Meet Nine: Arkansas

Up until 11:00 p.m. last Friday night, the LSU Tigers held the highest gymnastics team score in Nation at 197.400. Ten times the Tigers set new or matched existing career highs on various events during the meet– a rare event in collegiate gymnastics. Then, approximately 2,000 miles to the west, Utah put on a clinic of its own – scoring 197.525 in a sold-out home arena. So goes the weekly battle among the nation’s elite programs.

To be sure, the Tigers home meet against North Carolina and Illinois-Chicago was a thing of beauty. Fittingly, LSU took the opportunity to finally break through on the floor exercise. The first four Tigers on the floor broke their career highs on the event, helping the Purple and Gold to a season high 49.475 – which stands as the high score nationally going into week 9 of the season.

But it was the Tigers’ uneven bars team that set the tone for the night with a 49.500 – the highest team score on the event in six years. In short, LSU rocked the PMAC in the height of Mardi Gras season.

Staci Sticks It, Glo Glows

San Diego sophomore Staci Schwitkis continues to shine. In just her second shot at All Around, she had her best meet as a Tiger. Staci set career highs on beam (9.825) and floor (9.85) while tallying scores of 9.80 on vault and 9.875 on bars. That adds up to a 39.350 in the All Around.

Staci’s continued improvement in the practice gym and on the competition floor has given the LSU coaching staff the added confidence to place her in a key position on the team – that of third All Arounder – behind ACK and Susan Jackson. To compete in the NCAA’s, LSU will need the added depth that Schwitkis brings to each event. Watch her carefully on Friday night for another strong performance.

Freshman Gloria Johnson’s strong three-event outing was recognized by the SEC as the best for a freshman last week. Johnson was honored with her second Freshman of the Week award in a row. Glo, as she is known by her teammates, has truly come on strong in the last three weeks. Like Schwitkis, she could be a young difference maker in the stretch run of the season.

National Rankings

LSU was the biggest mover in the country this week (see the blog from earlier this week for an exact explanation how this came to be). The Tigers jumped four spots in the national point standing to check in at 6th. Here’s how it stacks up in the point standings after 8 weeks of competition along with how many spots each team has moved up or down in the rankings since last week.

1 Georgia 197.015 +1
2 Utah 196.885 -1
3 Stanford 196.590 +1
4 UCLA 196.340 -1
5 Auburn 196.260 0
6 LSU 196.250 +4
7 Florida 196.220 -1
8 Oregon State 196.215 +1
9 Arkansas 196.210 -2
10 Oklahoma 196.105 +1
11 Alabama 196.010 -3
12 Nebraska 195.465 0
13 Missouri 195.430 0
14 Michigan 195.345 +1
15 Illinois-Champaign 195.215 -1
16 Arizona 194.930 +3
17 Penn State 194.900 0
18 Minnesota 194.755 1st week w/RQS
19 Ohio State 194.725 -3
20 West Virginia 194.630 -2
21 Iowa 194.525 +2
22 Iowa State 194.500 +1
23 Michigan State 194.410 -1
24 Washington 194.330 0
25 Maryland 194.325 0

Here are the LSU Tigers who ranked in the nation’s Top 50 this week on each event: (rankings in the order of VT, UB, BB, FX, AA)

Clare-Kearney: 4th, 5th, 24th, 1st, 3rd (39.515)
Jackson: 12th, 13th, 11th, NR, 5th (39.410)
Scwitkis: 26th, 50th, NR, NR, NR 39.350
Johnson: 37th, NR, NR, NR, Not AA
Engle: NR, 38th, 50th, NR, Not AA

Klein Still Recuperating

Senior Lauren Klein, mainstay in last season’s line-ups, continues the long road back from a tough ankle injury suffered in the opening meet of this season. She has exhibitioned bars in the last few meets, but she continues to improve on the stamina and strength needed to return to the floor line-up. Though the rest of the Tigers have admirably stepped up to cover for her loss, Klein’s floor adds a “wow” factor that will be sorely missed come tournament time if she cannot return.

