The LSU gymnastics team’s dream of a national championship is still alive and well.The Tigers (15-8-1) finished second in their regional meet Saturday, securing a spot in the NCAA Championships for the ninth consecutive year.Undefeated and top-seeded Oklahoma won the regional with a team score of 197.250. The Tigers followed with a 196.400. Penn State, New Hampshire, Ohio State and Maryland rounded out the rankings, respectively.”You want to win this meet, but this team showed so much character,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “The team took charge of the second half of the meet.”LSU had a slow start after posting a 48.825 on the floor exercise in the first round.But the Tigers picked up the pace on the final three apparatuses. LSU moved to the vault after the floor exercise and posted a team score of 49.250, thanks to senior Susan Jackson’s 9.95 and senior Kayla Rogers’ 9.875.”Vault is an event that you can go to mad and knock out some really high scores, and that’s what we did,” said LSU senior Summer Hubbard. “We stayed motivated, we stayed within ourselves and we conquered the event.”LSU and Penn State were neck and neck after two rotations, with LSU holding on to a 98.075-98.050 advantage by the smallest possible difference in gymnastics.Both teams had a bye in the third rotation, and the Tigers took command of the second spot in the third rotation by scoring a 49.150 on the uneven bars. The Nittany Lions scored a 48.775 on the balance beam in the same round. Jackson delivered her second 9.95 of the meet and Hubbard posted a 9.875.”After Susan hit her routine [on the uneven bars], we were all feeling good,” Hubbard said. “We were relaxed after that and ready to go to beam and ready to just do what we do.”The Tigers’ final event of the day was the balance beam. Led by Jackson’s 9.90 and junior Sam Engle’s 9.85, they posted a 49.175 and locked up the second spot in the championship meet.”The kids did a fabulous job and represented LSU in the best manner possible,” Breaux said. “I am so proud of their efforts and how they took charge of their gymnastics.”Jackson finished third in the all-around standings despite an uncharacteristic fall on the floor exercise. She also walked away from the meet with individual titles on the vault and uneven bars. Her 9.95 uneven bars score tied her career  high on the apparatus.The fall in the first event gave Jackson extra motivation to finish the meet on a strong note.”I was furious after the fall,” Jackson said. “I didn’t want to let down my team.”The NCAA Championships will consist of two six-team meets, and the top three teams from each meet will move on to compete in the Super Six meet for the national championship. If LSU advances to the Super Six, it will be the third consecutive year it has done so.Jackson said the key to success at the NCAA Championships is staying in the process they have been in all season.”We need to focus on the little things. Like we’ve been saying all year, it’s the little things that matter,” Jackson said. “Everyone now is as good as everyone else, and the winners are going to be the people that go out there and nail their landings and hit their handstands.”—-Contact Rob Landry at [email protected].