BATON ROUGE – The LSU gymnastics team used a near three-tenth jump in its regional qualifying score (RQS) to move up three spots to No. 19 in the newest rankings released Monday by GymInfo.
The Tigers (3-9, 0-6 Southeastern Conference) used the 194.750 at Alabama last week to replace the season-opening 193.350 at Oregon State, and the RQS jumped from 195.050 to 195.330.
In the event rankings, LSU moved up one spot on vault to No. 18 on vault with a 49.045 RQS. The Tigers advanced three spots to 19th on beam with a 48.720 score and moved back into the floor rankings at No. 25 with a 48.960 RQS.
Freshman Maliah Mathis jumped up to No. 11 on floor with a 9.880 RQS, while freshman Sarie Morrison advanced six spots to No. 15 on vault at 9.885.
LSU has one final opportunity to improve its RQS before NCAA Regional competition begins, and the Tigers will face a tough challenge at the SEC Championship against top-ranked Florida, No. 2 Alabama, No. 8 Georgia, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 22 Auburn and Kentucky.
The SEC Championship will begin at 4 p.m. CT Saturday in Birmingham’s BJCC Arena. Live audio will be available at www.LSUsports.net/live and fans can receive live score updates at www.Facebook.com/lsugym and @LSUgym on Twitter.
GymInfo Top 25 – March 14, 2011
Rank, Team, Regional Qualifying Score
1. Florida 197.170
2. Alabama 197.040
3. Stanford 196.715
4. Oklahoma 196.655
5. Oregon State 196.640
6. UCLA 196.520
7. Utah 196.470
8. Georgia 196.325
9. Michigan 196.320
10. Penn State 196.045
11. Nebraska 196.040
12. Arkansas 195.965
13. Boise State 195.950
14. Iowa 195.820
15. Ohio State 195.800
16. Illinois 195.790
17. Washington 195.585
18. Denver 195.435
19. LSU 195.330
20. Iowa State 195.285
21. Minnesota 195.255
22. Auburn 195.235
23. Kent State 195.210
24. Arizona 195.160
25. North Carolina State 195.155