For LSU gymnasts, the floor routine is more than just a dance. It’s a way of showing their personality.”The type of music that it is and the type of dancing that it is fits me better than anything else could,” said LSU senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney. The Tigers are consistently ranked among the top floor exercise programs in the nation. The team was ranked No.7 nationally with a 49.158 average last season. This season, LSU is ranked No. 10 nationally with a 48.862 average.The Tigers also boast two gymnasts in the top 40 nationally on the floor — Clare-Kearney and junior Susan Jackson.A lot of the success can be attributed to LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux and her daughter, Jewel Fourrier.Fourrier, a former gymnast and dancer, said she helps the LSU gymnasts choreograph their individual routines about two months before the start of the season.”First we compile music to fit their style, and we go from there,” Fourrier said. “We go in the gym and let loose and see what they do best and what fits that music, and we do choreography from there and have fun with the music, working one-on-one with their routines.”Breaux said she doesn’t want her team to be a “cookie-cutter team” in their approach to the floor exercises.
“I want each person to have their own style and their own look and let their routines reflect their personalities and their hard work,” Breaux said. For Clare-Kearney, her routine is far from “cookie-cutter.”The senior incorporated the “I get money” hand wave into her floor routine last season when the football team began to do it, and she also “pops her leotard” during the event.”Last year when the football team kept doing it, they just decided that it would be funny if I did it too, and it’s just stuck,” Clare-Kearney said. “The collar pop just helps me to relax because I know the crowd is looking forward to it, and they even do it with me sometimes.”Jackson does a back flip on her head during her floor routine.”I started doing it when I was 10 because I was young and stupid,” Jackson said. “We were just playing around at workout one day and I decided to try it.”At home meets, LSU’s floor exercises are the last event of the evening.”It’s a big finishing event,” said junior Kayla Rogers. “Our crowd participation is really important to us as well because the more into it they are, the better we react during our routine, and the better the judges react to what we are doing.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]