LSU GYMNASTICS TO BEGIN COMPETITION AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS 

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A bid to the Super Six team finals will be on the line for the LSU gymnastics team as it begins competition at the NCAA Championships Thursday afternoon at Oregon State’s Gill Coliseum.

Action for the Tigers gets underway at 3 p.m. (CT) as they are set to compete in the first of two preliminary rounds of competition.

Joining LSU in the early session will be a trio of regional championship teams in Alabama, Michigan and Oklahoma in addition to Utah and Nebraska.

“The good thing is that we have competed against many of these teams already this season,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “The bad thing is that they have beaten us, but that is only because we have beaten ourselves with falls and inconsistency. I just hope that this team is as bitter about it as I am and goes out and competes hard and gets the job done because they want it.”

Competing in Thursday’s evening session will be top-ranked and defending national champion, Georgia, as well as Arizona State, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa State and Oregon State.

The top three teams from each preliminary round session will advance to Friday’s Super Six team finals where the 2006 national champion will be crowned.

The Tigers, who will be making their 18^th appearance at the NCAA Championships and their ninth trip in the last 10 years, will depend on a trio of veteran all-arounders, in April Burkholder, Kelly Phelan and Nicki Butler, to help them secure their first-ever Super Six bid.

Burkholder, a nine-time All-American and two-time SEC and NCAA Central Region Gymnast of the Year, has anchored the Tigers’ lineup each of the last four seasons. She has won a team-leading seven all-around titles and 23 individual event crowns this season.

Phelan, the NCAA Central Region all-around and floor champion, enters the meet ranked third nationally on the floor and 18^th in the all-around. She is expected to once again put up four big scores for the Tiger squad.

Butler, who has competed in the all-around in five meets for the Tigers this season, is also capable of putting up big numbers on each of the four events.

The trio will lead the Tigers as they begin competition on the floor exercise in the second rotation after sitting out rotation one with a bye. LSU will then move to the vault before sitting out with a second bye and wrapping up the meet on the bars and beam. 

“I feel like this team is ready,” said Breaux. “They’ve done the work and now they just have to get out there and get the job done.”