Meet Four: Florida

The LSU Tigers are in Gainesville ready to take on the Florida Gators tonight at 6:00 p.m. Central Time. The O’Connell Center should be rocking tonight as Florida expects a large crowd to attend the Gators annual “pink” meet to raise money and awareness in fight against breast cancer.

Tonight is also a great opportunity for the Tigers to compete in the location of the 2010 National Championships, which Florida hosts this April. But, first things first. Tonight is a chance for LSU to face a top SEC opponent and continue its methodical improvement. The Tigers have improved their overall team score each week this season and are poised to do that once again tonight.

However, the Tigers are once again faced with the bite of the injury bug. Junior Sam Engle will be held out of tonight’s bars lineup with an abdominal injury. She will compete on floor and beam. This means two freshmen will enter the bars lineup for the first time this season. Shelby Prunty will be second for the Tigers on bars while Janelle Garcia will be the in the #6 spot.

Tigers Up Another Three Spots In Rankings This Week

The Tigers continue their steady climb up the rankings this week checking in at #13 (195.125 average). The vault and floor teams are ranked 11^th best nationally this week with an average score of 49.025 and 48.925, respectively. LSU remains 13^th on bars this week with a 48.808 average and climbs to 18^th on balance beam with a 48.367 average.

Overall, Alabama replaced Oklahoma as the nation’s #1 ranked team. All 7 of the SEC’s gymnastics teams are ranked in the Top 15 this week.

Injury Report

Kaleigh Dickson (knee cap surgery) – out for the season

Samantha Engle (abdominal injury) – out of bars lineup, but will compete floor and beam against Florida

Lainie Fleming (hand/wrist surgery) – out indefinitely

Ericka Garcia (eligibility issue) – should debut February 12 against Texas Woman’s in the Maravich Center

Janelle Garcia (sprained ankle) – day-to-day

Nikki Lyons (sprained ankle) – out two to three weeks

Bob Moore (emergency root canal) – back from the dental chair just in time for the team plane and trip to Gainesville

Tonight’s Probable Tiger Lineups

Bars

Sabrina Franceschelli

Shelby Prunty

Kayla Rogers

Summer Hubbard

Susan Jackson

Janelle Garcia

Vault

Kayla Rogers

Sabrina Franceschelli

Ashley Lee

Summer Hubbard

Gloria Johnson

Susan Jackson

Shelby Prunty - alternate

Floor Exercise

Kayla Rogers

Sabrina Franceschelli

Ashley Lee

Summer Hubbard

Samantha Engle

Susan Jackson

Gloria Johnson - exhibtion

Beam

Shelby Prunty

Sabrina Franceschelli

Gloria Johnson

Summer Hubbard

Samantha Engle

Susan Jackson

Kayla - exhibition

Mike’s Eye On The Tigers

Here’s what I will be watching for tonight when Florida hosts LSU:

- A great matchup of individual talents. LSU’s senior All-American Susan Jackson against Florida freshman phenomena Ashanee Dickerson. Dickerson has won the SEC Freshman of the Week award two weeks in a row while Jackson leads the nation in the all around. Both ladies have won the all around title three straight weeks to open the season, so something has to give tonight.

- How do the LSU freshmen perform in a loud, energetic environment tonight against the Gators?

- Kayla Rogers to lead off vault and floor with another set of strong scores. When she hits, the Tigers usually follow.

- Sabrina Franceschelli and Summer Hubbard to both hit above 39.000 in the all around.

Don’t forget to tune in tonight LIVE in the Geaux Zone at 5:55pm Central Time as we call all the action from the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. Two-time national champion Ashleigh Clare-Kearney will join Paige Cippoloni and me on the broadcast.

Susan Jackson Cruises, Look Back At Meet Three: Auburn

After scoring a season-high 195.650 on Friday night against Auburn, the LSU Gymnastics team starts this new week three spots higher in the national rankings. After spending consecutive weeks at #16, the Tigers check in at #13 this week. At this point in the season, national rankings are a rolling average of the team’s overall scores.

