FORT WORTH, Texas — It was a tragic ending to one of the most glory-filled seasons in LSU gymnastics history.
“That was the all-time biggest disappointment of my career,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux.
After more than three hours of competition, the Tigers completed the second NCAA Semifinal meet in fifth place with an overall team-score of 196.550. The score was LSU’s lowest of the season and prevented the Tigers from qualifying for their third-straight Super Six berth.
“We were ready to win this and move on to the Super Six,” said senior all-arounder Jessie Jordan, who was fighting tears at the podium following the meet.
Rowdy fans gave the Tigers a raucous introduction, then the team went to vault, posting a team score of 49.375. After the first rotation, LSU trailed only Southeastern Conference foe Alabama, which scored a 49.400 in the opening rotation.
After sticking landings on a barrage of highly-difficult skills, no gymnast scored lower than a 9.850, which pleased Breaux. She said a strong start from the opening event would be crucial to an arrival in the Super Six.
After vault, the Tigers experienced nearly a 30-minute bye rotation before competing on bars. LSU posted a redeeming score of 49.425, bringing it to a team score of 98.800 to trail Oklahoma and Alabama after two events each.
Big scores of 9.900 from sophomore Shae Zamardi and junior Randii Wyrick kept the Tigers in contention. Senior all-arounder Rheagan Courville anchored the event for LSU with a team-high score of 9.925.
“Vaulting and bars were beautiful,” Breaux said. “We had all the momentum going into beam, and all we had to do was stay on the beam. And they lost their nerve.”
Then there was beam.
LSU posted a season-low event score of 48.275. With falls and stumbles from its four opening gymnasts, the team had to count scores of 9.300 and 9.375 on the event.
During the middle of the event Breaux mouthed to herself, “We are committing suicide.”
“I have no explanation for this,” Breaux said. “Beam used to be our best event. We got distracted, somebody missed, then everything fell apart. The preparation was perfect. You can’t coach for this. We have never done a beam practice, or anything, that matches how bad this was.”
Rheagan Courville and Jessie Jordan finished the disastrous set with scores of 9.850 and 9.900, respectively.
After beam, LSU had its final bye rotation, which was necessary for the Tigers to regroup and salvage the success they aspired to achieve.
“They went in and had a conversation amongst themselves,” Breaux said. “The coaching staff was too angry to have a decent conversation right away. We put it together after and said, ‘Hey are you all going to come out here and save your face and compete for finals, or are you going to lay down and die?’”
The Tigers, with little hope and crushed spirits, moved to floor to complete the meet. The team is No. 1 on the event and hoped to use the apparatus to rescue its pride.
LSU needed a perfect score on the event to catch third-place Auburn, which has never been done in gymnastics on any platform. But the Tigers’ performance on floor was not enough to seal a spot in the Super Six.
Despite failing to qualify for the Super Six, Courville and Jordan will put on their uniforms one more time to compete in the individual event finals Sunday.
Courville will perform on the uneven bars, Jordan will compete on beam and freshman Myia Hambrick will shoot for her first national vault title. They will be accompanied by sophomore Shae Zamardi and junior Randii Wyrick on bars and sophomore Ashleigh Gnat on floor.
You can reach Christian Boutwell on Twitter @CBoutwell_TDR.