For the past four years, seniors Kelly Phelan, Nicki Butler and Lisa Rennie have performed at a high level for the LSU gymnastics team, winning 60 combined individual and all-around titles throughout their careers. Friday night the trio performed in the PMAC for the last time when No. 7 LSU defeated a depleted No. 5 University of Nebraska squad 197.025-143.750. Rennie said her career as a Tiger has gone by faster than she expected it would when she committed to LSU. “They say when you come here to LSU to take every moment and cherish it, because it goes by like this,” Rennie said. “I can’t believe this moment is finally here. Our season is not over, but knowing that it’s the last time performing in the PMAC is pretty scary.” The Tigers were able to easily defeat the Cornhuskers because Nebraska traveled with only six gymnasts and was not able to fill an entire lineup sheet, thus forced to count five scores of zero throughout the meet. Without Nebraska threatening LSU, the Tigers focused their attention on getting another quality score to add to the team’s regional qualifying score. “You usually have someone pushing you or you’re chasing,” LSU coach D-D Breaux said. “You have that motivation other than that drive from within to perform. Tonight it became more of a drive from within, because there was an awareness that there was not another team performing with us.” Despite having to perform in a different atmosphere, LSU posted its third-highest score of the season. Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and Butler got LSU off to a solid start on vault, scoring 9.950 to share the individual title. Phelan and sophomore Amanda Morales each scored above 9.825 on vault for the Tigers. Clare-Kearney and Butler continued their dominance into the second rotation as they placed first and second on bars with 9.875 and 9.850, respectively. Rennie placed third in the event with a 9.800. Clare-Kearney’s score of 9.875 tied her career high. “It feels good to know that I am hitting a stride, and I can put four performances together consistently,” she said. The Tigers then moved to beam, where the team scored 49.175. Phelan won the event for LSU with a 9.900. Clare-Kearney and junior Kristi Esposito shared second with two scores of 9.875. Esposito is in her first season at LSU after transferring from Nebraska. In the fourth rotation, LSU put together its highest score of the meet, a 49.425 on floor. Clare-Kearney won her third individual title of the night on floor, sharing the title with sophomore Lauren Klein with a 9.950. Nebraska coach Dan Kendig declined to comment specifically about why the Cornhuskers were short-handed, saying the team needed to take care of academic problems during spring break. Breaux said the Tigers were upset when they found out they would not be competing against the entire Nebraska team. “I was very disappointed and angry,” Breaux said. “I think when [the players] got over the disappointment, they became angry as well. That’s just not what you do. You’re a big-time university, we’re a big-time university. You buckle it up and you go compete and you do what you’ve got to do at home.” LSU will next compete on the road against Centenary College of Louisiana on Friday. Breaux said the team will focus on remaining healthy against Centenary because the meet is the last of the regular season.
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