The No. 5 LSU gymnastics team will start its journey to become only the fifth different school to win an NCAA women’s gymnastics national title in the past 31 years when it takes the floor today at the NCAA Championships in Los Angeles’ Pauley Pavilion.
The Tigers (20-6) are slated to compete in Semifinal I at 2 p.m. against No. 1 Florida, No. 4 Georgia, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 9 Stanford and No. 12 Illinois. Semifinal II kicks off at 8 p.m., and the top three finishers from each group earn a berth to the Super Six Finals at 6 p.m. Saturday.
LSU coach D-D Breaux, who has guided the program to 24 NCAA Championship berths and two Super Six appearances in 2008 and 2009, is familiar with the territory. She acknowledged the great talent her team is sure to face and said she wouldn’t overlook lower-seeded teams like Illinois.
“Everybody that’s [at the championship] has won the right to be there,” Breaux said. “It’s a very elite group of 12 teams, and we think we’re one of the best.”
LSU heads into the championships in top form, having earned a 197.275 or better in three of its last four meets. The Tigers, who failed to eclipse the 197 mark last year, far surpassed that score in 2013, having even flirted with an elusive 198 in last month’s third place finish at the SEC Championship.
“It’s a huge confidence booster,” said sophomore all-arounder Rheagan Courville. “We never ended up getting [a 197] last year, and it says so much about how we’ve improved this season. It’s been great to see those high scores come up because I know— and everyone knows— how hard we’ve worked.”
The Tigers will start the semifinal on beam and follow with a bye, floor, vault, a bye and bars, in order. LSU’s sophomore all-arounder Lloimincia Hall is the top floor gymnast in the country, and the Tigers are the nation’s best vaulting team with a 49.495 regional qualifying score.
“If we go in and we hit beam, then go to our two strongest events, we’ll set the table,” Breaux said. “Then if we go to bars and have a consistent bars performance, we should advance. People say ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,’ but in this meet, it’s how you do the entire meet. If you make one small mistake, it’s a difference between fractions.”
The past four champions – Utah, Alabama, Georgia and UCLA – will be competing in this year’s championship, creating a 1-in-3 chance the title will remain in the family. But the possibility of a dark horse contender still remains, and a potential fifth member of the upper crust could reside in Baton Rouge.
“We would love to be that team, and we’re good enough to be that team,” said junior all-arounder Kaleigh Dickson. “I think everyone in the country knows that we’re a definite contender for the national championship.”
