LSU Gold

Look Back at a Historic Gymnastics Season

by Jake Terry (@LSUjake)
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Look Back at a Historic Gymnastics Season

BATON ROUGE – The 2014 season ended as arguably the finest in the 40-year history of LSU gymnastics. The Tigers set new team and individual records throughout the year, culminating in the highest finish in school history – third place at the NCAA Super Six Finals on April 19.

From shattering the record for most 197 scores in a season to adding another individual national title to the program, and from winning the 13th regional title in school history to taking home national coach of the year honors as a staff, the 2014 season was one of outstanding achievement for LSU.

Here are some of the many TEAM accomplishments in the 2014 campaign:

  • Best finish in school history: third place in the NCAA Super Six Finals.
  • Reached the Super Six for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall.
  • Broke the LSU record for highest score on three occasions.
  • Earned a 198.325, tied for the highest score in the nation this season.
  • Tallied four of the top five overall team scores in school history.
  • Won the 13th regional title in program history with the 198.325 at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
  • Broke the record for most consecutive meets with at least a 197 score by doing it 13 in a row and finishing the season with a 197 in all but one meet.
  • Ended the year as the only team in the nation to score a 49.0 or higher in every event in every meet this season.
  • Ranked No. 1 for three straight weeks at the beginning of the RQS rankings in late February.
  • Posted school-record totals on vault with a 49.650 in the regional and floor with a 49.700 against Missouri. In addition, the Tigers posted the second-best bars (49.600) and beam (49.600) scores in program history this season.
  • Finished a perfect 11-0 at home, including wins against Alabama, Auburn and first place in the NCAA Regional. It marked the 15th season with a perfect home record.
  • Earned 20 total All-America honors as a team, the second-most of any team, including 12 regular season All-America honors that tie as the most.
  • Led the nation with five gymnasts as First-Team All-Americans at the NCAA Championships. No other team had more than four gymnasts earn the distinction.
  • Shattered the home attendance record for the second straight season, including holding the most-attended NCAA Regional by nearly 1,000 people.
  • Highest score in a season opener in history: 197.200 vs. Centenary on Jan. 10.
  • Ended the season with the highest event and overall team average score in history: vault at 49.483, bars at 49.330, beam at 49.265, floor at 49.453 and overall at 197.532.

Here are some of the many INDIVIDUAL accomplishments in the 2014 season:

  • Head coach D-D Breaux earned NACGC/W National Coach of the Year.
  • Associate head coach Jay Clark and assistant coach Bob Moore shared NACGC/W National Assistant Coach of the Year honors.
  • Rheagan Courville captured the second NCAA individual national title of her career on vault. It marked the 10th NCAA individual title overall in LSU history and the eighth in the last nine seasons.
  • Lloimincia Hall set two school records: 1) She became the first LSU gymnast to win three straight Southeastern Conference floor exercise titles. 2) She tallied three perfect 10.0s on floor to reach five for her career, the most 10s on floor in LSU history.
  • Sarie Morrison ended her career with the most uneven bars titles by a gymnast in LSU history with 28.
  • Breaux finished the season with exactly 650 career wins.
  • Breaux earned Central Region Coach of the Year, while Clark and Moore shared Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year and Courville shared Central Region Gymnast of the Year.
  • A school-record eight gymnasts earned All-America honors this season: Courville, Kaleigh Dickson, Sydney Ewing, Ashleigh Gnat, Hall, Jessie Jordan, Morrison and Jessica Savona.
  • Courville, Ewing, Gnat, Jordan and Savona all tallied First-Team All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, the first time in LSU history that five gymnasts claimed first-team honors at nationals in the same season.
  • Courville, Kaleigh Dickson and Jordan all finished as All-Americans in the all-around, the first time three Tigers have earned all-around All-America distinction in the same season.
  • Courville, Hall and Jordan earned All-SEC recognition and those three plus Gnat and Morrison all captured at least one SEC weekly honor during the year.

Deposits for 2015 season tickets are currently being accepted at http://lsul.su/15gymtix, and season tickets are expected to cost $25 for adults and $15 for youth, ages 3-12.