The LSU gymnastics team headed into Friday night’s meet against No. 1 Alabama looking at victory as secondary to an improvement in its total team score.
The No. 12 Tigers got more than they wished for, snagging a 196.475-196.050 victory in front of 2,821 fans in the PMAC.
LSU put together its first complete meet of the season, posting season highs or second-best season scores on all four events.
The victory was the second straight for the Tigers (4-3, 2-2) against the Crimson Tide, traditionally a tough opponent for LSU, and the first loss of the season for Alabama (5-1, 3-1). It was also the first time LSU took down a No. 1 team since 2002, when the Tigers defeated Utah, 196.125-196.000.
“To compete with a team like Alabama, you have to put together four events,” LSU coach D-D Breaux said. “Tonight gave the kids the confidence they needed, and it solidifies the hard work they have been doing in the gym.”
Senior Susan Jackson led the Tigers once again as she posted a career-best 39.725. Her fifth-straight all-around title tied former LSU All-American Sandra Smith for consecutive all-around titles to open a season. She also added three event titles.
“Her going last and hitting gives us so much confidence heading into the next event,” said LSU senior Sabrina Franceschelli. “We know she will always pull through for us.”
While Jackson’s season-best 9.950 on the floor capped the night and solidified victory for the Tigers, earning Jackson the floor title, the turning point of the night came in the first rotation.
Alabama had to count a fall on the bars en route to a season-low 48.275, which was more than half a point worse than its second-lowest score of the season on the apparatus, a 48.825.
The Tigers got off to a hot start on the vault, posting a 49.150, their second-highest score on the apparatus this season.
Jackson won the event title with a 9.950 that came on the heels of sophomore Gloria Johnson’s season-best second place 9.900. Johnson would later add a 9.800 on the beam for her best statistical performance of the year.
“Gloria Johnson stepped up and gave us two big events,” Breaux said. “She’s been kind of out there non-existent for the past two years.”
The Crimson Tide bounced back on the vault in the second rotation to equal LSU’s vault score with a 49.150.
LSU then posted its second-best bars score of the season, a 49.050, to hold a 98.200-97.425 advantage at the half-way mark of the meet.
Jackson got her second event title of the night with a 9.925 on the bars.
“I went out there and had fun like we all wanted to,” Jackson said. “Our team motto this meet was to go out, relax and have fun, so that is what I did. I went out and did what I was capable of doing — what I try to do every day in the gym.”
The Tigers were then able to hold off the Crimson Tide in the final two rotations, as Alabama’s falls on bars proved to be too much.
In the final rotation of the evening, LSU hit a 49.225 floor score, its second-best of the season, to hang on by what may have been a few inches.
Freshman Ashley Lee, the third Tiger in the event, took a fall, scoring a 9.075. That left the pressure on the final three gymnasts to hit for LSU to win.
All three did, including junior Sam Engle, who posted a 9.775 despite coming dangerously close to falling on one of her tumbling passes.
“Sam did a great job, and that was what solidified it for us,” Breaux said.
Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]