Senior All-American Susan Jackson continues to lead the nation in the individual all-around with a 39.475 average. That’s nearly a tenth better than Stanford’s Carly Janiga. Jackson ranks 7th nationally on the vault, 6th on bars, 22nd on balance beam and 10th on the floor exercise. She is a perfect 3 for 3 in the all-around so far.

In short, Susan Jackson is carrying LSU at this early point in the season. With only 9 healthy gymnasts in Friday’s march out, Head Coach D-D Breaux has taken the conservative approach towards many individual routines as the Tigers can ill-afford another injury. This is the correct strategy when considering the length of the season.

Many LSU gymnastics observers have noted the patient tone that Breaux has taken with her team so far this season. By her own admission, patience is not her greatest virtue. But her 33 years of experience is demonstrating itself – helping her to balance senior leadership, 4 key injuries causing thin line-ups and developing freshman talent all at the same time.

A Look Back At Lady Luck and Auburn

For those of you who have emailed after the Lady Luck Invitational in Las Vegas here’s the answer. Yes, the Tigers should’ve won the meet. With no disrespect to the other three teams, LSU had superior talent across the board. However, as happens in gymnastics, teams must be consistent across each apparatus to be successful.

On vault and bars in Las Vegas LSU looked unstoppable. The Tigers rolled to a 1.6 lead (that’s 16 tenths for you decimal lovers) at the half-way point of the meet. But LSU took its collective foot off the gas and lost concentration on the balance beam, counting a fall and two other shaky routines. The net result: lead cut in half heading into Rotation 4, floor exercise.

The first two performers on the floor were hit for major technical deductions (2 tenths each) effectively evaporating the Tigers’ lead in the meet. Meanwhile, credit Missouri and Kentucky for smelling blood in the water and not throwing in the towel earlier in the meet while LSU was well ahead.

Sunday was a travel day from the Pacific Time Zone and the new week brought the start of the spring semester. Auburn came into the Maravich Center on Friday night just a shade off two enormous upsets against archrival Alabama to open the season and then #1 Oklahoma.

The LSU Tigers showed tremendous character to bounce back from Las Vegas with a season high 195.650. Auburn, meanwhile, looked more like a team that needed a night off as those Tigers limped to a disappointing 193.900.

Shining in the Auburn meet were Susan Jackson (won/tied all 5 titles), Summer Hubbard (career high all around score of 39.100), Kayla Rogers (9.90 on floor to tie for the title), Gloria Johnson (tied for 3rd on balance beam after falling at Las Vegas), and Sabrina Franceschelli (solid 39.100 all around score).

Injury Report

Kaleigh Dickson (knee cap surgery) – will redshirt the 2010 season

Lainie Fleming (hand/wrist surgery) – out indefinitely

Ericka Garcia (eligibility issue) – debuts February 12 against Texas Woman’s in the Maravich Center

Janelle Garcia (sprained ankle) – day-to-day

Nikki Lyons (sprained ankle) – out three to four weeks

Look Ahead

Later this week we will have a complete look ahead at the Tigers first SEC road meet at Florida.

Meet Two: Lady Luck Invitational

Greetings from the world capital of glitz and glamour – Las Vegas, Nevada! The LSU Tigers gymnastics team has trekked to the Great Southwest Desert to take on three teams in tonight’s Lady Luck Invitational.

Tonight’s meet is taking place inside the large exhibit hall attached to the South Point Hotel and Casino just off Las Vegas Boulevard and just a short distance from the famed Las Vegas Strip. The cavernous exhibit hall, some 150,000+ square feet, has been turned into not one, but 4 separate gymnasiums – each with a set of uneven bars, a floor exercise, vault and two balance beams.

The Tigers joined Missouri and Kentucky at a late afternoon workout yesterday inside the facility. Arizona State, a late Thursday arrival, elected to workout into the evening hours.

LSU looked remarkably relaxed and confident in yesterday’s workout. The Tigers, along with the nice contingent of purple and gold fans on hand, made lots of noise inside the exhibit hall. While Kentucky took it in stride, Missouri seemed rattled by the high-energy output.

Only 9 LSU gymnasts made the trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday. The injury bug reared its ugly head on Tuesday as Nikki Lyons suffered a severely sprained ankle on a bars dismount. This was not the same ankle that required multiple surgeries to repair over last season. Lyons remained in Baton Rouge to received twice-daily treatments in the hopes of returning the lineup in the next month.

