The No. 4 LSU gymnastics team has a chance to redeem itself after a second-place finish in the Southeastern Conference Championship meet on March 21.
The team will head to Iowa for the NCAA Ames Regional meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
The Tigers (19-2, 7-0 SEC) came up short of their expectations at the conference championships, finishing behind Alabama with a score of 197.425.
The team will look to use what it learned from the conference championship meet to achieve success in its regional showdown against No. 9 Nebraska, No. 16 Denver, Washington, Michigan State and the host Iowa State.
“The SEC Championship will prepare you for anything,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “The only thing we don’t have are the bye [rotations]. The level of pressure and what you feel when you step on the mat cannot be matched. SEC is the top, it is the epitome of what it takes to be a champion.”
LSU needs to earn a score worthy of first or second place in the regional meet to propel itself into the NCAA Semifinals meet in Fort Worth, Texas.
Breaux said reaching the semifinals and Super Six Championship has always been the team’s goal, but competing well in Ames is the focus at this point in the season.
“That is the stated goal,” Breaux said. “That is at the top of our pyramid. The foundation of our pyramid is all that we do day-to-day and how we have built to this point. That is the obvious. We have to get through the regional to get to the national championship.”
The day-to-day preparation has been prolonged this week due to a much appreciated bye-week. The team’s time off has been crucial in rejuvenating its physical and mental health after the SEC Championship meet exposed the Tigers to pressure they will see again in the regional meet.
“We have trained for that,” said senior all-arounder Rheagan Courville. “We know how to prepare for that. We know how to prepare for all different kinds of crowds. We have prepared ourselves for everything that we will see in the postseason.”
This will be the last time Courville, along with fellow senior all-arounders Jessie Jordan and Lloimincia Hall, will compete in a NCAA Regional. The trio has successfully reached the NCAA Semifinals in all four of its seasons.
Courville, who has recently recovered from physical injuries and illness, shared the SEC all-around title with Jordan at 39.525. Hall achieved the SEC floor known in the conference meet with a score of 9.975.
The group seeks similar scores in the regional meet, although it will be subjected to unfamiliar meet conditions at Ames.
“The thing about this rotation is that we have the shortest meet,” Breaux said. “We start on bars, then go to beam, then a bye before our last two events. At the same time, we are going to be faced with byes, and I’m glad we have one in the middle.”
With its favorable positioning for its bye-rotations, LSU looks to complete the meet as one of the top two teams, and gain an extra push into the NCAA Semifinals.
“Obviously, placing top two at regionals is the goal and making it to semifinals,” said freshman all-arounder Myia Hambrick. “Coming away with a win at regionals would definitely give us something extra like a little bit of an edge. If you win your regional, then obviously you go into NCAAs with a higher expectation.”
You can reach Christian Boutwell on Twitter @CBoutwell_TDR.