LEXINGTON, Ky.? The No. 20 Kentucky gymnastics squad posted the eighth-highest team score in school history against a talented No. 3 LSU squad, but fell 196.925-195.550 Friday evening in Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers scored 39.000 or better on each of their four events in the meet.
?It is the first time in a year-and-a-half that we haven?t counted a fall,? UK head coach Mo Muhammad said. ?I applaud the team tonight for its heart and determination against a great LSU team.?
Kentucky (4-5, 0-5 Southeastern Conference) senior Michelle Gales finished second in the all-around with a 38.850 score and junior Lucy Burgin was third with a 38.400 mark on the four events. LSU?s April Burkholder won the all-around title with a score of 39.400 to lead the Tigers (6-3, 4-1 SEC).
?Lucy had great routines on beam and vault,? said Muhammad. ?She rocked her beam set.?
Kentucky started the meet strong with a 49.100 mark on vault, which ranks as the 10th highest vault score in school history. Sophomore Krystle Cook finished second on vault with a team-high 9.9 and Burgin recorded a career-high 9.825 score to highlight UK?s vault performance. Senior Lindsay Cameron and junior Staci O?Keefe each registered 9.8 marks on vault.
The Wildcats continued with a solid showing on bars, notching a 48.925. Cook led the way for the Cats with a 9.825 mark, while Gales and sophomore Rachel Riley each tallied scores of 9.8. Sophomore Sarai Sevier also registered a career-high 9.75 on bars.
UK trailed by a narrow 147.675-146.675 mark after three events and a 48.650 score on beam. Burgin notched a career-high 9.825 on beam and junior Bethany Strauch registered a season-high 9.8 mark filling in for Krista Prestigiacomo, who was sitting out the meet due to an illness.
?Bethany was thrown into the beam line-up at the last minute and did a fabulous job,? said Muhammad. ?She proved that we made the correct choice to replace Krista.?
The Wildcats posted a 48.875 on floor to finish the meet as O?Shields ignited the crowd of 1,938 Wildcat fans with a career-high 9.825. Cook notched a 9.8 on floor, while Gales tallied a 9.775. The Tigers closed out the meet strong with a 49.250 mark on beam, including an event-high 9.95 by Lisa Rennie, to edge the Cats.
?We told the team Sunday that we were starting the second season,? said Muhammad. ?We are going to use tonight?s score as a base score for our future meets and continue to build from there. With this score we can go to Florida with more confidence.?
Kentucky returns to action Friday, Feb. 26 when it travels to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. and live stats will be available on ukathletics.com.
– UK –
