Tiger gymnasts hope to rebound vs. Iowa
In tonight’s 7 p.m. gymnastics meet between LSU and Iowa, the pupil has returned to challenge the master.
“I know [Iowa] is well-coached,” Breaux said. “Because Larissa Libby, who was here with me for four years as an athlete and four years as an assistant coach, is coaching up there now, I’m very confident that they’re well-coached.”
Libby’s Hawkeyes will enter the PMAC with a No. 22 national ranking, averaging 194.237 per contest.
The eighth-ranked Tigers are returning home from a tough loss, 196.050-195.825, last Saturday to No. 15 Denver.
“We had a good meet,” Breaux said. “We walked away with a good score and did exactly what we intended to do, go into a different time zone and get a high, 195 score.”
Breaux said the high score was important for LSU to remain in the Top 10 for the fifth consecutive week.
“Denver had a good meet,” she said. “But I don’t think they had a better meet than we did. The scores just fell with them winning by two or three tenths.”
The meet against Denver marked the second consecutive meet that Nikki Arnstad missed because of a foot sprain.
Arnstad, who was an All-American last season, is expected to return for some of the meet against Iowa, Breaux said.
“On bars right now, we’re only going to let Nikki do exhibition,” Breaux said. “We’re holding her out on bars still. We’ve done some modifications in her beam routine because we need to get her on beam, in front of a crowd, a couple times before we go to Georgia.”
The Tigers, who are averaging 195.608 points per contest, are looking to improve their average with a 196 or higher in tonight’s meet, Breaux said.
The key for LSU to defeat Iowa will be consistency, she said.
“We’re going to have to do our very best in every single event,” Breaux said. “We can’t slack, we can’t let up. We have to go in with the mindset that it’s not just about beating Iowa. We’re trying to improve ourselves in the rankings. We’re a better team than an eighth-place ranking.”
Ronnie Richard
Tiger gymnasts hope to rebound vs. Iowa
February 22, 2002