LSU Gymnastics Meets Facebook

Signup as a supporter of LSU Gymnastics on Facebook! You can help the Tigers achieve the most supporters of any gym team in the NCAA. Visit www.facebook.com and search LSU Gymnastics!

More LSU On Gymnastike.com

The new gymnastics-oriented website Gymnastike.com visited the PMAC last Friday and has quality interviews and meet action on its website. Visit www.gymnastike.com to learn more about what’s happening in the world of gymnastics today!

Friday’s Meet

First and foremost, let me say this. GET YOUR TICKETS for this one! I realize that you may be saying “this is Arkansas” and not Georgia, Alabama or Florida. But realize that Arkansas has established a very strong program in a very short amount of time and has beaten the likes of Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama this season.

The vast majority of scoring for the GymBacks comes from the quartet of Casey Jo Magee, Jaime Pasani, Michelle Stout, and Sarah Nagashima. Each competes in the All Around and each has the capability of scoring 9.90 or better on every event. Here’s how the Arkansas gymnasts rank in the Top 50 this week: (rankings in the order of VT, UB, BB, FX, AA)

Magee: 39th, 14th, 9th, 24th, 10th (39.335)
Pisani: 13th, NR, NR, 15th, 13th (39.275)
Stout: 15th, 18th, NR, 16th, 15th (39.250)
Nagashima: NR, NR, 38th, NR, 24th (39.100)
LaChance: NR, NR, NR, 36th, NR

Friday’s Probable LSU Line-Up

Vault
Kayla Rogers
Gloria Johnson
Staci Schwitkis
Sabrina Franceschelli
Susan Jackson
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney
Ashley Lee – alternate/exhibition

Uneven Bars
Staci Schwitkis
Summer Hubbard
Samantha Engle
Sabrina Franceschelli
Susan Jackson
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney
Lauren Klein – alternate/exhibition

Balance Beam
Gloria Johnson
Summer Hubbard
Sabrina Franceschelli
Staci Schwitkis
Susan Jackson
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney
Samantha Engle – alternate/exhibiton

Floor Exercise
Kayla Rogers
Summer Hubbard
Gloria Johnson
Staci Schwitkis
Susan Jackson
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney

All Around
Susan Jackson
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney
Staci Schwitkis

Mike’s Eye On The Tigers

Here are a few things I will be looking for tonight against Arkansas:

• I know I said this last week, but the Tigers must keep the momentum that has built up and down the line-up. With this team, it seems that there’s no middle ground – either LSU is very, very good or not so much. Too much is riding on anything less than their best performace against a super Arkansas team.

• Arkansas freshman Jaime Pisani scored large last week at home against Georgia in the All Around. Can she repeat the performance on the road and pace the GymBacks their first-ever victory over LSU?

• The 2, 3 and 4 spots in the Tiger lineup to continue scoring high. 197’s are made in these spots in the line-ups.

• What kind of crowd shows up? Will it be a Mardi Gras type crowd from a week ago? Or the raucous type crowd from the Florida meet? You know, in football it’s said that the home team gets a three-point advantage in picking the games. In gymnastics, I believe the home mat advantage can be three-tenths throughout the meet.

• The highest home score of the year! (WOW, I pegged this one last week!) But back to reality, I expect this meet to be in the high 196 range for both squads. The team that sticks the most landings, hits the most handstands, and sparkles most on floor will win with a very high score. Sounds simple. But that’s what it boils down to this time of year. I like the Tigers to go 14-0 against Pig Sooie in a close one.

It’s the final regular season SEC meet for LSU and it’s a BIG one! Please make every effort to come out and enjoy it. These are two terrific teams and we expect nothing short of an SEC battle that you’ve come to expect from LSU/Georgia, Alabama and/or Florida over the years. It’ll be that good folks.