No. 2 LSU Gymnastics Set To Compete In Two Meets This Weekend

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter

The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team is set to host No. 3 Alabama in a dual meet on Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (8:30 p.m., SEC Network) before competing in the Podium Challenge at the Raising Cane’s River Center on Sunday (3 p.m.).

The Podium Challenge will feature No. 3 Alabama, No. 17 North Carolina and Arizona.

Head coach Jay Clark said competing in two meets in the same weekend will give LSU a feel for the regional and national postseason format if the Tigers end up advancing.

“Kind of gets us accustomed three weeks or so out from SEC’s,” Clark said on Monday. “The podium feel-like is going to give us a dry run of a Friday, Sunday. Our regional will be a Thursday, Saturday, type situation, assuming we advance and so, it’s just a more semantic sort of logistical preparation for those kinds of things that are on the horizon.”

Podium meets are typically more forgiving for gymnasts.

“I love podium so much,” sophomore Lexi Zeiss said on Monday. “Everything’s bouncier. The equipment’s a little bit softer and it’s what we’re going to do on nationals, so it’s nice for people to get a good feel of it now and it’s 20 minutes down the road, so it’s not like we’re flying somewhere to do it. It’s nice we can do it somewhat close to where we are and sleep in our own beds the night before, but also get the feeling of an away meet, so it’s the best of both worlds.”

The Tigers will have a quick turnaround before Sunday’s meet at the River Center.

“We’ll go through Friday, we’ll get up, have a stretch and kind of a flush-out on Saturday,” Clark said. “Walk around that arena, see the podium and understand what it looks like and kind of breathe that air for a minute and then go in there on Sunday and go again.”

With junior Konnor McClain and sophomore Kaliya Lincoln continuing to deal with injuries, Clark said the lineups this weekend could feature some new faces.

“I don’t know if the lineups will be tweaked,” Clark said. “They probably will be in some form or fashion. There’ll probably be some nuances to who goes in, but really, it’s just another week and it gets to be a little bit of a dress rehearsal.”

LSU’s score Sunday will also count as a road score. The Tigers have had success in podium meets, most recently earning a 198.125-195.475 win over George Washington in last year’s Podium Challenge.