The top-seeded LSU gymnastics team won the regional title for the fourth year in the row on Saturday in Athens, Georgia.
The Tigers and No. 2-seed Georgia will go on to the NCAA Semifinals on April 15 in Forth Worth, Texas, after posting team scores of a 197.300 and 196.850, respectively.
After a bye in the first rotation, LSU got off to a strong start on bars with senior Jessica Savona posting a 9.850, creating momentum for big contributions by underclassmen and an event score of 49.300.
Freshmen all-arounders Lexie Priessman and Sarah Finnegan tied for the second best scores on the event with 9.900s, and sophomore all-arounder Myia Hambrick’s posted 9.875 to place fourth.
“In this type of meet you expect the scores to be tight, so even a 9.850 is a great performance,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “It was a great team effort.”
It was not only the start to an exciting meet, but also a glimpse of what was to come from Hambrick.
Only .075 away from her career high, the two-time All-American won the all-around with a 39.550 in front of Gymdog seniors Brandie Jay’s 39.450 and Brittany Rogers’ 39.350.
“She had a great couple weeks of preparation, but didn’t have her best meet at SEC’s, so I think that she was ready to put that behind her and have a great meet,” Breaux said. “I am very proud of her.”
After a 49.150 performance on beam, the Tigers were in perfect position heading on to their two best events, floor and vault.
Though junior all-arounder Sydney Ewing’s opening floor routine matched her season low of a 9.750, freshman McKenna Kelley followed up with a 9.900 and Hambrick with a new career high of 9.950.
Junior Ashleigh Gnat, who has seen four perfect 10s on the event this season, anchored with a 9.950, as well, contributing to LSU’s highest event score of the meet – a 49.450.
“It was about the quality of our performance,” Breaux said. “We had a couple mistakes on floor, we had a couple mistakes on vault, but we were highlighted by excellence.”
To put the exclamation point after a strong floor performance, the Tigers finally secured the win with a 49.400 on vault.
Before Ewing matched her career high of a 9.975, freshman all-arounder Julianna Cannamela opened the rotation with a new career high of a 9.900.
LSU stuck out in landings and energy. While teams saw falls after over-rotating dismounts and passes, the Tigers delivered fall-free performances on all events, putting themselves in good position for NCAA Championships.
“I’m very happy,” Breaux said. “We narrowed it down to the only two teams coming out of this meet being two SEC teams. Now we got to go to the national championships and do the best job we’re capable of doing.”
