Senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney claimed vault and floor exercise titles tonight at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska. She becomes the first Tiger to win two individual championships and the first to win two titles overall.
Clare-Kearney, the final competitor of the night on floor, was tied by Georgia's Courtney Kupets who earlier scored an indentical 9.950. Florida's Corey Hartung finished third with a 9.900. Clare-Kearney joins Nicki Arnstad-Woodward (2002) as a floor champion at LSU.
The senior from Manchester, Connecticut, started the night with a strong 9.85 in the uneven bars final - good enough for ninth place finish. Then, she moved to vault and threw the greatest vault of her career - receiving 4 perfect 10's from the 6 judges. She then sealed the deal with the second scoring vault to give her a two-vault 9.90 average.
Clare-Kearney's final score was just .0062 (that's correct) ahead of reigning vault champion Susan Jackson who finished second at 9.9832 average.
Clare-Kearney and Jackson become the first 1-2 finishers on an NCAA final event in school history.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
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