Da Boot Sports
3/18/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: Alyssa Leal


   DULUTH, Ga. – The No. 6 LSU Gymnastics team finished third at the 2023 SEC Championships with a score of 197.800 on Saturday night in Gas South Arena. 

LSU competed in Session II alongside top-seeded Florida, third seed Kentucky and fourth seed Alabama and recorded the program's third highest overall score at the conference championships with their score on the night.


The Tigers improved their NQS to 197.840 after their performance at the SEC Championships. Selections for the NCAA postseason will take place on Monday, March 20, at 11 a.m. CT on NCAA.com.


"We're always disappointed when we know we left things on the floor, but the other part of that is that they continued to show their fight and their grit. Our score was consistent with what've done all year," said head coach Jay Clark. "Given the circumstances, I am just proud of their continued fight. Now, we move onto regionals."


LSU started off on bars, where Alexis Jeffrey led off with a solid 9.850 routine. Olivia Dunne followed with a season high of 9.850. Tori Tatum scored her fourth 9.900 this season to match her career high. Aleah Finnegan added another 9.850 in the fourth spot and Haleigh Bryant anchored with a 9.875 to round out the team's score of 49.325. 


The Tigers then moved to beam, where Shchennikova and Jeffrey each scored a 9.875. Sierra Ballard scored a 9.850 in the third spot and Bryant followed with a 9.825. Finnegan anchored with her 9.925 performance to close the second rotation with a score of 49.350 and notch the squad's sixth-highest score on the event at the conference meet. 


Florida led the meet at the halfway point with a score of 99.075, while Alabama followed with a 98.925, Kentucky with a 98.725 and LSU with a 98.675.


LSU showed out in the third rotation on the floor. Ballard led off with a strong 9.900 to set the tone and Shchennikova followed with another 9.900. Chase Brock matched her career high and posted a 9.925, which she has recorded three times this season. Finnegan and Bryant were nearly perfect and earned 9.950's in the fifth and sixth spots to boost the Tigers floor score of 49.625. The score tied for the highest score on the event at the SEC Championships.


In the final rotation, Arenas started things off with her 9.900 on vault and Shchennikova followed with a 9.875. Finnegan earned a 9.900 in the third spot, while Bryce Wilson scored a career 9.925 in her first postseason routine as a Tiger. Bryant anchored the vault squad with a 9.900 to close with a score of 49.500 and post the program's sixth-highest score in the meet. 


The Gators took the win in the evening session with their final score of 198.425, followed by Alabama's 197.925, LSU's 197.800 and Kentucky's 197.675.


The Tigers finished third in the SEC Championships in the squad's competition against all seven teams in the conference. After a full day of competition, Florida finished on top to win the title against Alabama, LSU, Kentucky, Auburn, Missouri, Arkansas and Georgia. 


Bryant and Finnegan finished as two of the top floor performers in the conference as they tied for second on floor with their scores of 9.950, respectively. The two finished amongst the top-1o SEC performers in the competition as Finnegan placed fourth in the all-around with her score of 39.625 and Bryant placed seventh with her score of 39.550. 


Four Tigers placed amongst the top-10 performers in the competition on vault. Wilson tied for fifth after her team-high performance while Arenas, Finnegan and Bryant tied for seventh. Finnegan also placed sixth on beam.


Tatum finished eighth on bars with her team-high 9.900 routine and Brock finished sixth on floor after matching her career high on the event. Ballard and Shchennikova also placed tenth on floor with their scores of 9.900.
​

Da Boot Sports
3/10/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: Alyssa Leal


   BATON ROUGE – The No. 6 LSU Gymnastics team (8-5, 5-3 SEC) defeated West Virginia (11-8, 1-2 BIG 12) with a score of 198.025-196.450 on Friday night to close the regular season in the PMAC.

It was a historical night for junior Haleigh Bryant, who recorded three 10’s and made program history. She became the only LSU gymnast to record three perfect scores in a single meet and only the fifth gymnast in NCAA Gymnastics to do so.

Bryant now owns 10 career perfect scores to place her to the top for most in program history. In the Tigers competition against West Virginia, she recorded her first career perfect scores on bars and floor and seventh on vault to move her total to 10.

“Tonight was a great night. We’ll enjoy this tonight and celebrate our seniors, and then it’s on to the SEC Championship next weekend,” said head coach Jay Clark. “I’m really pleased that this team has fought their way to be in the position that they are as the number two seed at SEC’s. That’s a tremendous accomplishment in all of the adversity that they’ve faced this season. There’s no quit in them.”

Junior Elena Arenas led the Tigers off on vault with her score of 9.875 and senior Alyona Shchennikova followed with 9.850. Junior Chase Brock earned a 9.750 while sophomore Aleah Finnegan followed with a 9.800. Bryant anchored with her eighth perfect score of her career on vault to close out the first rotation. The Tigers took the early lead after the first rotation with a score of 49.300. 

