LSU senior Myia Hambrick has already been apart of three national championship efforts in her time her at LSU.
In those years, the LSU gymnastics team has done almost everything possible – Southeastern Conference regular season titles, SEC Tournaments and Regional Championships – but this year they’re ready to go that next step.
“I think that two years in a row, second place is nothing to sneeze about.” Hambrick said. “At the same time you want first place. It’s time to take a step forward and the only forward step is first place. This team is ready, this team is really hungry to get out there.”
The second-ranked Tigers will travel to St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend for third time this season as they prepare to compete for a national championship.
But before the Super Six, LSU must make it through Semifinal I, where it will face No.3 UCLA, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 12 Georgia and No. 10 Arkansas.
The Tigers have faced all five opponents already this season, with UCLA being its lone loss at the Metroplex Challenge.
“[It’s helpful] going against people that we have seen before and knowing how we need to approach our meet,” junior all-arounder Sarah Finnegan said. “But I don’t think we want to focus on the other team. We want to stay in the ‘Purple Zone’ and focus on what we can control.”
The “Purple Zone” is a motivational tool that coach D-D Breaux uses to keep her team focused on themselves, not the distractions all around them during a meet of this magnitude.
That magnitude doesn’t change how the Tigers approach a meet.
Hambrick says that she makes a point to learn somethings from every meet, whether it’s good or bad, but the message at LSU is always the same: to go out, do your gymnastics and control what you can control. Everything else will work itself out.
“I don’t think that any team goes into a season without that goal [of a national championship] at the end,” Hambrick said. “Its part of the culture at LSU. I think a championship is always on the brain even if its not at the forefront.”
The struggle of competing in back-to-back days may be one of the biggest things standing in the Tigers’ way.
Last season, LSU has a record setting semifinal night with a score of 198.275 and failed to find that same energy on Super Six night, scoring 197.7375 for national runner-up.
“I think we were very hyper focused on what we did the day before and trying to mimic exactly what we did,” Finnegan said. “We know that the second day is a clean slate, you start from zero. It doesn’t matter what you do on the first day. What matters is the second day and what you do then.
The success of the team so far this season comes as a shock to many people considering how much they lost to graduation and injuries. But after losing junior all-arounder McKenna Kelley to an Achilles injury, something shifted in the team mentally Hambrick said.
Nobody hesitated to step up and push themselves to be better, especially freshman who were not expected to make an impact this early in their careers.
“Our freshman class is absolutely amazing,” junior all-arounder Lexie Priessman said. “Going into nationals, we have a lot of freshman that are participating in events but I feel 100% confident in them and their ability to go out there and do what they train everyday.”
LSU has all the tools available to be able to win a national championship this weekend, from experienced veterans to growing freshman, but winning a national championship comes down to who shows up on a particular night.
“If well wishes and wishing and hard work and all of those things would win a national championship, we’d have already won a lot,” Breaux said. “We’ve got all those things in our favor. It’s just about having your team and having your best night the night that it matters the most.”