The first round of National Qualifying Scores (NQS) has been announced, and the LSU gymnastics team will begin their journey to nationals at No. 6 with a score of 197.360.
Going into the meet against Alabama on Friday, Feb. 18, it was unclear where the Tigers would stand because of their previously postponed meets due to COVID-19 earlier this season.
Head Coach Jay Clark said at one of his pre-meet press conferences that he was not sure if they had enough scores going into the start of NQS to have a good ranking. To get a team’s NQS, the six top scores are averaged with three of these scores coming from away meets and the highest overall score being dropped.
Top-10 Teams Ranked by NQS
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Michigan, 197.920
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Oklahoma, 197.640
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Florida, 197.630
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Utah, 197.515
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Auburn, 197.375
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LSU, 197.360
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Alabama, 197.355
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Minnesota, 196.865
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Missouri, 196.790
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Michigan State, 196.720
Taking the home meets against Centenary, Auburn and Alabama and the away meets against Georgia, Florida and Missouri/Arkansas, LSU is left with an average of 197.360 after dropping the highest score from the Alabama meet.
LSU is one of few teams to score above a 198.00 at a meet this season. This came against Alabama with a score of 198.050. This helps gauge the true potential of the team that has been set back by COVID-19 and injuries for what seems like this entire season. Even when they could have gotten a higher score at that meet, Clark chose to pull Kiya Johnson from the floor to nurse her injury to prepare for the postseason.
For now, LSU trails Auburn closely, which is a team they beat earlier in the season but has a higher NQS of 197.375. Michigan leads the pack with a score of 197.92 followed by Florida, Oklahoma and Utah to round out the top four.
There are still four meets to go to help the Tigers improve their NQS before the official bracket is released. The first of these four will happen at Texas Woman’s on Friday, Feb. 25.
The 2022 SEC Gymnastics Championships will open up the Tigers’ postseason play on Saturday, March 19 in Birmingham, Alabama. This will be followed by the NCAA Selection Show to determine seeding on Tuesday, March 22.
