With Governor John Bel Edwards, LSU President F. King Alexander and athletic director Joe Alleva in attendance for No. 2 LSU’s gym meet versus No. 9 Georgia, the banner was dropped.
The banner signified LSU’s second-place finish in the 2015-16 NCAA Super Six, which was the program’s highest ever finish.
“We saw that and were like ‘Wow we did that’,” said junior all-arounder Myia Hambrick. “We want to continue that. We want a championship banner.”
LSU began its season-long hunt for a NCAA championship with a season-opening 197.825 to 193.600 win versus No. 9 Georgia. The Tigers’ final score marked a program high for a season-opener, which was previously set in 2014 versus Centenary.
In doing so, the Tigers also extended their home winning streak to 22 games inside the PMAC, where LSU has not lost since 2013.
“We see these performances in practice,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “But it’s so much different when you put the pressure on and you put them in the arena in a competitive situation. The intersquads and everything that we do to prepare these young ladies is absolutely working.”
LSU set season-opening score records in the vault, beam and floor Friday night.
Sophomore Julianna Cannamela opened the event with a 9.825 score on vault in LSU’s first rotation.
“She did it so well,” Hambrick said about Cannamela’s performance. “So from then on out, she kind of set the tone for you have to do a really good vault. ‘She did a really good vault, so I’ve got to do a really good vault.’ That’s the way that this team works.”
LSU’s “fire-breathing dragon” freshman Kennedi Edney followed up Cannamela with a 9.950 on vault. Hambrick and senior Ashleigh “Bugs” Gnat recorded 9.925 scores in the first rotation.
“She tends to get a little bit timid sometimes because she doesn’t know what kind of monster she is,” Breaux said about Edney. “She’s a fire-breathing dragon. Just wait.”
LSU moved onto the bars in the next rotation, where Edney would follow up her performance with a 9.875 in the event.
Sophomore Sarah Finnegan’s 9.900 marked the Tigers’ highest score on bars.
Senior Ashleigh Gnat and sophomore McKenna Kelley closed out the final rotation with 9.950 and a 9.925 respectively.
“We’ve been working so hard,” Gnat said “We’ve been so eager to compete and I think tonight we really proved that.”
The competition however started with one-less judge because of flight delays due to inclement weather in the area.
To accommodate for the missing judge, one judge had to do double duty which disrupted the Tigers rhythm early on, Breaux said. The absent judge appeared later after the second rotation and the event resumed its normal speed.
“It messed up the rhythm,” Breaux said. “It slowed the meet down … I think it did take a little bit of the wind out of the sails.”
Despite the record night, LSU would still like to improve heading into next Saturday’s matchup versus No. 3 Alabama.
“We’re a very strong team and tonight I think we proved that,” Gnat said. “But we know that we can get better and I think that we’re going to progress. We’re definitely a team to look out for this season.”
