LSU senior gymnast Ashleigh Clare-Kearney said earlier this season winning a national title would be icing on the cake for her career.On Saturday, she got two servings of icing.The Manchester, Conn., native won individual national championships on the vault and the floor exercise, becoming the first gymnast in LSU history to win two titles.”[Winning the national title] was an amazing feeling,” Clare-Kearney said. “It was really an honor.”Clare-Kearney beat out another Tiger — junior Susan Jackson — by only .006 on the vault to become the fifth individual national champion at LSU under coach D-D Breaux. This also marked the first time LSU had gymnasts finish first and second on one event in the national championships.”Susan went first and really pushed Ashleigh and set the bar,” Breaux said. “Then Ashleigh slightly beat her and they went one-two in the event. It was fabulous.”Sophomore Staci Schwitkis added even more history to the night with her 10th place finish on vault — the first time the Tigers have had three gymnasts place top 10 nationally in one event.Junior Summer Hubbard, the fourth Tiger to compete in an event Saturday, finished in 16th place on the uneven bars.Though Saturday was a day of many firsts for LSU gymnastics, Friday’s Super Six meet did not end with the result LSU desired. The Tigers finished the meet in sixth place, one spot lower than their fifth place finish last season.”I think [the meet] could have gone a little bit better,” said junior Sabrina Franceschelli. “Overall we were pleased, but we wanted to do better than we did.”Georgia ran away with the title, scoring a 197.825 en route to their fifth consecutive national championship.The Bulldogs were led by senior Courtney Kupets, who posted a 39.900 on the day. Kupets scored perfect 10s on the vault and the uneven bars. She also scored a 9.950 on both the balance beam and floor exercise.The title was especially meaningful for the Georgia gymnastics program because it marks the end of coach Suzanne Yoculan’s illustrious career. Yoculan has won 17 conference titles in 26 seasons at the helm of the Bulldogs’ gymnastics program. This was her 10th national championship.Alabama came in second in the meet, followed by Utah, Florida, Arkansas and LSU.The Tigers started the meet well on the floor exercise by posting a 49.300, their third highest score of the season on the event.But fatigue set in by the time the Tigers reached their final event, the balance beam.”We just ran out of gas,” Breaux said. “By the time we got to beam there was nothing left.”Though the beam was the team’s biggest struggle, it turned out to be Clare-Kearney’s biggest success of the day. For the first time in six meets, Clare-Kearney was able to stay on the beam for her full routine.”I knew I did not want to end my career falling on the beam,” Clare-Kearney said. “That monkey is off my back now.”Clare-Kearney was one of four women nominated for the Honda Sports Award for gymnasts. The winner of the award will become a candidate for the Honda-Broderick Cup, awarded to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
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