The No. 7 LSU gymnastics team isn’t buying the hype surrounding the early part of its 2013 campaign.
The Tigers — who compete against No. 20 Arkansas tonight — have managed to score higher than a 197 twice this season, a score they hadn’t achieved since 2010.
“One-hundred ninety-seven is a big score for any team,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “It’s the teams that can settle into the 197 and can consistently score that that will be successful. I think the telling thing about us is that we did it on the road and now we’re coming home after being gone for four weeks.”
Breaux referred to the fact that not only has her team scored a 197 twice in three weeks, but they did it in the middle of a monthlong road trip.
Over the four-meet road stint — covering as many states — the Tigers scored an average of 196.444.
Sophomore Rheagan Courville has led the charge for the Tigers. She is ranked in the top 15 in three different categories including 13th in the all around.
“Of course we’re thinking about it,” Courville said. “But we’re trying not to focus on any of that. We’re just trying to focus on what we can do to get better and that’s just going to add up in the end. … We’re really excited to be back home after four weeks away.”
Courville has gained considerable attention this season after securing her 12th individual title of 2013 — three of which were in the all around.
“Every time we get in the gym, we work even harder because we know whatever kind of meet we just had, it wasn’t good enough,” Courville said. “The best we’ve done all season — that needs to be the baseline of our expectations.”
Breaux echoed Courville, saying gymnastics is a sport of constantly trying to find errors and correct things.
Sophomore Lloimincia Hall scored a perfect 10 in Columbia, Mo., last weekend, but Breaux still found errors in the routine.
“The perfect 10 for her that night was followed by her teammates after that and the judges gave her a 10 because it was the best routine in the meet,” Breaux said. “I’m sure that if you looked at it on the video, we can find something that could be better. And that’s the message we want to give to the kids, we have got to get better each week.”
