BATON ROUGE – For the second straight week and the third time in four weeks an LSU gymnast claimed SEC Freshman of the Week as Rheagan Courville earned the award Tuesday, the league office announced.
Jessie Jordan was named SEC Freshman of the Week last week, and Lloimincia Hall was the first to be honored after the Auburn meet in the second week of the season.
It is the first time in school history three Tigers have received SEC Freshman of the Week honors in the same season.
Courville helped lead No. 14 LSU to a 196.125-195.050 victory over Kentucky by winning four of five individual titles in the meet. She became the first LSU gymnast to win at least four titles in one meet since Susan Jackson won four against Iowa on March 12, 2010.
Courville won the all-around, vault, bars and beam titles against the Wildcats, setting season highs on beam and the all-around. She scored a 39.450 all-around total, the highest for an LSU gymnast since Sarie Morrison scored a 39.575 against Georgia on Feb. 18, 2011.
The Baton Rouge native claimed her fourth straight vault title with a 9.90, and she tied her season high on bars with a 9.875 to win her first bars title.
She scored a 9.925 to win the beam title, and her beam score is the highest on the event by any freshman in the SEC this season. It is the first time an LSU freshman scored a 9.925 or higher on beam since Lisa Rennie earned a 9.95 at the SEC Championship on March 20, 2004.
The all-around title is also the first of her young career.
Courville leads the team with eight individual titles this season – four on vault and one each on bars, beam, floor and the all-around.
LSU is back in action at 6 p.m. CT Friday when the Tigers take on third-ranked Florida in the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. Live audio will be available in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.