSU scored a 49.500 in a tri-meet at home against Rhode Island and Centenary.
Because LSU has strung together three-straight strong performances against Florida, Alabama and in the tri-meet, the Tigers have continued to climb in the event rankings. LSU is now in the top 10 in three out of the four events. The Tigers rank fourth on vault with a 49.210 RQS, sixth on bars (49.170 RQS), seventh on beam (49.035) and 13th on floor (48.965). Despite the Tigers not being ranked in the top 10 on floor, LSU holds the highest single-meet score of any team in the nation in the event with the 49.475 the Tigers scored in the tri-meet.
Individually, senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney has continued to shine in her final season with the Tigers as she has risen to the No. 3 ranking in the all-around with a 39.515 RQS. Last Friday in the tri-meet, Clare-Kearney tied her season-high in the all-around with a 39.625, and she captured four individual titles to increase her career total to 104.
After her performance in the tri-meet Clare-Kearney moved into the top five in three events as she is tied for first nationally on floor (9.915 RQS), tied for fourth on vault (9.910) and is fifth on bars (9.885). After her season-high 9.90 on beam in the tri-meet, she also ranks 24th in the event with a 9.835 RQS.
Junior Susan Jackson has continued to rise as she is No. 5 in the all-around standings for the second-straight week with a 39.410 RQS. Jackson tied her season-high with a 39.500 in the tri-meet. Jackson is also ranked in the top 15 in three events. She is 12th on vault with a 9.880 RQS, 13th on bars (9.865) and tied for 11th on beam with a 9.850 score.
The sixth-ranked Fighting Tigers will be back in action Friday when LSU hosts ninth-ranked SEC rival Arkansas at 7 p.m. CT in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in another Top 10 showdown.
GymInfo Top 25 ? February 16, 2009
Rank Team RQS
1. Georgia 197.015
2. Utah 196.885
3. Stanford 196.590
4. UCLA 196.340
5. Auburn 196.260
6. LSU 196.250
7. Florida 196.220
8. Oregon State 196.215
9. Arkansas 196.210
10. Oklahoma 196.105
11. Alabama 196.010
12. Nebraska 195.465
13. Missouri 195.430
14. Michigan 195.345
15. Illinois-Champaign 195.215
16. Arizona 194.930
17. Penn State 194.900
18. Minnesota 194.755
19. Ohio State 194.725
20. West Virginia 194.630
21. Iowa 194.525
22. Iowa State 194.500
23. Michigan State 194.410
24. Washington 194.330
25. Maryland 194.325