BATON ROUGE – With a 13-1 record overall and 7-0 mark against league opponents, the LSU gymnastics team heads into postseason ranked No. 2 in the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) rankings released Monday by RoadToNationals.com.
The Tigers’ RQS jumped up to 197.785 after the win and 197.875 score against New Hampshire Friday night. As the top team in the Southeastern Conference in RQS, LSU earned the top seed for the league championship on Saturday in Jacksonville.
Oklahoma owns the top spot in the RQS with a 198.000. The RQS is ascertained by taking a team’s top six scores – three of which must be from road/neutral meets – dropping the high score and averaging the remaining five scores.
LSU’s scores factored into the 197.785 RQS are the 197.700 at Arkansas and GymQuarters, 197.675 at Auburn, 197.975 vs. George Washington and Iowa, 198.150 vs. Florida and 197.875 vs. New Hampshire.
The Tigers’ 198.150 Sunday against Florida is dropped, and the remaining five scores averaged to a 197.785.
The team held steady at No. 1on vault with an RQS of 49.500. The squad owns the top two vault scores in the country over the last two seasons. The Tigers totaled a 49.600 on the road at Alabama and 49.625 at home against Florida.
Senior Ashleigh Gnat continues to lead the way on vault at No. 1with a 9.955 RQS. Gnat owns two 10.0 scores this season. The senior has competed in all 12 meets and has scored a 9.90 or better every time.
The Tigers also rank No. 2 on beam and floor with an RQS 49.495 and 49.540 respectively. The bars squad ranks No. 3 in the nation as well. Individually, Gnat ranks No. 3 on floor and sophomore Sarah Finnegan ranks No. 3 on beam.
Road To Nationals Top 25 – Week 10
Rank Team RQS
1. Oklahoma, 198.000
2. LSU, 197.785
3. UCLA, 197.500
4. Florida, 197.495
5. Utah , 197.355
6. Alabama, 197.285
7. Denver, 197.040
8. Georgia, 197.005
9. Michigan, 196.880
10. Oregon State, 196.875
11. Boise State, 196.835
12. Kentucky, 196.750
13. Nebraska, 196.640
14. Missouri, 196.540
15. Washington, 196.480
16(t). Iowa ,196.400
16(t). California, 196.400
18. George Washington ,196.305
19. Southern Utah, 196.300
20. Illinois-Champaign, 196.245
21. Auburn, 196.135
22. West Virginia, 195.920
23. Utah State, 195.830
24. Ohio State, 195.815
25. Eastern Michigan, 195.805
LSU in the Individual Top-25 National Rankings
Myia Hambrick: 11th AA, 9th FX, 20th VT, 20th BB
Ashleigh Gnat: 1st VT, 3rd FX, 11th BB
Kennedi Edney: 10th VT, 16th UB
Sydney Ewing: 13th VT
Lexie Priessman: 9th UB
Sarah Finnegan: 3rd BB
Erin Macadaeg: 20th BB,
McKenna Kelley: 15th FX