Susan Jackson: LSU's First 3-Time National Champion

With tonight's National Beam Title, LSU's Susan Jackson becomes the first
Tiger to win 3 Individual National Championships. She also won the 2008
Vault title and the 2010 All-Around title. She finished second in tonight's
Vault competition and fourth in the bars competition.

Summer Hubbard is the 2010 National Runner-up on the bars and Ashley Lee
finished 9th in her first-ever national final on vault.

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

SUSAN JACKSON NATIONAL BEAM CHAMPION!

Susan Jackson has won the National Balance Beam title with a 9.9625 in
Gainesville, Florida!

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

SUSAN JACKSON NAMED NATIONAL GYMNAST OF YEAR

LSU senior Susan Jackson was named the 2010 NCAA/AAI Gymnast of the Year at this morning's Annual Awards Banquet.  It's the first time an LSU gymnast has won the award.

Jackson also won the 2010 National All-Around title on Thursday night in Gainesville, Florida - also the first such title for an LSU gymnast.

Tonight, Tiger gymnasts Ashley Lee and Summer Hubbard will join Jackson in the individual event finals at the NCAA Championships. Listen live and free of charge in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net beginning at 5:00 p.m. Central to see if the Tigers can bring home more gold!

Here's the link to the audio broadcast:
http://www.lsusports.net/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&id=388941&catid=0&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=5200

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

Suddenly Susan! Jackson Becomes LSU's First All-Around NCAA Champion

LSU senior Susan Jackson went out in style in what became her final team gymnastics meet as an LSU Tiger.  With her outstanding 39.650 score holding all day - and into the night - in Gainesville, Florida, Jackson became LSU's first-ever All-Around National Champion.  She also set a new LSU school record with 11 All-Around titles for the season, breaking a 30 year-old school record.

Ironically, it was a fall on balance beam that locked up the National Championship for Jackson when Missouri's Sarah Shire fell on the apparatus in the evening session and ended her chance to catch or better Jackson's score.  It was balance beam that ended LSU's chance to repeat as a Super Six finalist for the third consecutive year earlier in the day as the Tigers were forced to count a fall towards their team score.

Jackson's title marks the third year in a row that LSU has recorded some sort of individual National Championship.  Jackson won the vault title in 2008. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney won both the vault and floor titles in 2009.

Saturday evening Jackson will have a chance to add up to 3 more championships to her credit as she competes in the event finals on bars, beam, and vault.

Posted via web from LSU Gymnastics

Pre-Meet Interview With D-D Breaux

Download now or watch on posterous

Premeet Interview.mp4 (26426 KB)

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

It's NCAA Meet Day: LIVE from Gainesville!

The LSU Tigers have just concluded their team breakfast at the University of Florida Hilton Hotel and Conference Center - just steps off the Gator’s campus.  At 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time, the Tigers will bus the short distance over to the Stephen O’Connell Center and begin preparations for this afternoon’s first session of the 2010 NCAA Gymnastics Championships.  Meet time is 1:00 p.m. (noon Central) and, along with two-time National Champion Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, we will call all the action LIVE and FREE of charge in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net beginning at 12:55 p.m. Eastern (11:55 a.m. Central).

The Tigers, seeded No. 9, are looking for their third consecutive trip to the Super Six Finals tomorrow.  To get there, LSU must outscore five other teams in today’s first session.  Using the NCAA’s seeding formula, LSU is paired with No. 1 seed UCLA, No. 4 seed Oklahoma, No. 5 seed Utah, No. 8 seed Oregon State, and No. 12 seed Nebraska.  Most observers believe this is the more competitive and wide-open of the two preliminary sessions today.

Only 4 programs have ever won the National Championship in NCAA women’s gymnastics.  Two of those programs – UCLA and Utah – take on the Tigers today.  The Bruins and Red Rocks have 14 National Championships between them.  LSU has faced both Oklahoma and Oregon State earlier this season – defeating the Beavers in Baton Rouge and finishing just behind the Sooners at the NCAA Regional meet two weeks ago.  Oklahoma is undefeated on the season at 22-0.

To advance to tomorrow’s Super Six, LSU will need to post scores between 49.000 and 49.250 on each event.  The Tigers are very capable of doing this, especially with 4 senior leaders who are no strangers to the pressures of the National Championships.

