The No. 15 LSU gymnastics team did what they set out to do in Utah this weekend — achieve their highest road score of the season. The Tigers scored 196.575 to improve their NCAA regional qualifying scores by increasing their top three road scores and dropping their three lowest road performances of the year from qualifying consideration for the NCAA regionals.
“We did what we came to do out there tonight,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We needed to get a 196-plus score to improve our regional qualifying standings and we were able to do that with a very young team.”
Despite achieving their road high score, the Tigers (8-7) fell short of upsetting No. 7 Utah (6-4) in their regular-season finale in front of 9,827 fans with the Utes scoring 197.475 to the Tiger’s 196.575.
LSU has been consistent in their past four meets averaging an over score of 196.444 since Feb. 23.
Freshman April Burkholder led the Tigers setting her career-best scores in the beam, 9.950, and the all-around competition, 39.625. She finished second overall, scoring 9.900 on the vault, 9.875 on bars and 9.900 on the floor.
Burkholder was not the only Tiger to excel on beam. The beam which was the final event for the night for the Tigers turned out to be their best one, accumulating a score of 49.275. The beam has become a strength for LSU in recent weeks. Since having to count three falls and scoring 47.425 on beam at Alabama on Feb. 14, the Tigers have averaged 49.344 in the event.
“We’re really happy that we redeemed ourselves on the road and were able to show we can do beam well on the road,” said junior gymnast Lindsay Beddow.
Senior Brooke Cazeaux tied her career-best performance on bars, turning in a 9.900 score and led the Tigers to a score of 49.225 on the bars. Cazeaux fell the week before when her grip slipped from the bars and was anxious to perform well.
“Her routine was awesome,” Beddow said. “She was really confident going into this meet.”
Floor and vault were the lowest scoring events for the Tigers. Burkholder and freshman Rikki L’Heureux helped the Tigers score higher than their season average on vault, scoring 9.900 and 9.850 respectively, giving them a score of 49.075. Burkholder also led the Tigers on floor with a score of 9.900, but the team only tallied 49.000.
“It’s really weird, we have the hard events down [bars and beam],” said Beddow. “But we are having trouble with the two events that are supposed to be fun and easy. We really need to focus on those.”
LSU will end its regular season this weekend in Shreveport with a tri-meet versus both Centenary and Texas Women’s College on Friday.