LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux said following her team’s win against Centenary that competing in the Southeastern Conference championship meet would be a more difficult task than the national championship.By the end of Saturday’s meet in Nashville, Tenn., it was difficult to disagree with her. The Tigers posted a 196.550, their second highest road score of the season but finished in fourth place at the meet.Alabama, which LSU defeated earlier this season in Tuscaloosa, Ala., walked out of the Sommet Center with the title, scoring a 197.300.”The SEC is the best conference in the nation,” said LSU junior Susan Jackson. “It’s really an honor to be part of the conference.  And this is good to have this under our belts for nationals because this is who we will be competing against.”Georgia senior Courtney Kupets won the all-around title with an individual score of 39.775.Jackson finished the meet tied for second place in the all-around by posting a 39.525. She also tied for the individual title in the balance beam with Kupets.LSU senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney tied for the individual title on the floor exercise.  The title was the 110th of Clare-Kearney’s career, breaking a tie with April Burkholder for first place in LSU’s all time rankings.”You can’t replace that,” Breaux said. “You just have to hope that you recruit well and you coach well because she has gotten better each year.”The Tigers looked strong through the first three events, sitting in second place after posting a 49.175 on floor, a 49.325 on vault and a 49.150 on bars.But the balance beam was the Tigers’ downfall.Clare-Kearney hurt the Tigers’ chances of finishing higher when she fell off the balance beam in LSU’s final rotation.  The fall marks the third straight time Clare-Kearney has fallen in competition.Though Georgia didn’t win the SEC title, it  took home nearly all of the individual titles. Kupets won SEC Gymnast of the Year. Georgia junior Grace Taylor was the SEC Scholar-athlete of the Year, and Bulldog coach Suzanne Yoculan was named SEC Coach of the Year.The only award Georgia did not win was SEC Freshman of the Year, which went to Kentucky’s Whitney Rose.The Tigers now await Monday’s announcement of their regional placement, which will take place on April 4. Though the Tigers have a weekend without a meet, they will not be taking a week off. LSU junior Sabrina Franceschelli said the Tigers plan on working hard to perfect their routines before the  regional meet.”We’re going to go into the gym and work on hitting more pressure sets,” Franceschelli said. “We’re going to keep the same lineups and just work on everything else.”——Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]