The No. 14 LSU gymnastics team came close to upsetting No. 5 Georgia, but the Tigers’ mistakes proved too much to overcome as they lost 196.475 to 196.350.
The Tigers started slowly on the vault, scoring 48.850 while Georgia later posted a score of 49.150 at the end of the meet. LSU has been working on improving their vault routines. They changed their warmup routine attempting to boost their adrenaline going into vault. Sophomore Jade Jenkins said the Tigers need to increase their difficulties in order to score higher on the vault.
“I think we improved tonight on the vault, but we need to get our start values up,” Jenkins said.
Head coach D-D Breaux agrees and believes that in time they will have everybody vaulting with a 10.0 start value.
“It comes with time, experience and somebody having the guts to step it up on vault,” Breaux said.
She also would like to begin competing freshman Lindsey Thompson to help the Tigers on vault.
“I would love to compete her on vault, but I want her to have more vaults in the gym before we turn her loose to compete,” Breaux said.
Two falls on the uneven bars did not help the Tigers. Senior Brooke Cazeaux and sophomore Katherine Hilton fell consecutively and both scored 9.400. Hilton was back in the lineup after sitting out the Arkansas meet. Breaux said she wants to see Hilton prove herself in practice this week.
“I’m going to hold Kat to a higher standard,” Breaux said. “It’s not just about getting into the lineup. It’s about who’s going to compete when you get in the lineup and do best for the team. Kat has to prove to us that it’s about the team and not just getting into the lineup.”
After having to count one fall, the Tigers still had one performer left on bars. Junior Lindsay Beddow said she was aware of the pressure not to fall, but she did not let it affect her performance. Beddow received the meet’s second-highest score on bars, 9.900.
“It’s extra pressure, but you can’t let it change your mindset,” Beddow said. “I’ve been in that position before.”
The Tigers followed their bar performance on the beam. Five Tigers scored 9.850 and above, leading them to win the event 49.450 — 48.625. Freshman Terin Martinjak scored 9.950 to win the event.
While LSU was competing on floor, two Georgia gymnasts fell on beam, increasing the Tigers’ chances for a victory. But the Tigers fell short on the floor partly due to deductions for stepping out during the floor exercise routine.
“Because of the pressure, people made some mistakes they normally wouldn’t have made,” Beddow said.
Breaux said the Tigers performance following the two falls on bars showed how the team has matured this year.
“That was a huge thing,” Breaux said. “Weeks ago, we would of folded our tents and that would have been the end of the meet. But we got hard. Tonight they were rocks; nothing bothered them.”
Georgia’s head coach Suzanne Yoculan was impressed by the Tigers performance also.
“They certainly did not look like a bunch of freshman,” Yoculan said. “They looked like real veterans, and they did a better job of rising to the competition tonight than we did.”
Freshman April Burkholder finished third all-around in her first meet as an all-around competitor since being sidelined by an injury.
“I feel good about myself, but I always feel like I could have done better,” Burkholder said.
The Tigers will be in action next when they travel to No. 6 Utah for a meet Friday night at 8 p.m.