LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux has a sign in the gymnastics training facility that reads, “The difference between winning and losing is this much,” with a thumb and index finger separated by just a hair.
She said the sign resonates with the gymnasts because they suffered defeat against Oklahoma after a few mental lapses and lost to Alabama at the Southeastern Conference Championships by a mere .075.
Now No. 4 LSU has a chance for revenge at the NCAA Championships this weekend at Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
LSU (24-2, 7-0 SEC) will face No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 Alabama, No. 8 Auburn, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 12 Oregon State in NCAA Semifinal II at 7 tonight. The top three finishers in each semifinal will advance to the Super Six Championships on April 18 for a shot at the NCAA title.
“We have already competed against every team that’s out there except for Oregon State,” said sophomore all-arounder Ashleigh Gnat. “We are very prepared. The mistakes that we made when we competed against Oklahoma were mental mistakes, and they’re things that can be easily corrected.
“We don’t see [Oklahoma] as an unbeatable team. We don’t see anyone as an unbeatable team.”
LSU squeaked past last year’s semifinal in third place and placed third at the 2014 Super Six Championships — the best finish in school history.
The gymnasts clawed all season to earn their third-straight Super Six appearance. LSU sophomore all-arounder Sydney Ewing said their confidence is at an all-time high after posting the best regular-season record in school history this season.
“Coming from last year being so close, we have a different type of drive and motivation,” Ewing said. “It [feels] different. It feels extremely attainable, and we all believe completely that we can actually win this year.”
The Tigers will begin on vault, followed by a bye rotation.
Breaux said progressing through the Olympic order of rotations will help LSU build momentum because it begins on one of its strongest events: vault. Senior all-arounder Rheagan Courville is the two-time reigning vault national champion, and freshman all-arounder Myia Hambrick tied Courville for the 2015 SEC vault title.
“[We] have to be on from the start because [we] can’t dig a hole,” Breaux said. “This team is prepared to do that. Starting on vault is a great place to start because we have a balance from our first vault to our last vault. Everyone is capable of excellence.”
After competing on bars and beam, LSU will have another bye and finish on floor, on which it has the No. 1 regional qualifying score in the nation with a 49.560.
However, the Tigers’ bars and beam scores have fluctuated throughout the season. But Breaux held a mock-nationals meet during spring break and she said her gymnasts are mentally prepared to post high scores on all four events.
“We are capable of greatness on beam,” Breaux said. “Then [we] go to floor, and it’s obvious we’re the best tumbling team in the country. We’ve done the proving, now we just have to go out and do it again.”
Senior all-arounder Lloimincia Hall said the mock competition helped the Tigers’ athletic abilities and newly mastered mental fortitude coalesce, and the Tigers hope it will make the difference between winning and losing the biggest meet of the season.
“We are going to have to throw out a huge number,” Breaux said. “[We] should because it’s the national championships. [We] should perform like a national champion.”
You can reach Jacob Hamilton on Twitter @jhamilton_TDR.