LSU senior Susan Jackson won the all-around title (39.500) for the 10th time in 11 meets this season tying the 30 year-old school record for all-around titles won in a season. Jackson now shares the lead with Sandra Smith who held the record since 1980. Jackson will have at least two more opportunities to have the record all to herself at the SEC Championships and NCAA Regionals.
As expected, LSU swept first, second, and third place in each event against the under-manned Ladies of Centenary. Jackson (9.90), Summer Hubbard (9.875), and Sam Engle (9.80) went 1-2-3 on bars to open the evening. The Tigers tallied 49.050 on the uneven bars - the lowest team score on the event since the last road meet at Georgia on Feb. 26.
The Tigers vault team was led by Kayla Rogers and and Ashley Lee who shared the vault title with 9.85 scores. For Lee, it marked consecutive vault titles for the sophomore from Vacaville, California. Susan Jackson took third place in the vault with an uncharacteristic 9.825. The team vault score was 49.125, the second lowest road score of the season.
Things got interesting on the floor as the judges on the event couldn't agree on two start values. One judge insisted Sabrina Franceschelli's start value was 9.80 while the other marked it as 10.0. After a D-D Breaux official inquiry to the meet referee and more than 5 minutes of haggling, 10.0 was determined. Sabrina's final score was improved to 9.80. Then, in one of the strangest turns of the evening, Susan Jackson's start value was set at 9.90 by the same judge who marked Franceschelli's 9.80.
On our radio broadcast, two-time National Champion Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and I agreed that Susan's performance on floor was the most complete of the season and deserving of no less than a 9.95. The head judge on the event marked Jackson's effort as a 9.90 on a 10.0 start value. The other judge, who was quickly becoming notorious in the arena, marked Jackson's routine at 9.75 on a 9.90 start value. Again, Breaux inquired to the meet referee.
After another 5 minute plus delay, the start values were equalized at 10.0. But the drama didn't stop there. For some strange reason Judge 2 refused to raise Susan's score after raising the start value. Judge 1 stepped in again and insisted the routine be re-scored appropriately. In the end, Jackson walked away with a 9.90.
Senior Kayla Rogers took second on the floor with a 9.825 score while Franceschelli grabbed third place with the much modified 9.80 score. Overall, the Tigers notched a team floor score of 49.050.
More start value questions came during the Tigers' balance beam. Again, it was Franceschelli along with Ericka Garcia who were in question. It didn't take nearly as long to sort out the correct values this time, however. LSU ended with 49.175 points on beam which was the highest road beam score of the season.
Sam Engle was incredible on beam as she nailed a 9.925 routine that tied her career high on the event. Susan Jackson was second with a 9.875 and Gloria Johnson took third with a 9.825 score.
Inexperienced judging mistakes weren't the only issue in play in the Gold Dome Friday night. The balance beam and uneven bars were turned at 45-degree angles in such a manner that mounts and dismounts faced the crowd - which was seated on one side of the arena. The floor exercise was heavily taped in sections and very bouncy, probably a result of the post-meet tradition of allowing 100+ people to "do the Cupid Shuffle" on it at the end of each meet. And, the uneven bars had significant sway in them, no matter how tightly adjusted.
It's possible that Friday night's visit to Shreveport will be LSU's last in gymnastics. Quoted in The Shreveport Times this morning, Centenary head coach Gretchen Goerlitz said, "It was definitely a fluky meet for us." That was the understatement of the night. Her team managed to score only 187.700 in dropping to 0-7 on the season. The nearly 8.5 point margin of victory for LSU is the largest in recent memory.
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