The gymnastics team’s improvement from No. 14 to No. 13 was not enough to impress coach D-D Breaux.
“Insignificant, meaningless, nothing numbers,” Breaux said. “Until we’re back in the top eight or anywhere from eight to one, we’re merely in the process.”
The process includes consistency as well as depth of players in the lineup. The Tiger’s meet against Georgia included stellar performances by freshmen Lauren Klein and Tina Suhr.
“With some new people inserted in the lineup, they earned some respect from me, a modicum of respect, a little more respect,” Breaux said.
Friday’s gymnastics meet against Kentucky at 7 p.m. in the PMAC may be the last meet this season that sophomore Ashleigh Clare-Kearney spends on the bench.
But Breaux said she will have to work especially hard to get a starting spot on the Feb. 17 roster against Auburn. At the Jan 6. Super Six Challenge, Clare-Kearney attempted a double back flip on the Tigers’ first event as part of her floor routine and accidentally landed on her head and foot. She suffered a mid-foot sprain in her left foot and did not finish the meet. She has not competed since then, missing four meets.
Clare-Kearney finished last season with six individual titles on the vault and a career high of 9.950. She also had five individual titles on the floor and earned a career high of 9.950 twice. Her only score this season was her 9.025 during her floor routine injury.
“It’s been a very hard four weeks,” Clare-Kearney said. “It feels like longer than four weeks.”
During those four weeks Clare-Kearney has improved from a walking boot and crutches to no restraints. She has been in physical therapy, overseen by Mike Nicola, athletic trainer for women’s gymnastic. She began tumbling and regular gymnastics for the first time Monday.
“The thing with that injury is it’s more ligament-it’s not like an ankle sprain,” Nicola said. “An ankle sprain we can push her, get her back a little quicker. With the injury that she had, so much weight goes on that foot, and every time you take a step you basically stretch that ligament again. So you have to wait until that ligament is healed before you can actually push her a little more.”
Because she has been out so long, Clare-Kearney has not had the time to develop that everyone else has.
“Everyone needs a couple meets to get used to it again, and I haven’t had that,” Clare-Kearney said.
Because her balance beam routine has her landing on her uninjured right foot, it may be the easiest for her to get back on, Nicola and Clare-Kearney said. Breaux said beam is probably not where Clare-Kearney will start and wants her on her best event.
“When she comes back, we need her to make a contribution in vaulting-that’s her strongest event,” Breaux said. “She needs to be able to contribute in her strengths, and her strength happens to be right now in an event we happen to have the least amount of depth in.”
Nicola and Claire-Kearney both said vault will be much harder for her to start back on because she will be landing hard.
“Vault seems to be the one where we may have a little more difficulty because the run, that runway and then the hurdle into the round-off entry,” Nicola said.
Breaux said no matter where she starts “it’s going to take earning it back.”
 
Contact Brad K. Harrison at bharrison@lsureveille.com