Entering this season, LSU coach D-D Breaux knew she had a squad that could realistically contend for a national title, but one of the toughest tasks was getting those outside of the program to recognize her squad’s abilities.
The No. 3 Tigers (5-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) have made a statement to those outsiders this season, scoring at least 197.000 in five of their six meets for the first time in program history. The scores have resulted in four consecutive victories, but they’re also helping the squad win what Breaux calls the “battle of perception.”
“The first thing we talked about as a team was to win the battle of perception,” Breaux said. “To go out and be all that you can be and be perceived as a great team.”
LSU will try to further cement perception into reality Saturday when it competes in the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Tigers will square off against three other schools: No. 2 Oklahoma (3-2), No. 17 Arizona (3-3) and SEC foe Kentucky (4-4, 1-3 SEC).
This marks the second consecutive week LSU clashes with the Sooners. Last week, the Tigers stormed into Norman, Okla., and defeated the Sooners after failing to do so in two matchups last season.
Junior all-arounder Rheagan Courville said last week’s confidence-building victory against Oklahoma was another public reminder that the LSU gymnastics squad is capable of winning a national title.
“We have a renewed confidence and we’re ready for the rest of the season,” Courville said. “We feel like we finally achieved the perception we were looking for, not only for ourselves to believe we’re this good, but for everyone to believe because now we’ve posted a road score we can really be proud of.”
The score was 197.650, which is the highest road score of any team in the nation this season, and the reigning SEC Gymnast of the Year acknowledged the total team effort it took to accomplish the impressive feat.
“I didn’t do my best, but having such a fantastic team win the meet even without my best performance is a great feeling,” Courville said. “To know that I have people behind me who can pick up where I’ve fallen short really means a lot because it’s not going to go your way every time.”
She certainly has had plenty of help this season.
Heading into the Metroplex Challenge, Courville and junior Jessie Jordan are both ranked in the top 10 in the all-around. The only other school that boasts multiple top 10 all-arounders is defending champion No. 1 Florida.
The Tigers are getting plenty of contributions from others as well, such as senior Sarie Morrison, who earlier this week was named SEC Specialist of the Week for the second time this season. Against the Sooners last Sunday, the Dallas native scored a 9.975 on vault and a 9.925 on the uneven bars, the highest scores she’s ever had against the Big 12 juggernauts.
Morrison said the victory against Oklahoma was crucial in building the Tigers’ perception of themselves.
“It definitely gives us the strong momentum we needed, especially going against [Oklahoma] again this week,” Morrison said. “We know now that we can overcome any hurdle.”
Recently, one Tiger has had to overcome her own share of hurdles to help build the team’s overall perception, and that is highly touted freshman Ashleigh Gnat.
After a pair of disappointing beam performances in the middle of the season, Gnat bounced back in a big way last weekend, claiming the first two individual titles of her career while also being named SEC Freshman of the Week.
With such an historic start to the season, championship talk is inevitably going to follow the Tigers wherever they go. While most coaches would prefer their teams focus on the tasks at hand, Breaux doesn’t shy away from the discussion.
In fact, she has a sign encouraging it.
“There’s a sign in the back of our gym that says anything that you ardently believe in, talk about and act upon absolutely will come true,” Breaux said. “Part of our preparation is talking about [a championship] and having these kids believe, and I think they believe.”
If LSU comes away from the Metroplex Challenge victorious, the championship talk and perception of the team is bound to escalate.
But the Tigers have talked about it from the beginning. The mission was getting others to join the conversation.
“The first thing we talked about as a team was to win the battle of perception.”