Lyons returned the lineup in last week’s season opener after missing the entire 2009 campaign. She was making slow but steady progress on bars and vault prior to this new injury.

A Look Back At Maryland

At first glance, the LSU Tigers season opening performance a week ago might seem, well, weak to the casual gymnastics observer. After all, a team score of 194.375 is not something home crowds are used to seeing. However, looking back at opening meets over the past few years, this score compared favorably to other first-meet scores – a reflection of Head Coach D-D Breaux’s strategy of building routines slowly and steadily throughout any given season.

Senior Susan Jackson got her season off to a flying start against the Terrapins. Jackson won three individual events including bars, floor and the all-around giving her 32 career titles overall. Her 39.275 in all four events was good enough for fifth best in the country last week.

Other highlights of the meet were courtesy of senior Kayla Rogers who opened up 2010 in strong fashion. The Liberty, Missouri native scored 9.80 or better in each of the three events she competed. Summer Hubbard’s 9.80 paced the Tigers on beam while the floor exercise team combined for a 48.975 which was fourth best in the country last week.

A lowlight of the evening was the surprisingly negative display of sportsmanship by the Maryland coaching staff. Let’s hope that’s the end of such displays for the remainder of 2010.

Lady Luck Lineups

With only 9 gymnasts available for tonight’s meet, the LSU lineup will have a decidedly youthful feel to it. Sophomore Ashley Lee gets her first-ever call on floor exercise while freshmen Shelby Prunty and Janelle Garcia see significant action.

Prunty will be an alternate on the vault team and Garcia will exhibition on three events – bars, beam and floor. Here’s the remainder of the Tiger’s lineup for tonight’s Lady Luck Invitational. LSU will begin on vault and end on floor.

Vault

Kayla Rogers

Sabrina Franceschelli

Ashley Lee

Summer Hubbard

Gloria Johnson

Susan Jackson

Shelby Prunty - alternate

Bars

Sabrina Franceschelli

Kayla Rogers

Samantha Engle

Summer Hubbard

Susan Jackson

Shelby Prunty

Janelle Garcia – exhibition

Beam

Gloria Johnson

Shelby Prunty

Samantha Engle

Sabrina Franceschelli

Summer Hubbard

Susan Jackson

Janelle Garcia – exhibition

Floor

Kayla Rogers

Ashley Lee

Sabrina Franceschelli

Summer Hubbard

Samantha Engle

Susan Jackson

Janelle Garcia – exhibition

Injury Report

Kaleigh Dickson (knee cap surgery) – likely will redshirt the 2010 season

Lainie Fleming (hand/wrist surgery) – out indefintiely

Ericka Garcia (eligibility issue) – scheduled to see first action on February 12 against Texas Woman’s in the Maravich Center

Nikki Lyons (sprained ankle) – out three to four weeks

Tonight’s Meet

If history is a guide, LSU should have little trouble winning tonight’s meet. The Tigers have a combined record of 93-17 against the three other teams in the 2010 Lady Luck Invitational.

However, history, by definition, is a thing of the past. With such a thin line-up that will rely on freshmen in key situations, a win is far from certain tonight for the 16^th ranked Tigers.

Kentucky is a much-improved team and program under the guidance of Mo Mitchell. Look for the Gym Kats top three performers to pace Kentucky tonight – Andrea Mitchell, Hillary Ferguson and Jasmine Minion. Kentucky comes in ranked 14^th on the strength of last week’s score of 194.850.

Look for Missouri to compete four all-arounders tonight. Last week, these Tigers found significant success against Ohio State with Mary Burke, Danielle Guider, Sarah Shire, and Lauren Swankoski in the all-around. Missouri’s score of 194.725 last week is good enough for a #15 ranking in the polls this week.

Tonight’s meet serves as as the season opener for Arizona State. Head coach John Spini begins his 30^th year guiding the Gym Devils. He will call upon his talented junior Mary Atkinson to score big all season long. Just like LSU, Arizona State is forced to cover a significant injury to Beate Jones with freshman help. It’s possible we’ll see three freshmen and a transfer performing for the first time on the collegiate level tonight for Arizona State.

