LSU coach D-D Breaux has a sign in her squad’s gym that reads, “the difference between winning and losing is this much,” with two fingers nearly touching at the tips.
Perhaps no one understands that message better than junior all-arounder Rheagan Courville.
The Baton Rouge native finished her sophomore campaign as the national runner-up for the all-around title, falling to Florida’s Bridget Sloan by a mere .025.
But this duel doesn’t tell the entire story between the two All-Americans. In last season’s Southeastern Conference championship, the pair tied for the event’s all-around title with matching scores of 39.750.
So while the Tigers and the defending national champion Gators prepare for a battle of top three teams this Friday in Gainesville, Fla., much of the excitement surrounding the meet will be focused on the two rivals going head-to-head once again.
But don’t expect Courville to listen to the hype. She’s had one goal on her mind from the moment she walked onto campus, and it has nothing to do with showing up Sloan.
“Since the day I got here, my goal has been to help win a title for the team,” Courville said. “It’s something that feels so real to me that it’s all I think about.”
To Courville, the only thing that matters is helping to bring championship prestige to an LSU program that’s still seeking its first gymnastics title, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t proud of last season’s accomplishments.
“It’s important to understand how well you finished and use that as confidence, but it’s also good for me to understand what I need to do to get better and use that as motivation,” Courville said.
The University High product knew the first step toward helping her team reach its lofty goals would come in the offseason, and last year’s second-place finish meant there was still room for improvement.
“Oh, I definitely used [last season] as motivation,” Courville said. “I was .025 away. So in everything I did, I had the intentions of being a little bit better.”
“I focused on making every turn count. I treated the offseason like an actual competition. I didn’t want to miss a beat because we had so much to do this year. I focused on landings and watched tape over and over again to make everything look better.”
Courville’s dedication in the offseason has shown through her performance thus far, and her efforts have helped the Tigers show the nation that last season’s Super Six finish was no fluke.
LSU is currently in the middle of its best start in school history, posting an impressive score of 197 in six of its first seven meets.
Individually, Courville’s tireless offseason preparation has paid dividends this season. The junior has already claimed five all-around crowns after leading the nation with nine last year.
Her renewed focus and energy has been apparent to her teammates, especially fellow junior all-arounder Jessie Jordan, Courville’s former roommate.
“There’s still that competitive edge in her that wants to keep pushing for the title,” Jordan said.
The reigning SEC Gymnast of the Year has been especially zoned in as of late. In last weekend’s Metroplex Challenge, Courville tied her career-high mark of 39.750 to lead the Tigers to their best performance in school history, with a final team score of 197.875.
Her score is tied for the highest all-around score of any gymnast in the nation this season. The other is a familiar face: Miss Sloan of Florida.
Yet Courville hasn’t given much thought to how she compares with Sloan because helping her team win a championship is a merciless challenge itself.
“As much as I can do for the team is all that matters because it’s going to take so much to win a championship,” Courville said.
For a team with such lofty goals, LSU’s meet against the Gators on Friday will be the perfect measuring stick to determine how much the squad and its star gymnast have grown from last season, and Courville is undaunted by the challenge.
“There’s not one aspect of that team that we think is better than ours,” Courville said. “I think that’s one of the major things this season has done for our confidence: It’s built it up to the point where we know that it’s an equal playing field. They aren’t better than us and they don’t have one member on their team that’s better than us.”
Since the day I got here, my goal has been to help win a title for the team.It’s something that feels so real to me that it’s all I think about.”