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ATHENS, Ga.–The field contending for the individual all-around title narrowed Thursday afternoon. Six teams–LSU, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oregon State–competed in the first session of the NCAA Championship preliminaries.
With the afternoon session complete, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney of LSU is no longer in the running for the individual all-around title.
Clare-Kearney came into nationals ranked No. 2 in the country in the all-around and was the main threat to Utah’s Ashley Postell’s national championship hope, but her run for the title ended on the balance beam when a series of wobbles ended with a fall. Once her routine was over she was embraced by teammates as she broke down to tears.
“It kind of started when she didn’t stick her vault,” LSU head coach D.D. Breaux said.
Clare-Kearney scored a 9.775 on vault after notching a 9.9 on the floor exercise. Despite faltering on her vault, Clare-Kearney bounced back with an impressive 9.95 on her uneven bars routine. Then, her beam routine fell apart. After the meet, coaches and athletes expressed that the beam was a bit wobbly since it is elevated by a platform. The gymnasts concentrated on holding landings a little longer to stabilize before beginning a new element. Clare-Kearney didn’t seem in control throughout her routine and it cost her.
Breaux said that she just tried to refocus Clare-Kearney to the team once her routine was over. Lucky for Clare-Kearney, she has something to compete for tomorrow night as LSU was still able to advance to its first Super Six competition.
“There’s not really a whole lot to say except ‘we’ve got one more,'” Breaux said.
For the first time in 20 Nationals appearances, the LSU coach does have one more meet to look forward to. She expressed that finally advancing to the Super Six is like getting a “gorilla” off of her back.
Although Clare-Kearney was not able to keep her individual title dream alive, Florida’s Melanie Sinclair did. Her 39.525 was enough to take home honors in the afternoon session and make her the gymnast to beat Thursday night.
“To be able to come out and be healthy enough and focused enough and do it; I am grateful,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair was limited to two events throughout 2007 due to injuries and is happy to be able to compete in the all-around this season.
She doesn’t plan on sticking around for the evening competition. Instead, she will relax in her hotel room, rehab as much as possible and probably do some homework. Whether Sinclair ends up as the champion or not, she said it’s not up to her.
“That would be awesome,” she said of winning. “I want everyone to go out and have a great meet so that whatever happens, happens and leave it up to God.”
The main all-around competitors in the evening competition are Postell, Utah’s Kristina Baskett, Stanford’s Tabitha Yim, UCLA’s Anna Li, Michigan’s Lindsey Bruck and Denver’s Jessica Lopez.
Tony PizzaAshleigh Clare-Kearney stumbled on beam in her attempt to capture the all-around National Championship and lead her team to the Super Six. LSU made the Super Six, but Kearney was out of the running after the fall.