Meet Two: LSU at Auburn

This morning, the LSU Tigers awakened to a 14 degree day in Auburn, Alabama, nearly 25 degrees colder and 3 time zones removed from last Friday's season opening gymnastics meet at Oregon State.  But when the curtain falls on the first SEC meet of the season tonight inside the new Auburn Arena, expect a competitive event between two young teams.

Here are a few story lines we'll be watching tonight:

• We will have our first look inside the new Auburn Arena.  With a capacity of less than 9,000 in the gymnastics configuration, expect a cozy meet with fans on top of the action.  It will be Auburn gymnastics' first meet in their new digs and several promotions are planned including glow-in-the-dark wands for fans and an indoor fireworks show. The arena sits directly across the street from Jordan-Hare Stadium and, yes, the campus is still buzzing from Monday night's BCS National Championship football game.
• LSU will be without senior team leader Sam Engle for tonight's meet.  Sam sprained an ankle earlier this week at practice and is receiving treatment.  Hopefully she can return to the bars, beam and floor lineups within the next couple of weeks.  This means that additional freshmen will receive early season opportunities to gain experience which can only help the Tigers down the road.
• LSU will also be without the services of junior Gloria Johnson.  Gloria had been nursing a foot injury from off-season workouts but had surgery earlier this week. She will be redshirted this season.
• By contrast, Auburn has only 4 underclassmen on its gymnastics roster. However, the team is trying to find its way under first-year Head Coach Jeff Graba. Last week at Iowa State, the Auburn Tigers scored 192.775 and were led by junior Petrina Yokay who competed three events she hadn't competed in over three years.
• So which one of the young Tiger teams will come out on top tonight?  Join us on our broadcast live and free in the GeauxZone on LSUSports.net beginning at 7:00pm Central Time.

D-D Breaux Talks Up Team

Catch a short video of Head Coach D-D Breaux "coaching up" the Tigers with a pre-meet speech before the Auburn meet.  Click here for D-D's short speech.  You can also catch LSU sophomore Shelby Prunty in this morning's "Power Circle" - a visualization exercise that the Tigers complete the morning of each meet.

Streak Ends, Tigers Look To Start Another

A remarkable 8-year streak came to an end last Friday at Oregon State when no Tiger won an individual event title against the Beavers.  The streak began on February 23, 2003 at Nebraska's Masters Classic.

LSU Commands Series Against Auburn

Tonight marks the 74th meeting between the Tigers and War Eagles.  LSU commands the series 62-11, including 10-4 at Auburn. One of the four losses for LSU at Auburn came in 2009, the last time LSU visited the Plains in the old Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.  Widely regarded as one of LSU's worst-ever dual meet road performances, the Tigers bounced back from that loss and reeled-off 6 straight wins to end the regular season on their way to LSU's second Super Six appearance in school history.

Tonight's Lineup

Here is tonight's pre-meet lineup for the LSU Tigers (0-1, 0-0, ranked 25th)

Bars

Ericka Garcia, SO

Mckenzie Fox, FR

Kaleigh Dickson, FR

Shelby Prunty, SO

Sarah Zoldos, FR

Sarie Morrison, FR

Janelle Garcia, FR (exhibition)

Vault

Ericka Garcia, SO

Sarah Zoldos, FR

Ashley Lee, JR

Kaleigh Dickson, FR

Maliah Mathis, FR

Sarie Morrison, FR

Mckenzie Fox, FR (alternate)

Floor Exercise

Ashley Lee, JR

Sarah Zoldos, FR

Shelby Prunty, SO

Kaleigh Dickson, FR

Sarie Morrison, FR

Maliah Mathis, FR

Janelle Garcia, FR (exhibition)

Balance Beam

Shelby Prunty, SO

Maliah Mathis, FR

Kaleigh Dickson, FR

Sarie Morrison, FR

Janelle Garcia, SO

Ericka Garcia, SO

Sarah Zoldos, FR (exhibition)

All Around

Kaleigh Dickson, FR (first AA at LSU)

Sarie Morrison, FR (2nd place AA at Oregon St. last week)

Posted via email from LSU Gymnastics