A week removed from its highest score in five years, the No. 5 LSU gymnastics team will close out the regular season when it travels to Raleigh, N.C., for a meet with North Carolina State tonight.
The Tigers (9-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) scored a 197.500 in their loss to fourth-ranked Alabama last Friday, bringing their regional qualifying to score to 197.055.
“Even though we didn’t get the win, our goal was to make a statement,” said sophomore all-arounder Rheagan Courville. “I think we did that with our season-high.”
LSU coach D-D Breaux earned her 600th career victory when LSU opened up the season with a 196.075-194.975 win against N.C. State (11-7-1) on Jan. 4. Since then, the Tigers have climbed the national rankings and established themselves as the No. 1 team on vault and the No. 4 team on floor.
Sophomore all-arounder Lloimincia Hall plays a huge part in LSU’s floor dominance, and she notched her second perfect 10 of the season last week. Hall is the only gymnast in the country to achieve multiple perfect scores this year, and she is the second-ranked gymnast on floor with a 9.935 regional qualifying score.
“It’s definitely an honor to be able to have that under my belt,” Hall said. “… That’s a checkmark on a goal that I can maybe have personally. But as for our team, we’ve still got a lot of check marks to go. There’s always room for improvement.”
Courville is the fourth-ranked gymnast in the country with a 39.510 all-around regional qualifying score. Courville, who is the No. 1 gymnast in the SEC, is third on vault, 12th on floor and 15th on balance beam in the nation.
Courville has been a stalwart on beam for the Tigers, who have been plagued by that event throughout the season. However, LSU showed signs of improvement on beam against Alabama with a 49.250 team score.
LSU wraps up the season looking to overtake No. 4 Alabama for the No. 2 seed in the SEC Championships, which will be held March 23 in North Little Rock, Ark.. The Tigers are currently the third seed and only trail the Crimson Tide by .07 in the national standings.
“We think of taking it a week at a time,” Hall said. “That’s why our main challenge is … to not look forward to SECs and focus on N.C. State. … If we continue to go on that pace, we won’t skip anything important or not take something as serious because at any meet, anything can come.”
