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It is often said that in order to be the best, you have to be able to beat the best.
While the No. 13 LSU gymnastics team proved in Friday night’s 197.425-196.450 loss to the No. 2 University of Georgia that they are not among the best yet, LSU coach D-D Breaux said her team is one step closer to the nation’s elite teams.
“What you see tonight is a Georgia team that is a team of Olympians and kids who have performed at the highest level,” Breaux said. “Our kids are in the process and are working, and I could not have been happier with how they maintained momentum even when they had a break.”
The meet began with the Tigers on the vault and the Bulldogs on uneven bars.
Junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney won the vault event for LSU, posting a score of 9.925.
Clare-Kearney came into the meet as the nation’s No. 2 vault gymnast.
Georgia led the meet after the first break thanks to five scores of 9.850 or above on uneven bars.
The teams switched events in the second turn, and Georgia’s No. 1-ranked vault team extended the teams lead because LSU struggled on the uneven bars.
Senior Nicki Butler and freshman Summer Hubbard each posted a 9.850 on the uneven bars for LSU. Clare-Kearney fell on bars but said it was important to do well the rest of the meet.
“I knew that I still had two really important events left to perform,” she said.
Hubbard said the uneven bars was the event that gave Georgia control of the meet.
“It’s all about taking control and hitting what you’re supposed to hit, especially on bars,” she said. “We should have gone to bars, and we should have hit our handstands, and some of us didn’t so it made it very hard.”
The Bulldogs were relentless the last two turns of the meet with every performer posting a score higher than 9.800 on the beam and floor.
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Junior Katie Heenan won the All-Around for the second-straight meet with a score of 39.550 for Georgia.
The beam was again LSU’s weakest event. Clare-Kearney led the Tigers with a 9.800 in the event.
Clare-Kearney said the Tigers do not know why the beam has caused the team problems this season.
“Beam is a strong event for us,” she said. “We’re a very strong team on beam. We just get out here, and it just hasn’t all fit together for us completely.”
The Tigers put together their best performance of the evening on the floor led by a 9.950 by Clare-Kearney and a 9.925 by senior Kelly Phelan, but LSU was still unable to gain ground because of a strong finish by Georgia on beam. No Georgia gymnast scored less than 9.850 on the beam.
Phelan won the All-Around for LSU with a score of 39.350. Senior Nicki Butler finished second for the Tigers with a 39.275.
Breaux said the pair of seniors have been a stabilizing force for the team so far this season.
“Nicki and Kelly were fabulous,” she said. “I can’t say enough good things about Nicki Butler and what she is doing, and Kelly has been a mainstay in our All-Around. For Nicki to have the kind of consistency the last two weeks, it’s like a ray of sunshine. I’m so proud of her and Kelly both.”
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]