Also determined today will be the participants in Saturday’s individual event championships, the All-Around Champion, and All-America awards.  The top 4 finishers (plus ties) on each event will be named First Team All-American and advance to the event finals.  Those finishing fifth through eighth (plus ties) will receive Second Team All-America honors.  Today’s All-Around competitors from both sessions will be ranked by their respective scores after tonight’s second session.  The winner will be named the National All-Around Champion.

LSU seniors Sabrina Franceschelli (All Around), Summer Hubbard (bars), Susan Jackson (All Around, beam, vault), and Kayla Rogers (floor) are each looking to repeat as All-Americans.  Jackson won the National vault title in 2008 and nearly repeated in 2009, finishing just behind LSU’s Ashleigh Clare-Kearney.

As the only SEC team in today’s first session, it will be interesting to see how many fans from the other SEC schools participating in this year’s Nationals show up to support the Tigers.  LSU should be well represented in their own right – having fulfilled a record number of ticket requests for any away meet in Tiger history.

We’re delighted to be here and bring you all the action live in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net beginning at 12:55 p.m. Eastern/11:55 a.m. Central today!

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

LSU National Championship Travel Plans Announced

The LSU Tigers' quest for a third consecutive NCAA Super Six berth begins on
Tuesday with the team's departure from Louis Armstrong International Airport
in Kenner at 5:10 p.m. LSU will fly into the Sunshine State via Tampa and
then bus to Gainesville in the evening. The Tiger's team hotel will be the
Hilton on the University of Florida campus.

Wednesday is practice day inside the Stephen O'Connell Center, site of this
year's NCAA Gymnastics Championships. LSU will practice at 12:20 p.m.
Eastern Time.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday are each competition days and we'll have
plenty of information coming your way throughout the week. LSU is set to
travel home on Sunday morning, arriving back in Kenner at 12:45 p.m.

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

Susan Jackson Featured Again On ESPN, NCAA TV Also

Breaking News: Breaux, Jackson Receive Regional Coach, Gymnast of Year Awards

LSU Head Coach D-D Breaux has been named the 2010 NCAA Central Region Coach
of the Year. LSU senior and SEC Gymnast of the Year Susan Jackson has been
named 2010 Central Region Gymnast of the Year. More to come...

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

How To Get LSU Tickets To NCAA Championship

LSU has received an allotment of tickets to next week's NCAA Gymnastics Championship in Gainesville, Florida.  You can purchase them directly from the LSU Ticket office and be assured of sitting with the rest of the Purple and Gold fans.  But you need to act FAST!  The deadline to purchase tickets in the LSU section is tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

Please call (800) 960-8587 or locally at (225) 578-2184 to order.  You can also email your order to tickets@lsu.edu.

Tickets are $55 each.  One $55 ticket is good for all four NCAA Championship sessions – the first two preliminary rounds on Thursday, April 22, the Super Six Finals on Friday, April 23, and the Individual Event Finals on Saturday, April 24.  At this point in time, single session tickets are not available.

LSU had the largest traveling crowd in recent memory at the NCAA Regional meet at Penn State last weekend.  Let’s keep the momentum rolling by supporting the Tigers on their Road the National Championship next week!

 

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

National Championship Pairings

April 22, 2010
Stephen O'Connell Center
Gainesville, Florida

2010 NCAA Women's National Gymnastics Championships

Session 1 (afternoon session)
#1 seed UCLA
#4 seed Oklahoma
#5 seed Utah
#8 seed Oregon State
#9 seed LSU
#12 seed Nebraska

Session 2 (evening session)
#2 seed Florida
#3 seed Alabama
#6 seed Stanford
#7 seed Arkansas
#10 seed Missouri
#11 seed Michigan

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

LSU Advances To National Championship Meet

The LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners have advanced from the NCAA Northeast
Regional at Penn State University to compete for the 2010 National
Championship!

LSU scored 196.400 and senior Susan Jackson won the bars and vault titles
with near perfect 9.95 scores.

More later...

