Tag: gymanstics

sports

The LSU Tigers claim the SEC title!

LEWA EVANS

Image result for LSU gymnastics sec championships 2018 The LSU Tigers marked their second straight team win at the Southeastern Conference meet and earned their second- straight SEC regular season title this past Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Center.

The Tigers opened the meet with a 49.325 on vault. JuniorsFinnegan and Cannamela posted 9.825’s, and sophomore Harold earned a 9.875. Concluding their vault rotation, senior Hambrick and sophomore Edney, both earning 9.90s.

The Tigers then went onto bars, where they continued their outstanding performances. Freshman, Durante, led the bar group off with a 9.850, and Hambrick followed her with a solid 9.950. Edney also posted a career high of 9.975, and the tigers closed the rotation with 9.850 from junior Priessman, and a 9.925 from Finnegan in the anchor spot.

Onto the beam rotation, the girls performances tied for a season best of 49.525. Senior, Macadaeg, started off the rotation with a 9.950, and Finnegan and Hambrick both earned 9.850s. Freshman, Desiderio, and  sophomore Edney each got 9.925s to end out the rotation.

Lastly, for the floor rotation, LSU finished the meet off on a high note. Freshman Desiderio, achieved a season best 9.875 and Cannamela received a 9.850. Additionally, Edney got a 9.975, and Hambrick and Finnegan got perfect 10s.

This meet was a wonderful experience for LSU. They proved that they once again could rise to the occasion and became the SEC champs for the second year in a row. This shows that even though LSU has had some setbacks (Mckenna Kelly’s Achilles injury), they can overcome those set backs and handle the adversity head on. I personally had no doubt that LSU would not be setback by Kelley’s injury since they’re a well-balanced team. I hope they continue to achieve major accomplishments this season and I hope that they can take home the national title this year because they deserve it. What do you guys think? Do you think LSU deserves to win the national title this year?

sports

Torn Achilles ends Florida gymnasts career

LEWA EVANS

Senior, Kennedy Baker, a gymnast at the University of Florida, came to the end of her gymnastics career when she recently tore her Achilles during her floor routine at the teams home meet against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The  Florida fans were extremely quiet as all of their eyes were focused on Baker as she sat clutching her foot after falling on a pass during her floor routine. Her injury happened at the end of Florida’s sixth straight win over Arkansas 197.725-196.875. During the awards ceremony, the team sat with their faces straight ahead, lost in silence and  their thoughts over their teammates injury.

Unfortunately, Baker is done with her gymnastics career. Due to her being a senior, and competing too many times this year, she is not eligible for a fifth year. Baker tweeted out a message to all of her fans the other night…”Hey guys unfortunately my Achilles is torn. I love you all so much… this is not the way that I wanted to end my senior season, but there’s so many I could’ve made it this far without all of your support. Thank you guys for being the best fans in the world.” Baker seemed to be disappointed in how things played out, but she also seemed to be keeping her spirits high.

The team is taking a big hit to their line ups due to the fact that Baker was a major contributor in their, floor, vault and bars line up. Its going to be interesting to see how the team adapts to the loss of Baker. She was a big part of the program and definitely left her legacy at Florida. She was a 11-time All-American(6 NCAA/ 5 NACGC regular season), 2015, 2016, and 2017 All-SEC,  three time SEC champion( 2016 all-around, vault:2017 floor exercise), shares Florida exercise record 10.0), and 2015 SEC freshman of the year.

Personally, due to the fact that Florida is a strong team, I think they will be bale to continue to do well even with the loss of Baker. What do you guys think? Do you think Florida will continue to do well even though they are down a team member?