SALT LAKE CITY — By nearly the slimmest margin possible, merely five-hundredths of a point, the LSU gymnastics team missed its season-long goal of qualifying for the Super Six, the final round of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.
UCLA won the first session of the championships with a score of 196.425. Alabama was second with 194.950, followed by Arizona State (194.525) in third. All three advance to Friday’s Super Six.
LSU finished fourth at 194.475, followed by Stanford (194.000) and West Virginia (191.850).
With the Tigers on a bye in the final rotation, Arizona State scored 48.325 on vault to defeat the fifth-ranked LSU squad, 194.525-194.475 for the third and final position.
After beginning the meet with back-to-back solid performances on bars and beam, LSU struggled on the floor and was forced to count a fall — one which would cost the Tigers in the end.
The Tigers finished the meet with an above-average 48.775 on the vault to total 194.475 with one rotation remaining.
Needing a 9.725 to tie the Tigers, Arizona State vaulter Amy Shelton, who had previously fallen on bars and beam, anchored the Sun Devils’ lineup with a 9.775 to crush the hopes of the Tigers.
“It’s very disappointing,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “But not as far as the effort of our kids. They gave 100 percent tonight and I can’t fault their performance whatsoever. We were the better team tonight, but the score just didn’t turn our way.”
After the meet, Breaux focused on the floor, ironically, the event which vaulted the Tigers into this championship two weeks ago at the NCAA Region IV Championship in Baton Rouge.
“Having to count a fall on floor killed us,” Breaux said. “That was very uncharacteristic. But other than that, we did everything we could to get in. It was a team effort tonight.”
Individually, the Tigers had three gymnasts qualify for the Individual Event Finals, slated for Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Shanyn MacEachern qualified on vault with a 9.85, while juniors Colleen Barger and Stacey Wegener qualified on beam with a pair of 9.85s. Each was named a first-team All-American.
As a team, LSU won the session’s team title on beam, where the Tigers were ranked second in the nation entering the meet.
The three teams which join UCLA, Alabama and Arizona State in Friday’s Super Six will be decided in the second session of the preliminary round, scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. CDT.
TEAM SCORES, SESSION 1
1. UCLA (196.425); 2. Alabama (194.950); 3. Arizona State (194.525); 4. LSU (194.475); 5. Stanford (194.000); 6. West Virginia (191.725). INDIVIDUAL SCORES (TOP FOUR AND TOP LSU GYMNASTS)
VAULT
T1. L. Degteva (UCLA) and L. Portocarrero (UCLA) – 9.875; T3. S. MacEachern (LSU), A. Pickens (ALA), G. Spidle (ALA), K. Hayashi (UCLA), H. Moneymaker (UCLA) and L. Fontaine (STAN) – 9.850; T16. S. Hyett (LSU) and Kim Descalopoulis (LSU) – 9.750. UNEVEN BARS
1. H. Moneymaker (UCLA) – 9.950; 2. M. Bhardwaj (UCLA) – 9.900; 3. H. Hornbeek (ARIZ) – 9.875); T4. A. Pickens (ALA) and L. Degteva (UCLA) – 9.850; T10. S. Mamby (LSU) – 9.775; T13. S. MacEachern (LSU) – 9.750; T20. B. Boudreaux (LSU) and M. Degteva (LSU) – 9.725. BALANCE BEAM
T1. H. Moneymaker (UCLA) and H. Hornbeek (ARIZ) – 9.875; T3. C. Barger (LSU), S. Wegener (LSU), A. Pickens (ALA), L. Smith (ALA), W. Ellsberry (ASU), E. Reid (ASU) and K. Hayashi (UCLA) – 9.850; T12. A. Burns (LSU) – 9.800. FLOOR EXERCISE
1. E. McNabb (ASU) – 9.925; T2. A. Pickens (ALA) and K. Hayashi (UCLA) – 9.900; T4. K. Christensen (ASU), S. Harding (STAN), M. Oestreng (BGSU) and H. Moneymaker (UCLA) – 9.875. ALL-AROUND
1. H. Moneymaker (UCLA) – 39.550; 2. A. Pickens (ALA) – 39.450; 3. L. Degteva (UCLA) – 39.375; 4. H. Hornbeek (ARIZ) – 39.350; 17. S. MacEachern (LSU) – 38.525; 19. A. Burns (LSU) – 38.450.