Few predicted the LSU gymnastics team would land in nationals for a second consecutive season, but the Tigers overcame the ups and downs of a season and the obstacles that come with youth and inexperience to compete in nationals last week in Lincoln, Neb.
“I thought we would do better than people said,” said junior Lindsay Beddow. “We were ready to surprise a lot of people.”
The team set out to prove to the rest of the collegiate gymnastic world they were serious competitors, said sophomore Jade Jenkins.
“We knew that we were one of the youngest teams in the country,” Jenkins said. “I think a lot of people didn’t take us seriously when they competed against us.”
LSU coach D-D Breaux expected this season to be a learning one for the freshman and an opportunity for the upperclassmen to show leadership.
“I expected to have to be very patient with this team, and I expected our upperclassmen to be good leaders and set good examples,” Breaux said.
Freshman April Burkholder had not competed in two years prior to this season.
“I was a little intimidated by the fact we had to compete 13 weeks in a row,” Burkholder said. “But it went by pretty fast and turned out all right.”
The Tigers began the season by capturing the Bahamas Breeze Invitational title. After defeating Kentucky and Centenary, LSU took an unexpected fall to the Auburn Tigers.
LSU was winning by more than a point going into the final rotation, but after three gymnasts fell, Auburn took the victory.
“Auburn was a low point,” Breaux said. “We gave them that meet.”
The Tigers came home and defeated Denver in a dual meet, and then had a strong performance against Florida despite losing.
“That is where some of the individuals realized they can compete,” Breaux said.
The team called a poor performance the following week at Alabama the turning point.
“They got it served back to them and realized ‘we aren’t all that we think we are,'” Breaux said.
Breaux said up to that point, the team and the coaching staff had disagreements about how practices were going.
“We were really disappointed after that meet,” Jenkins said. “We thought we were right there with them. We came back to the gym and were ready to do what it takes to become better.”
Sophomore gymnast Lauren Companioni felt there was a miscommunication between the gymnasts and coaches.
Following the meet, the team met and established goals and then brought their concerns and goals to the coaches.
“We presented that to the coaches, and they worked with us,” Companioni said. “That was a huge lift for the team. We had more of an understanding.”
The Tigers then went to Nebraska and placed third but posted solid road scores. They continued to improve every week and posted their highest score of the season at Centenary where Burkholder became the third Tiger in LSU history to post a 10.0 floor routine.
The Tigers then went on to place fourth in the SEC’s. The top two finishers of the meet, Alabama and Georgia, placed second and third in nationals.
“You put all those things into perspective, and we had a really good SEC season,” Breaux said.
After a two-week break, LSU traveled to Washington to compete in regionals. Although the Tigers counted a fall early in the meet, they remained in striking distance. They needed a 49.225 on floor for the final rotation to advance to nationals, and the Tigers’ fate rested with the final performer Burkholder. She came through in the clutch with a 9.925 performance and LSU earned a spot in nationals.
“It taught us a lesson– to never give up,” Jenkins said.
Nationals were not as kind to the Tigers. They lost Companioni due to a practice injury, and she was unable to compete in her usual three events. Then freshman Brittany Brown was injured on the first event and could not compete on floor. The Tigers went on to finish fifth out of six teams.
“We weren’t sharp and made some errors, and that really cost us our place in the Super Six,” said sophomore Annie Gagnon.
Although they failed to advance, Jenkins said the team should not look at it as a disappointing meet.
“If nothing else, it was a good learning experience for us,” she said.
Building a national profile may help the Tigers scoring in the future, and Companioni believes this season helped the cause.
“It was a huge stepping stone,” she said. “Anytime you go to nationals back to back, it helps the program. The more the judges see us at nationals the better.”