Sometimes it’s easy to overlook a gymnast in the middle of a lineup.The leadoff in the rotation sets the pace, while the final gymnast is normally the most well-known name on the team, the one who will get the big scores.But LSU junior gymnast Sam Engle is making it hard to overlook the middle of LSU’s lineup this season.Engle has averaged a 9.806 on bars, a 9.769 on beam and a 9.748 on the floor this season. She has also captured four of her five career individual titles this season (three on beam and one on bars), including career highs of 9.950 and 9.925 on the bars and beam, respectively.Engle did what she has done all season during NCAA regional competition, posting a 9.850 on the beam, 9.825 on the bar and 9.800 on the floor.”Sam was rock solid,” LSU coach D-D Breaux said after the meet. “She did a beautiful job on floor.”Those scores, which all ranked second- or third-best on the team, came a meet after a lackluster performance at the Southeastern Conference Championships.The Plano, Texas, native posted season-low scores of 9.675 and 9.600 on the bars and floor, respectively, and added her third-worst score of the season on the beam, a 9.775.Those sub-par scores served as a motivational factor for Engle to perform at a higher level.”Heading into SECs, I had been sick for quite a while,” Engle said. “I was a lot more rested going into [regionals]. I went into the gym and worked on a lot of my landings, especially on the floor. I was much more focused going into [regionals].”LSU is one of the final 12 teams heading into national competition. The Tigers will have to rely on Engle to take a step up from where she left off this weekend if the team wants to advance to a third-straight Super Six appearance.”Sam is extremely consistent,” said LSU senior Susan Jackson. “You never have to worry about putting her in the lineup because you know she is going to hit. She’s someone you can count on.”Engle stays out of the spotlight in the middle of the bars, floor and beam lineups, and her value is sometimes overlooked by those outside of the team.Engle is the Tigers’ only junior, meaning next year she will be the team’s lone senior coming behind a class of four All-American gymnasts and ahead of numerous possible future All-American sophomores and freshmen.Jackson called Engle the team’s “lone ranger junior.””For the amount that she contributes, she is a little overlooked,” Jackson said. “If she was doing vault, she would be ranked high in the all-around. Next year when she’s a senior, she will get a lot more attention, and she deserves it.”Engle hopes to join the ranks of numerous past LSU alumnae who have held the All-American title.But more importantly, she wants to get her team back into the Super Six.”Our ultimate goal is to make Super Six as a team again, which is where we have been the past two years,” Engle said. “Beam and bars have been best for me this year, but I’ve been working hard to stick floor. I just want to go out there and put out my best scores for the team to do well and succeed.”————Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]