Susan Jackson of LSU is SEC Gymnast of the Year

On March 29, in Birmingham, Alabama, the SEC named LSU's standout senior gymnast Susan Jackson from Spring, Tex., as its Gymnast of the Year.

Florida's Ashanee Dickerson was named SEC Freshman Gymnast of the Year, and Auburn's Kristina Voss was named SEC Scholar-Athlete Gymnast of the Year.

Jakson is the third Tiger gymnast to win the coveted award along with former LSU gymnasts April Burkholder and Ashleigh Clare-Kearney. The LSU gymnast scored a 9.9 at the SEC Championship Meet in Jacksonville, Fla., which was won by the University of Florida.

The LSU gymnast who turned 23 on April 6 and is a mass communications major won the SEC and NCAA vault championships in 2008. She also won the conference balance beam title in 2009.

According to the LSU Tigers' gymnastics web site, Jackson hopes to perform with Cirque du Soleil after competing in college as several former NCAA gymnasts including Yvonne Tousek of UCLA have in the past. Jackson also cited scrapbooking as her favorite hobby.

Along with Jackson, Tiger gymnasts Summer Hubbard and Sabrina Franceschelli, who are both also seniors, had outstanding meets for LSU even though the team placed fourth behind Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

LSU now heads to Penn State for a regional meet which will feature second-ranked Oklahoma and their star gymnast Holly Vise, a former Olympian. The Tigers are currently ranked eighth in the nation.