Twitter!

There will be no live scoring for tonight’s meet, so be sure to signup for LSU Gymnastics tweets on Twitter.com/lsugym. LSU SID Jake Terry will be sending out tweets to update Tigers fans on superlative individual performances, team scores after each rotation, and, of course, the final team and individual scores upon completion of the meet.

Mike’s Eye On The Tigers

Here are a few things I will be looking for tonight in Las Vegas:

• A relaxed and confident Tiger team that has found unity in its small group. Will the swagger follow?
• An injury-free meet for everyone – a must coming out of this meet
• Janelle Garcia competing as an exhibition gymnast in three events. A good showing tonight could lead to an even larger role for this freshman later in the season.
• Three Tiger (Jackson, Franceschelli, Hubbard) to score a combined 117 or better in the all-around. That’s an average of 39.000 or better for each individual. Scores like this will take significant pressure off the rest of the youthful lineup.

Please join us live in the Geaux Zone at 9pm Central Time for our first broadcast of the 2010 season. Jewell Fourrier will once again join me in the booth as we bring you all the action from Las Vegas.

2010 Season Preview and Meet One: Maryland

Tonight marks the kick-off of the 2010 LSU Gymnastics season as the Tigers welcome Maryland to the Maravich Center at 7pm. And while the weather outside is more Maryland-like this second Friday of January, LSU officially begins its quest for a third-straight bid to the Super Six later in April.

Head Coach D-D Breaux begins her 33rd year of coaching the Tigers tonight. With 562 wins to her credit, not only is she the longest serving Head Coach in LSU history, she is on a very short list of coaches with over 30 years of tenure at any school – in any sport. This summer Coach Breaux was elected to the Region 8 Gymnastics Hall of Fame, an honor that is well deserved.

LSU carries a #6 pre-season ranking into tonight’s meet, which is the highest pre-season ranking the Tigers have received since 1989 – the year rankings were first published.

But much has happened within the program during the off-season, and in the days leading up to tonight’s meet, to cause that lofty ranking to be called into question, even by the coach herself. In recent days, the Tigers have suffered two significant injuries to gymnasts who were to be counted on to score this year. And, the international superstar who was finally cleared to attend LSU is sitting on the sidelines for the first several weeks of the season.

However, as gymnastics fans know, rankings don’t mean much at this point in the season. It’s down the stretch run, during the months of March and April, that the Tigers must find their top form.

In the meantime, as D-D put it this week ”We’re hoping to take good lemons and make good lemonade.” I think this will definitely be the case for the first few meets this season.

Senior Leadership Will Make The Difference In 2010

LSU returns four NCAA All-Americans from last year’s Super Six squad. Sabrina Franceschelli, Summer Hubbard, Susan Jackson and Kayla Rogers are seniors this year, and the success of this year’s squad rests squarely upon their collective shoulders.

Susan Jackson won the National Championship in the vault in 2008 and finished runner-up to 2009 Champion and teammate Ashley Clare-Kearney last season. Event for event, Susan is among the elite collegiate gymnasts and has rightfully inherited the mantle of “flagship” gymnast of this LSU team from Clare-Kearney.

There are few, if any, weaknesses in her routines. As she would readily admit, miscues, when they happen, are almost never physical. Focus and mental toughness will be key for her this season. Remaining sharp and injury free after four years of collegiate gymnastics should result in another set of podium appearances for Susan Jackson at this year’s NCAA Championships. When and if that happens, she will assume her place among the greatest athletes in LSU history.

Sabrina Franceschelli was one of the Tigers most consistent performers in 2009. She finished second on the team last season on both bars and beam. In the final 5 meets of the season, she posted 4 scores of 9.80 or better including a pair of 9.85’s in the NCAA Championships.

As the team’s number two all-arounder coming into 2010, Sabrina will be counted on to score at the highest level of her career to date. Look for her to become a key player in the team’s success as the season progresses.

Summer Hubbard enters her final season as a Tiger in brand new territory – that of all-around gymnast. A first team All American on bars the past two seasons, Hubbard enters 2010 with the Tigers relying on her in all 4 events. In her first three years at LSU, Summer has worked mostly bars, beam and, last season, added floor exercise.

