BATON ROUGE – The LSU gymnastics team will begin the 2006 season with its highest preseason ranking in program history as the Tigers are listed at No. 7 in the annual Coaches Poll released this week.

 Defending SEC and NCAA champions, Georgia, top the preseason poll earning 603 points and 15 first-place votes. The GymDogs are followed by Utah at No. 2 (586), UCLA at No. 3 (579) and Alabama (532) and Michigan (492) at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

 SEC foe Florida snuck in ahead of the Tigers at No. 6 with 470 points. LSU (443), Nebraska (424), Stanford (417) and Oklahoma (383) round out the top 10.

 Other SEC schools cracking the list of 25 include Auburn at No. 15 (213), Arkansas at No. 20 (171) and Kentucky at No. 23 (88).

 The Tigers’ 2006 schedule will once again be jam-packed with elite teams as LSU is scheduled to take on nine top-15 opponents and another three that are ranked among the top 25.

 The Tigers open the 2006 season Friday, Jan. 6, when they host the Super Six Challenge at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.