Senior all-arounder Kaleigh Dickson knew her team needed an emotional boost when she stepped up for her final routine Saturday afternoon.
As all eyes in the arena watched, Dickson calmly delivered the best performance of her career.
Dickson scored a career-high 9.90 floor routine sparking a come-from-behind victory for the LSU gymnastics squad (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) against Auburn (1-2, 0-2 SEC) Saturday afternoon in the PMAC.
Dickson’s standout performance Saturday could be a turning point for the fifth-year senior who is looking to improve her slow start to the season.
Saturday’s meet marked the first time Dickson performed in all four events this season, competing in only three events in the season’s first two meets against Centenary College and Georgia.
Given Dickson’s past success, the 2011 Second-Team All-American was bound to break into the lineup eventually, but LSU coach D-D Breaux has been adamant this season that gymnasts’ spots in the rotation are based on their daily performances in practice, not prior success.
“[Dickson] is an All-American in the all-around, but if you don’t get the work done in practice and beat out your teammates, you’re not going to make the lineup,” Breaux said earlier this season.
Dickson took to heart her coach’s remarks, using practice to fix the mistakes she’s been making so far this season.
“This week’s practice has been a lot better,” Dickson said. “I’ve been working really hard on the beam because I’ve been having a little trouble with it the past couple of weeks. I’ve been working on the little things.”
Dickson’s added focus in practice was evident during Saturday’s meet as her career-best floor routine propelled her to a career-high 39.425 in the all-around.
But Dickson’s career night was the result of a last-minute lineup change by Breaux, who decided to insert the senior into the beam rotation in place of sophomore Jessica Savona.
“I felt like [Savona] had a bad warm-up throughout the day and I wasn’t willing to give her a chance to do that on beam as well,” Breaux said. “We put Kaleigh Dickson in there in the last minute, and she did a super job. Now it’s going to be hard to get her out of that spot.”
Breaux’s last-minute switch proved successful as Dickson’s beam performance helped LSU claim the title in that event Saturday, but her performance on the floor routine was what jump-started the Tigers and propelled their comeback against Auburn.
“Kaleigh stepping out [on floor] and giving us a 9.9 was exactly what we needed,” Breaux said.
Breaux wasn’t the only one to heap praise on Dickson. Junior all-arounder Rheagan Courville emphasized the significance of Dickson’s floor routine for the squad.
“It’s huge to start off with something so big,” Courville said. “The landings mean everything and [Dickson] nailed every landing. That was really something for us to look up to because it gave us such a high starting point.”