While much of the attention surrounding LSU athletics this week was centered on the football program’s latest recruiting class, the gymnastics squad was focused on its crucial upcoming road swing that begins this weekend.
After defeating Southeastern Conference rival Alabama last week for the first time since 2010, the No. 3 Tigers (3-1, 2-1 SEC) will travel to Fayetteville for a match against No. 11 Arkansas (3-2, 1-2 SEC) tonight at 7 p.m.
It’s the first of two road meets this weekend. The second is a contest at No. 2 Oklahoma on Sunday.
Coming off such a dramatic victory against the Crimson Tide, in which the Tigers set season highs on the vault, bars and floor exercises, it could seem possible for the squad to have an emotional letdown against Arkansas.
But according to senior all-arounder Sarie Morrison, who captured her school-record 22nd bars title last week, the victory against Alabama only fed the Tigers’ hunger to continue the excellence they’ve displayed this season.
“The meet against Alabama gets us even more excited for this week because we have that momentum from an emotional high,” Morrison said. “Since we had such a great meet on Friday [against Alabama], I think it will actually help boost our scores this week.”
The Tigers already have a historic boost in scores this season. In three of the first four meets, LSU has received a score of 197 or better, which is the first time in program history.
The Tigers’ score of 197.650 against Alabama was the school’s fifth highest ever.
Those scores have helped the Tigers become one of only two teams in the nation ranked in the top seven in all four events. The other is Oklahoma.
This could make it easy for LSU to look past Arkansas toward its anticipated match against the Sooners, but junior all-arounder Rheagan Courville, the No. 2 gymnast in the country, believes the squad isn’t going to overlook anybody at this point in the season.
“We’re going to take it one step at a time, and hopefully we get a huge score from Arkansas to take with us against Oklahoma,” Courville said. “We need to be able to build momentum on the road. That’s something we struggled with at Georgia, and we need to eliminate that.”
LSU coach D-D Breaux felt the same as Courville, acknowledging the path toward a national championship is only going to get more difficult.
“If we let up and take it as though it’s an emotionally low meet, we’ll get beat,” Breaux said.“From here on, it’s going to be an uphill climb.”
In preparation for the most grueling three weeks of the squad’s regular season, which includes trips to Texas and Florida, Breaux felt it was best for the gymnasts to get some rest. Breaux only scheduled two training days this week, allowing the squad to get fresh for the looming weeks ahead.
“We have a pretty rigorous weekend ahead of us, so we’re trying to rest as much as we can and maintain a high level of fitness,” Breaux said. “We’re in the middle of our season, a real critical point as far as our physical well-being.”
But even with the shorter practice week, Breaux is expecting to see her squad compete the way it has all season because she believes the next three weeks will determine exactly where her squad is.
“This road swing will define this team,” Breaux said.
LSU is 2-2-1 in its past five duel meets against the Razorbacks.
“This road swing will define this team,”