The No. 12 LSU gymnastics team will be facing their toughest field and environment of the season this weekend as they travel to Birmingham, Ala., to compete in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
Five of the seven SEC teams are ranked in the top 20, and three are in the top 10.
“It’s awesome competition,” said head coach D-D Breaux.
Breaux said Bartow Arena is well known as an unfriendly arena for visiting gymnastics team. With the meet being in Birmingham, most of the crowd favors the University of Alabama.
“It’s all Alabama, nothing neutral about this site,” Breaux said.
The arena layout also makes it tough for visiting teams to compete.
“I think it’s going to be a challenge to compete where a big crowd is right up on the equipment,” said sophomore gymnast Jade Jenkins.
At last year’s meet, two Tiger freshmen gymnast fell on the beam as Alabama was performing on floor simultaneously. The boisterous Alabama crowd cheered throughout the entirety of LSU’s beam routine.
“It can be shocking,” said junior Lindsay Beddow. ‘You’re in the middle of your beam routine, and the place erupts.”
Breaux does not believe the crowd will be a factor for the Tigers. She said although the team is young and full of freshmen, this year’s lineup has had ample competitive experiences.
“I don’t think they’re going to be affected by the crowd,” Breaux said. “I think they might kind of enjoy it.”
LSU has defeated only two SEC teams this season, but the Tigers’ scores have improved in recent weeks, last week being their best of the season.
“I think we have a lot of momentum coming from last week,” Beddow said. “Everyone’s confidence is soaring. Last week we saw how good we are and can be.”
Beddow said she believes the team has improved on vault and floor, and they just need to concentrate on staying focused on their beam and bar routines.
“Events like floor and vault won’t be a problem,” she said.
Freshman April Burkholder achieved the highest score of her career last week. Her performance earned her the honor of SEC Gymnast of the Week, only the second Tiger to achieve the honor this season.
Burkholder said she is not concentrating on the competition.
“I just want us to do what we know how to do,” Burkholder said.
Jenkins said this weekend’s meet will help them as they go further into the postseason.
“I think if we can hit our routines in a hostile crowded arena, then we can do it anywhere,” Jenkins said.
Breaux hopes to come out of the meet with another good road score to improve the team’s regional qualifying score. She would like the team to achieve a score higher than 196.5
“The objective for this team is to go in, not count any falls and hit our routines,” Breaux said.