On bars, sophomore Alexis Jeffrey earned a 9.775 in the leadoff and sophomore Tori Tatum matched her season-high with a 9.900. Finnegan also matched her career high with a 9.925 in the fourth spot. Freshman Ashley Cowan earned a career high 9.900 in her PMAC debut and third appearance on bars this season. Bryant earned her second 10.00 on the night in the anchor spot to record her first perfect score on bars. It was the first perfect score on the event for a Tiger since 2019. 

LSU closed the second rotation with a 49.500 and the Tigers led at the halfway point, 98.800-98.100. 

Arenas led off the third rotation with a 9.850 and Shchennikova followed with a 9.875. Jeffrey posted a 9.900 in the third spot. Sierra Ballard scored a 9.825 and Bryant added a 9.875 before Finnegan closed with a strong 9.975 routine to take the win. The Tigers posted a 49.475 on beam and had the 148.275-147.450 lead going into the final rotation.

In the final floor rotation at home, Ballard led off for the Tigers and matched her career high 9.925. Shchennikova and Arenas both posted career highs with their scores of 9.975 and 9.925. Finnegan added another 9.925 in the fifth spot. Bryant recorded her third 10.00 of the night and first on floor to move her career total to 10, setting a new LSU record. 

LSU closed out the regular season victorious over West Virginia with a final score of 198.025-196.450. 

In the final home meet of the regular season, Bryant took the win with her career high all-around score of 39.875 to match April Burkholder for the highest all-around score in program history.

With her wins on vault, bars, floor and the all-around, Bryant now has 26 titles on the year: nine on vault, three on bars, three on beam, two on floor and nine all-around. The junior moved her career total to 56.

Finnegan took the beam title with her score of 9.975 on the night to earn her 14th title this year and sixth on beam.
​​

Da Boot Sports
3/3/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: Alyssa Leal


   BATON ROUGE – The No. 6 LSU Gymnastics team finished on top in the Podium Challenge as they took down No.7 California, No. 23 Washington and George Washington with a score of 197.700 on the road in the Raising Cane’s River Center. 

“This is a team that continues to step up. I’m just proud of them and their resilience,” said Head Coach Jay Clark. “I’ve been doing this for 33 years and I don’t know if I’ve seen a year that has had as much adversity as this one. They just continue to believe and continue to fight, and they're doing it for each other and for LSU.”

Junior Haleigh Bryant won the all-around for the eighth time this season with her score of 39.650 on the night. She now owns 16 all-around titles in her career to tie her at sixth for career-best in LSU history. 

LSU began the meet on vault, where junior Elena Arenas led the squad off with a huge 9.900 routine. Senior Alyona Shchennikova followed with a 9.850. Junior Chase Brock matched her career high and hit a 9.975 in the third spot. Freshman Bryce Wilson made her second career appearance on vault and scored a 9.850 before junior Haleigh Bryant anchored with a 9.975. The Tigers earned a 49.550 in the first rotation.

Sophomore Alexis Jeffrey led off the bars squad with a 9.900 and junior Olivia Dunne followed with a 9.825. Sophomore Tori Tatum posted a 9.875 while freshman Ashley Cowan made her second collegiate appearance and posted a 9.850. Shchennikova scored a 9.800 in the fifth spot and Bryant anchored with a 9.900. LSU scored a 49.350 in the second rotation.

The Tigers were tied with California at the halfway point with a score of 98.900, followed by Washington’s 98.625 and George Washington’s 98.300.

On beam, Arenas started things off with a 9.825 followed by a 9.725 from Shchennikova. In her second career appearance on beam, Jeffrey scored a 9.850. Junior Sierra Ballard recorded a strong 9.900 and Bryant added a 9.850 in the fifth spot. In her return to the beam lineup, freshman Bryce Wilson anchored with a career high 9.850.

Ballard led off with a 9.850 routine on floor to begin the final rotation in the River Center. Shchennikova earned a 9.900 in the second spot followed by Brock, who continued her night with a 9.925 to match her career high. Arenas scored a 9.875 and Jeffrey scored a 9.750 before Bryant anchored with her Bryant anchored with her 9.975 to close out the competition with a floor score of 49.525.

The Tigers battled their way through adversity to come out victorious in the quad meet with California, Washington and George Washington. LSU finished with a 197.700 on the night, followed by California’s 197.675, Washington’s 196.000 and George Washington’s 195.125. 

Bryant earned her eighth all-around and vault titles with her scores of 9.975 on vault and 39.650 in the all-around to move her total to 22 titles this year She now owns 52 titles in her career to tie her at tenth in program history for most individual titles.

Brock recorded her first win after also taking the vault title in the quad meet. Her scores of 9.975 on vault and 9.925 on floor marked back-to-back meets that the junior recorded career high scores.

​The Tigers return home for senior night and the final regular season competition of the season next Friday, March 10, against West Virginia at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network Plus.