After four rounds of fighting, the seventh-ranked LSU gymnastics team knocked out No. 2 Florida in a slugfest.
“It was like two heavyweight fighters just slugging at each other the whole time,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux.
The Tigers (9-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) left O’Connell Center with their ninth win of the season, and slug-punched the Gators (6-2, 5-2 SEC) with a season-high team score of 197.900 to 197.875. LSU’s score of 197.900 was the highest road score in program history.
Friday night was the Gators first regular-season home loss in the “O’Dome” since Jan. 18, 2008, and the Tigers first win in their arena since 1994.
“Coming out of here with a win means so much for us,” junior all-arounder Ashleigh Gnat said.
The Gators, the three-time reigning National Champions, were as good as they’ve been all season. Other than their 198.175 against Alabama on Jan. 29, Friday’s 197.875 was their second-highest team score this season.
But, the banners and plaques didn’t scare LSU, Breaux said.
“It was huge,” Breaux said. “It wasn’t the biggest in a decade, but it’s tough to beat Florida at Florida. They’ve got banners hanging everywhere for winning National Championships. They really never thought that we were going to stay close. Then when we stayed close, I don’t think they thought we were going to beat them, and we beat them.”
In the first rotation, LSU hopped on the uneven bars and posted a team score of 49.325. Freshman all-arounder Sarah Finnegan commanded LSU’s charge with a score of 9.900, and sophomore all-arounder Myia Hambrick trailed with a 9.875 of her own.
Hambrick was LSU’s only all-arounder with a score of 39.525.
But it wasn’t Hambrick who forwarded the Tigers victory. That honor laid inside the veins of Lake Mary, Florida native, Gnat.
“You want a close meet to come down to your best performer, and it did,” Breaux said.
After a vault score of 49.550, LSU went into the halfway mark in a stagnant tie with Florida through two rotations.
“We knew that we could come in here and upset this team,” Gnat said. “We knew all we had to do was be us. That’s what we did.”
With the tie, the Tigers were too amped up heading into floor, Breaux said, which forced the meet to decide a victor on beam — normally, LSU’s weakest event.
“When they went to floor the meet was tied,” Breaux said. “They were trying really hard. We were misstepping some landings. We went to beam and knew we had to crush it.”
Gnat star-strutted her way to three scores of 9.950 on all three events she competed. Gnat — the nation’s leader in perfect scores this season with three — won the vault, floor and beam title with 9.950s across the board.
Her score on beam — LSU’s final event — decided the meet’s victor.
Gnat, the anchor, clutched it, Breaux said. But, she didn’t even realize it at the time.
“She absolutely did the ice water in her veins,” Breaux said. “We’ve seen Jessie Jordan do that for us for the last four years, and to see Bugs step up and say ‘it’s my time’ was huge.”
“I didn’t know the score going into beam,” Gnat said. “I didn’t know how close it was, actually. I watched every single girl get up there and do their thing. It was really exciting to be able to get up there and cap that off.”
To say the least, behind the screaming and excitement the upset victory entailed, Breaux remained calm, focused, pleased and proud of her effervescent, young squad.
“It’s so much fun with them, I’m so proud of how they represent our University,” Breaux said.
You can reach Christian Boutwell on Twitter: @CBoutwell_TDR.