BATON ROUGE – The ninth-ranked LSU gymnastics team received the No. 2 seed in the Seattle Regional, the NCAA announced Monday.
Hosted by the University of Washington, the regional is set to begin April 7 at 6 p.m. CT from the Huskies’ Alaska Airlines Arena where the Tigers competed and won a tri-meet on Feb. 17. LSU will broadcast the meet live and free of charge in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.
LSU (10-11) will be joined by familiar company, having competed against four of the other five regional opponents this season. Fifth-ranked Alabama earned the top seed, followed by third-seeded Arizona, host Washington, Iowa and Central Michigan.
The Tigers have competed twice against Alabama and Iowa this season and once against Arizona and Washington. On Feb. 17, LSU traveled to Seattle to face the Huskies and Seattle Pacific, and the Tigers came away with a victory and a 196.450, the second-best road score for LSU this season.
LSU faced SEC rival Alabama at home on Feb. 24 and again last Saturday at the SEC Championship. The Tigers saw both Arizona and Iowa at the season-opening Cancun Classic on Jan. 6, and LSU traveled to Iowa on March 9 where the Tigers won 196.300-195.700.
As luck would have it LSU will compete in the same event rotation schedule that it had last weekend at the SEC Championship, and it is the same rotation all No. 2 seeds at the six regionals will have. LSU will start on the bye before floor, then move to floor, vault, bye, bars and end the meet on beam.
LSU is making its 30th NCAA Regional appearance, and the Tigers will attempt to finish first or second in the regional in order to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 23rd time in school history.
Last season broke a string of nine straight appearances at the NCAA Championships as the third-seeded Tigers finished in third place at the 2011 Athens Regional behind No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 2 Georgia.
LSU heads into the Seattle Regional as the No. 9 team in the nation after GymInfo released updated rankings Monday. The Tigers rank sixth on vault with a 49.345 RQS, 14th on bars at 49.095, 11th on beam at 49.070 and 10th on floor at 49.220.
After being crowned SEC Floor Champion with a 9.925 at the SEC Championship, freshman Lloimincia Hall climbed one spot to No. 3 in the national floor rankings with a 9.930 RQS. Rheagan Courville was third on vault at 9.930, and she also ranked 19th on floor (9.890) and 24th on bars (9.875). Jessie Jordan ranked 24th on beam with a 9.865 RQS, and Sarie Morrison ranked 24th on bars at 9.875.
Courville ranked eighth in the all-around with a 39.450 RQS, while Hall was 19th at 39.355 and Jordan was 23rd at 39.305.
This will mark the second time in school history that LSU will compete in Seattle for an NCAA Regional as LSU finished second in the 2003 regional to advance to the NCAA Championships.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive a berth to the NCAA Championships in Duluth, Ga., April 20-22, hosted by the Gwinnett Center.
NCAA REGIONALS BREAKDOWN
Seattle Regional (Washington, host)
1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Arizona
4. Washington
5. Iowa
6. Central Michigan
Auburn Regional (Auburn, host)
1. Georgia
2. Oregon State
3. Auburn
4. Michigan
5. West Virginia
6. Michigan State
Champaign Regional (Illinois, host)
1. Oklahoma
2. Stanford
3. Denver
4. Illinois
5. Kentucky
6. Illinois-Chicago
Fayetteville Regional (Arkansas, host)
1. UCLA
2. Arkansas
3. Boise State
4. Missouri
5. New Hampshire
6. Maryland
Raleigh Regional (NC State, host)
1. Florida
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. NC State
5. Kent State
6. North Carolina
Salt Lake City Regional (Utah, host)
1. Nebraska
2. Utah
3. Minnesota
4. Iowa State
5. Arizona State
6. San Jose State
GymInfo Top 25 Rankings
March 26, 2012
Rank, Team, Regional Qualifying Score (RQS)
1. Florida 197.445
2. Oklahoma 197.360
3. UCLA 197.270
4. Alabama 197.245
5. Nebraska 197.030
6. Georgia 196.995
7. Oregon State 196.760
8. Utah 196.705
9. LSU 196.570
10. Arkansas 196.545
11. Stanford 196.410
12. Ohio State 196.245
13. Penn State 196.230
14. Denver 196.090
15. Boise State 196.055
16. Arizona 196.020
17. Minnesota 195.985
18. Auburn 195.965
19. Missouri 195.925
20. North Carolina State 195.870
21. Michigan 195.825
22. Illinois 195.695
23. Washington 195.595
t24. Kentucky 195.490
t24. Iowa State 195.490