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

Video link: Pre-meet motivation

I was honored to be asked to speak to the LSU Tigers this morning prior to the NCAA Gymnastics Regional at Penn State.  The video is in two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

Video: Regional Practice Day

First Photos From NCAA Regional At Penn State

The LSU Tigers just arrived at Rec Hall on the Penn State campus for its
practice session. Here are the first photos from the Rec Hall, which also
hosted a 2008 NCAA Regional. A photo gallery is to the left of this page.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

LSU Looks For 3rd Straight NCAA Regional Title

Download now or preview on posterous

Meet Notes - NCAA Regional.pdf (385 KB)

LSU Gymnastics Sports Information Director Jake Terry’s preview article for tomorrow’s NCAA Regional in State College, Pennsylvania:

The 11th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will go after a school record third-straight NCAA regional title as the Tigers will compete at the NCAA Northeast Regional hosted by Penn State at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in Rec Hall.

Competing at its 26th-straight NCAA regional, LSU (11-7-1) captured the NCAA Central Regional titles in 2008 and 2009, and a first-place finish at Penn State would mark the first time the Tigers have won three-straight regional titles. LSU won back-to-back titles on one other occasion in 2004 and 2005.

“The regional is always the toughest meet of the year emotionally and physically,” head coach D-D Breaux said, “but I feel like our SEC schedule and Championship prepares us well. We had a practice session today to get used to the equipment and the venue, and all I ask my kids is to do what we have done the last half of the season and compete hard.”

With a first or second-place finish in the regional, LSU would advance to the NCAA Championships for the ninth consecutive season.

The Tigers enter the regional as the No. 2 seed behind undefeated and second-ranked Oklahoma. Penn State is the No. 3 seed, and Maryland, Ohio State and New Hampshire will also compete for a spot in the national championships.

“The competition is tough,” Breaux said. “It is a very competitive region, and this will be a real battle for the top two places.”

LSU will rely on its four All-American seniors to lead the team as Sabrina Franceschelli, Summer Hubbard, Susan Jackson and Kayla Rogers have provided high scores all season.

Jackson, the 2010 Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Year, will also look to defend her regional all-around crown. Last season, Jackson won the central regional title with a 39.600 total.

Jackson will also attempt to break another LSU record with an 11th all-around title of the season at the regional. Jackson is currently tied with former Tiger Sandra Smith with 10 titles in a season.

Junior Samantha Engle ranks 19th in the beam rankings with a 9.870 regional qualifying score, and Hubbard ranks 16th on bars with a 9.885 RQS.

Sophomore Gloria Johnson has stepped up as she earned Second Team All-SEC honors at the SEC Championship with a 9.875 on vault.

The Tigers will also count on sophomore Ashley Lee and freshmen Ericka Garcia and Shelby Prunty for solid scores.

Live audio will be provided in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net, and fans can also find a live stats link on LSUsports.net. Live updates will be available on twitter by following @LSUgym.

If LSU finishes in first or second place, the Tigers will continue their quest for a third-straight Super Six berth at the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Fla., April 22-24.

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

News Story: LSU's Jackson, PSU's Personett Know Each Other Well

The two Texans set to square off tomorrow in Central Pennsylvania for LSU
and Penn State, resepctively. A nice story by "The Daily Collegian" writer
Jared Shanker

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

News Story: Penn State Says LSU Is The Target

The Nittany Lions gymnastics team has LSU in its sights, so says today's NCAA Regional preview article from the Penn State student newspaper "The Daily Collegian."

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2010/04/09/lions_set_for_playoffs.aspx

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

News Story: Joe Paterno Speaks To Gymnasts

From today’s issue of the Penn State's student newspaper "The Daily Collegian":

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2010/04/09/paterno_lightens_practice_offe.aspx

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics

Video: Tigers Travel Day To NCAA Regionals

Video: Susan Jackson Pre-Regional Interview

Tigers NCAA Travel Plans Announced

LSU will depart for State College, Pennsylvania early Thursday morning. The
Tigers fly out of New Orleans at 7:35 a.m. The team is scheduled to arrive
about 3:30 p.m.

For the duration of the NCAA Regional, the team's hotel will be the Penn
Stater Hotel on Innovation Street. Practice will be Friday afternoon in
Penn State's Rec Hall.

The Tigers have an early departure on Sunday morning, leaving the team hotel
about 5am Central time. Touchdown in New Orleans is set for about 12 noon.

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics