Collegiate gymnastics isn’t like most other sports — winning isn’t everything.A team could theoretically waltz into regional postseason competition without winning a single match. In the Southeastern Conference, there is a distinct possibility of that happening in just about any given season because of the tough level of competition in the conference.This season, the SEC boasts all seven of its teams in the top 20 heading into this weekend’s competition, three more than their second leading competitors, the Pac-10 and the Big 12.LSU (3-3, 1-2) won’t get any reprieve tonight, as they will take on No. 1 Alabama in the PMAC.While LSU’s record may not be impressive, the team still ranks No. 12 in the nation while ranking No. 6 in the SEC.That tough conference schedule means the Tigers face a difficult task just about any week, so they know winning isn’t everything. The name of the game is consistency for LSU.Though consistency is what the Tigers want, they haven’t found it yet, as they posted a 195.050 (their second lowest score of the season) in a loss to then-No. 4 Florida last Friday on the road.As if it isn’t hard enough with the pressure of facing the No. 1 team in the nation, LSU will have something else to worry about at the hands of the Crimson Tide — revenge. The Tigers walked into Tuscaloosa, Ala., last season and defeated the Tide in Alabama for the first time since 1976. It was also the first victory for LSU against Alabama since 2002.LSU coach D-D Breaux knows the Crimson Tide (196.494 season average) will walk into the PMAC with the same plan in their mind.”But it’s a different day, different team, different time,” Breaux said. “This has nothing to do with that. We need to stay in our process of taking steps in the right direction.”Senior Summer Hubbard said she realizes the toughness of the task at hand but admitted tonight’s meet may not be as much about winning, which she said would be a great bonus, as it will be about improving their team score average.”We need to be interested in walking out with a great team score,” Hubbard said. “We’ve got to get through to the girls that we are talented and that we are capable of scoring a 196 and above.”Hubbard said one way to get that higher score is for the team to start to be more “fierce and ferocious” on the various apparatuses. She said she would rather see someone go all out and take a fall than to play it safe and end up with a subpar score.”We are being too hesitant and too cautious, and that may end up hurting us in the end,” Hubbard said.One detail Breaux said stood out in the loss to Florida last weekend was the performance of a pair of freshmen — Janelle Garcia and Shelby Prunty.Garcia hit a 9.70 on the bars, while Prunty took home a 9.675. Prunty added on a career-high 9.75 on the beam on the night, the third best score on the team in the event.Prunty said the transition from club gymnastics to collegiate gymnastics has been hard, but said she feels she is getting more comfortable competing in front of larger crowds than she did in high school.”The first couple of meets, I was a little nervous,” Prunty said. “The big crowd at Florida broke me in, and now I’m starting to get used to it.”
——Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]