Her vault will continue to grow in difficulty throughout the season. The Tigers will count her to do so as her vault score will be integral to the vault team’s success this season.

Kayla Rogers, in my opinion, is one of the most important gymnasts on this year’s team. Last season, she led off vault and floor for the Tigers in every meet. She was extremely consistent over the course of the season, suffering falls only once per event all season. She has 9.90 or better ability on those events each meet.

If Kayla can help the Tigers with solid bars and beam scores, when needed, this season, it will go a long way towards helping LSU reach the post season for the 26th year in a row.

Others Who Can Deliver Important Scores For LSU
Along with Summber Hubbard, Sam Engle is one of the best bars workers in the nation. For the Tigers to make a successful run this year, it will be critical for Sam to compete at a high level on both the beam and floor – 9.85 or better each time out on both events.

One of the 5 scoring positions on vault this season should go to sophomore Ashley Lee. She has worked hard over the off-season to develop this, her mainstay event. If she can be consistent throughout the season, her vault score should provide a “safety valve” for the vault team, when needed.

Nikki Lyons makes her return to the Tigers lineup for the first time in two seasons. Out all of last season with a stubborn broken ankle, this redshirt sophomore should make a strong return on vault and beam for LSU. As she returns to form and stays injury-free in 2010, expect her to be worked into the bars lineup as well.

It’s A Fresh-man World
LSU has 5 members of the 2010 freshman class, and what an important class it is. Over the course of this season, don’t be surprised if a freshman is called up to deliver a counting score in each event of each meet. But which new gymnasts will survive the rigors of a collegiate season?

Kaleigh Dickson (Oldmar, Florida) suffered a freak knee accident that required surgery this past week. She chipped a bone in her knee that required a screw to repair it. Conservatively out for 8 to 9 weeks, expect to see Kaleigh redshirt this season.

Lainie Fleming (Glendale, California) was expected to compete for a spot in the bars lineup this season. However, a broken wrist has sidelined her for several weeks.

Ericka Garcia (Mexico City, Mexico) is an international elite gymnast who is expected to make a major impact in each event lineup. However, due to an NCAA ruling, she will not be able to compete until the middle of this season.

The remaining freshmen, Janelle Garcia and Shelby Prunty will take time to develop during the season. Garcia is coming off an injury that limited her gymnastics during her final year of high school.

Tonight’s Meet
LSU is 5-0 against Maryland over the years. These teams last competed against each other in 2003, with the Terps last visit to Baton Rouge coming in 1989.

While the meet begins one coach’s 33rd season, it also marks the first-ever for Maryland coach Brett Nelligan. He takes over for his father, Bob, who coached the Terrapins for over 30 years. Maryland will also debut 5 new gymnasts tonight. However, Maryland is a senior-laden club (6) and returns 11 letter winners from last season’s team which earned a berth in an NCAA Regional meet.

One of the new Maryland gymnasts is junior Jennifer Iovino who left Alabama to return to her home state. This will be her first meet since transferring. Look for freshman Kesley Cofsky to compete well for the Terrapins tonight as well.

There are all sorts of great promotions tonight in the Maravich Center. Yes, it will be cold outside, but inside, Tiger Concessions will give away free hot chocolate at tonight’s meet. Also, the first 500 fans get a free Tiger T-shirt. The LSU Cheerleaders and the Tiger Girls will showcase their national championship routines tonight as well.

Twitter!
LSU gymnastics has gone social! Logon to Twitter to become a follower of LSU Gymnastics. The Tigers Twitter handle is LSUgymnastics. Become a follower today!

Mike’s Eye On The Tigers
Here are a few things I will be looking for tonight against Maryland:

• A solid start to the season for LSU’s fantastic 4 seniors.
• An injury-free meet, and season, for Nikki Lyons in her return from a 2008 broken ankle.
• A better sense as to the #5 and #6 gymnast on each event for the first few meets this season. This is a real question mark right now.
• A strong home-opener crowd that will brave the elements to come salute the debut of their back-to-back Super Six Tigers.