BATON ROUGE – After matching the season high in a 196.850-194.900 victory against West Virginia on March 16, the LSU gymnastics team moved up two spots to No. 8 in the newest national standings released Monday by GymInfo.
LSU (7-8) used the 196.850 score against the Mountaineers to increase the team regional qualifying score (RQS) from 196.440 to 196.550 to leap over Arkansas and move into a tie with Oregon State. Arkansas’ RQS remained at 196.545, while Oregon State’s stayed at 196.550 after last week’s meets.
The Tigers remained eighth on vault with a 49.310 RQS and 11th on beam with a 49.070 RQS, but LSU gained one spot to No. 10 on floor (49.200) and slipped one to No. 14 on bars (49.095) despite tying the season high of 49.225 against West Virginia.
Individually, Rheagan Courville moved up to No. 8 in the all-around standings with a 39.435 RQS, followed by Lloimincia Hall at 13 (39.355) and Jessie Jordan at 19 (39.280).
Courville remained No. 2 nationally on vault with a 9.930 RQS and No. 25 on bars at 9.870, and she improved three positions to 17th on floor (9.890).
After earning the nation’s best floor score for the second time this season, Hall moved up from No. 6 to No. 4 on floor with a 9.915 RQS, and she is the only gymnast in the country to score two 9.975’s this year.
Jordan earned the No. 19 ranking on beam with a 9.865 RQS, and for the first time this season Sarie Morrison checked in to the bars standings at No. 22 with a 9.875 RQS.
The eighth-ranked Tigers will head to the SEC Championship in Duluth, Ga., in a meet that features all seven SEC squads. LSU will face top-ranked Florida, No. 3 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 15 Auburn and No. 24 Kentucky at 3 p.m. CT from the Gwinnett Arena.
Live audio will be available in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.
GymInfo Top 25 Rankings
March 19, 2012
Rank, Team, Regional Qualifying Score (RQS)
1. Florida 197.395
2. Oklahoma 197.310
3. Alabama 197.155
4. UCLA 197.140
5. Georgia 196.995
6. Nebraska 196.960
7. Utah 196.705
t8. LSU 196.550
t8. Oregon State 196.550
10. Arkansas 196.545
11. Stanford 196.315
12. Penn State 196.230
13. Ohio State 196.115
14. Boise State 195.990
15. Auburn 195.965
16. Minnesota 195.880
17. Arizona 195.870
18. Denver 195.865
19. Missouri 195.825
20. North Carolina State 195.715
21. Michigan 195.710
22. Washington 195.595
23. Illinois 195.545
24. Kentucky 195.490
25. Iowa State 195.275