BATON ROUGE – In front of a crowd of more than 3,200 fans, the fourth-ranked LSU gymnastics team had a rousing start to their season in the sixth annual Gymnastics 101 Showcase, Monday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“I think tonight was an indication that we are almost there,” head coach D-D Breaux said. “The whole point of this meet is to get acquainted with the surface and the environment. I thought they all performed fabulously, competed and gave our fans a great indication of what to look forward to.”
The Tigers started by giving their fans a glimpse of what they should expect on the vault this season as they debuted a lineup anchored by returners Julianna Cannamela, Ruby Harrold, Lexie Priessman, Sarah Edwards, Sarah Finnegan and Kennedi Edney.
The Tigers’ bars lineup is training to pick up from where it left off a season ago with the No. 1 ranking in the country. Sami Durante once again led off and Bridget Dean followed in the second spot. Harrold and Edney competed in the third and fourth spot as usual. With Lexie Priessman out of the lineup due to shoulder stiffness, Finnegan anchored bars for the squad.
Second-year Tigers Christina Desiderio, Dean and Durante each had strong showings to begin the beam portion. Reagan Campbell made her sophomore debut for the Tigers, and the mighty duo of Edney and Finnegan rounded out the third rotation.
To close the night, Harrold, Desiderio and Edwards started the floor lineup at the top three spots. McKenna Kelley made her along-awaited return to the floor with a strong performance. Finnegan and Edney closed out the night in the fifth spot and anchor position.
LSU will host six regular meets inside the Maravich Center in 2019 as well as the NCAA Regional in April. The Tigers open the season against Cal on Friday, Jan. 4. The Tigers have thrived at home over the last five seasons with a perfect record of 34-0.
Article Courtesy of LSU Sports Information Department