BATON ROUGE, La. — Kentucky junior Michelle Gales led the Wildcats to a 194.875 score, but the Cats fell to No. 10 LSU (197.375) in Baton Rouge, La., Friday evening. Gales electrified the crowd of 1,517 spectators with her 9.950 floor routine that tied a personal best. She also tied a career-high 9.875 on bars on her way to a 39.350 All-Around. Gales was .05 off her career-high All-Around score.
?Michelle did a fantastic job,? Coach ?Mo? Muhammad said. ?She had a great meet. She has worked hard all week and it is showing in the end result.?
Gales led the Wildcats on bars in the first rotation with a 9.875 and finished tied for second overall in the event. She has been Kentucky?s best performer on bars in recent weeks scoring a 9.850 or better in UK?s last four meets. Senior Julie Joy recorded a 9.850 on bars for the second consecutive week to finish fourth and Primault registered a 9.800 in the event.
In the second rotation, Kentucky tied its season-high on vault with a 49.150. Cameron led the Cats with a career-high 9.925 and second-place finish, followed by freshman Krystle Cook who recorded the second-highest vault score of her career with a 9.900 and tied for third-place overall. UK trailed by a half point going into the third rotation that featured LSU on beam and Kentucky on floor exercise.
Gales? 9.950 career-high performance was the Cats? highlight on floor exercise. It marked the fifth time this season Gales has scored a 9.900 or better on her floor routine. Kentucky suffered a scare when senior Aronda Primault was unable to continue her floor routine due to an apparent leg injury and she did not compete on beam.
Kentucky scored a season-high 48.500, even without Primault, its top competitor, in the lineup. The Cats had solid performances by Gales (9.750) and sophomores Bethany Strauch (9.750) and Krista Roemerman (9.700). Roemerman did not warm-up for beam at the beginning of the meet, but stepped in for the injured Primault.
?I?m proud of the whole team,? Muhammad said. ?We have a lot of injuries and we had kids step up and do what they had to do. Krista Roemerman did fantastic on beam. It was our best beam performance all year and we are getting better.?
The Tigers were led by sophomore April Burkholder who finished first in the All-Around with a 39.800 score, including individual titles on vault (9.950), beam (9.975) and floor exercise (10.0).
Kentucky competed without several of its top performers who were out due to injuries, including freshman Rachel Riley (sprained wrist) who has Kentucky?s highest floor average and Staci O?Keefe (sprained knee) who scored the team?s highest beam score of the season, 9.850, against Alabama last Friday.
UK returns home for its final SEC head-to-head competition of the season against No. 5 Florida. The action will begin in Memorial Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.
Team Scores Vault Bars Beam Floor LSU 49.325 49.250 49.425 49.375 Kentucky 49.150 48.925 48.500 48.300 Kentucky Scores Vault ? 49.150 Kara Prestigiacomo ? 9.700 Alison Sarucci ? 9.700 Michelle Gales ? 9.775 Krystle Cook ? 9.900 Aronda Primault ? 9.850 Lindsay Cameron ? 9.925* Bars ? 48.925 Alison Sarucci ? 9.675 Aronda Primault ? 9.800 Krystle Cook ? 9.225 Michelle Gales ? 9.875* Julie Joy ? 9.850 Staci O?Keefe ? 9.725 Beam ? 48.500 Bethany Strauch ? 9.750 Kara Prestigiacomo ? 9.625 Julie Joy ? 9.675 Michelle Gales ? 9.750 Krista Roemerman ? 9.700 Krystle Cook ? 9.325 Floor ? 48.300 Alison Sarucci ? 9.650 Krista Roemerman ? 9.675 Julie Joy ? 9.775 Krystle Cook ? 9.250 Michelle Gales ? 9.950* Aronda Primault ? 6.000 All-Around Michelle Gales ? 39.350 Krystle Cook ? 37.700 * indicates a personal best
