BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With the dual season behind them, the LSU gymnastics team will take on the six other Southeastern Conference teams in the SEC Championship at 4 p.m. CT Saturday in the BJCC Arena.
LSU (3-9, 0-6 SEC) will face stiff competition as the Tigers are joined by No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Alabama, eighth-ranked Georgia, 12th-ranked Arkansas, No. 22 Auburn and Kentucky.
Fans can listen to live audio of the meet at www.LSUsports.net/live and live scores will be available on www.Facebook.com/lsugym and the official Twitter handle of the team @LSUgym.
“We’ve had a great week of training, and I expect us to come out, be relaxed and have a good time,” head coach D-D Breaux said. “This is a fabulous competition on a podium against the best teams in the country, and we have to make the most of it, walk out of here feeling good about ourselves and prepare for regionals.”
No. 19 LSU will be shorthanded at the meet after losing all-arounder Ericka Garcia to a knee injury last week, but freshmen Maliah Mathis and Sarie Morrison should be back to full strength after sitting out events at Alabama on March 11.
Senior Samantha Engle participated in the competition order drawing at the arena Thursday before practice, and she drew beam as the Tigers opening rotation.
LSU’s competition order will consist of an event and then a break each time as the Tigers will go beam, bye, floor, bye, vault, bye, bars.
The SEC Championship represents the final opportunity for LSU to improve its regional qualifying score (RQS) before the NCAA Regional on April 2. The meet also marks the second multi-team meet of the year for the Tigers, and LSU set a season-high road score of 195.550 at the Metroplex Challenge in the first multi-team meet.
LSU enters the contest looking for consistency throughout the lineup, and several Tigers are coming off strong meets at Alabama a week ago.
Mathis ranks 11th nationally on floor with a 9.880 RQS, and she posted a career-high 9.90 on vault and a 9.875 on floor at Alabama. Morrison ranks 15th on vault with a 9.885 RQS, and she earned a 9.90 on vault in Tuscaloosa. Sarah Zoldos stepped into the beam lineup for the first time last week, and she tallied a 9.80 to go along with a 9.80 on vault.
In her final campaign Engle has led the Tigers in recent weeks, including 9.85’s on bars, beam and floor at Alabama.
After the meet LSU will await its postseason fate as the NCAA will release the regional selections Monday by 2 p.m.