BATON ROUGE – With a little more than two months to go before the first meet of the 2011 season, the LSU gymnastics team conducted its first intrasquad meet in the practice area Friday.
Head coach D-D Breaux said the team met her expectations at this point in the fall, and the young squad is continuing to improve daily.
“They are working so hard in the weight room, and they are doing everything they can to please us which is great because they are so young,” Breaux said. “We have some kids stepping up. They are looking at and anticipating the season because it’s a whole new group, and we are excited.”
The coaches held the intrasquad like a regular season meet, setting lineups and moving through the events in Olympic rotation – vault, bars, beam and floor exercise.
Assistant coach Bob Moore said he was pleased with the progress and performance of his vaulters in the meet.
“We had a couple kids step up today who had been struggling, so to watch them step up in a competition setting is comforting,” Moore said. “I still have a couple of my best vaulters who are injured and can’t work out, so if I can get all my cylinders clicking I believe I can have a 49.500 vault team.”
The Tigers moved to bars where assistant coach Philip Ogletree said overall the team performed well, but he emphasized there is plenty of room for improvement.
“Bars were pretty good, but we still need to get better if we are going to compete at a high level,” Ogletree said. “Several individuals gave great performances under pressure, but we need to become more consistent and hit handstands.”
Breaux said she was excited with the tenacity and confidence the team displayed on beam.
“I felt like we had a very mature approach on beam,” she said. “I judged the routines, and I was pleased with the amount of focus they had and how they dealt with situations that came up during their routines.”
The coaching staff divided the team into two lineups of five gymnasts for floor to increase the competition. The two “mini” teams competed for the higher score, and whichever team lost would have to cook a team meal for the winners.
“Our presentation is getting better every day on floor, and I was very pleased with the level of difficulty we competed today and with what I saw us doing as a team,” Breaux said.
Several individuals stepped up during the meet, led by the senior All-American Engle who provided stellar routines including 9.90’s on bars and beam according to Breaux.
“I thought we all did really well, especially the freshmen,” Engle said. “I was happy with how we all competed, and I think our performance was better than a lot of intrasquads we have done in past years.”
The team will continue preparations for the 2011 opener as the Tigers will be back in the gym Saturday for a light workout.
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