BATON ROUGE – With two of the four highest team scores in the country after two weeks into the 2017 season, the LSU gymnastics team is No. 2 in the latest RoadToNationals.com rankings released Monday with an average team score of 197.700.
The Tigers are 2-0 overall and in the Southeastern Conference after a197.575-197.100 victory over No.4 Alabama on the road Friday. The team score against the Crimson Tide was the highest in Tuscaloosa in school history.
Oklahoma regained the top spot after totaling a score of 198.025 on Sunday afternoon. The Sooners own an average of 197.888, for a .188 lead over the Tigers. National rankings are based on a team’s overall season average for the first few weeks of the season before switching to the regional qualifying score (RQS).
LSU ranks No. 1 on vault after an average score of 49.563. On Friday, the Tigers totaled a score of 49.600 for the highest vault score in the country in the last two seasons.
Senior Ashleigh Gnat highlighted the vault team with a10.0, which was her third on vault and seventh perfect score overall. Gnat sits in the top spot individually in the country with an average of 9.963. Freshman Kennedi Edney and Junior Myia Hambrick own average vault score of 9.925 for fourth.
On uneven bars, the squad ranks sixth with an average score of 49.275. Sophomore Lexie Priessman ranks 14th on bars with an average score of 9.887.
The LSU beam team ranks second in the country with an average of 49.363. Sophomore Sarah Finnegan is the top beam worker with an average score of 9.938. Finnegan won the beam title, her second of the season, on Friday with a 9.925.
The Tigers also rank second on floor with an average of 49.500. The score of 49.525 against Alabama was a season high and the highest on the road against an SEC opponent in school history.
Gnat is tied for the top floor spot in the country with an average of 9.950. Hambrick follows in a tie for third place with an average of 9.925. To round out the top-10 on floor, sophomore McKenna Kelley and Finnegan rank ninth with a 9.90.
LSU returns to the Maravich Center for the annual Pink and Blue meet. The Tigers will take on Texas Woman’s at 7:30 p.m. CT Friday inside the PMAC. The match will be streamed live on WatchESPN.com through SECNetwork+
RoadToNationals Gymnastics Top 25
Jan. 16, 2017
Rank, Team, Season Average
1 Oklahoma 197.888
2 LSU 197.7
3 Florida 197.35
4 Alabama 196.9
5 Utah 196.763
6 UCLA 196.263
7 Denver 196.113
8 Missouri 196.1
9 Kentucky 196.013
10 Nebraska 195.7
11 Auburn 195.675
12 Michigan 195.625
13 California 195.438
14 George Washington 195.388
15 Boise State 195.3
16 Georgia 195.2
17 Washington 195.175
18 Ohio State 195.088
19(t) Oregon State 195.05
19(t) Illinois-Champaign 195.05
21 Minnesota 194.813
22 Iowa 194.692
23 Arkansas 194.65
24 Sacramento State 194.438
25 North Carolina State 194.413
LSU in the Individual National Rankings
Myia Hambrick: 3rd FX, 3rd AA, 4th VT, 11th BB
Sarah Finnegan: 1st BB, 7th AA, 9th FX, 18th UB
Ashleigh Gnat: 1st VT, 1st FX, 8th AA
Kennedi Edney: 4th VT,
McKenna Kelley: 9th FX
Lexie Priessman: 9th VT, 14th UB,
Sydney Ewing: 20th VT,
Erin Macadaeg: 21st BB,