Da Boot Sports 4/15/2023 LSU Sports Communications By: Alyssa Leal ORT WORTH, Texas – The LSU gymnastics team concluded the 2023 season with a team score of 197.525 in the NCAA Championship Final to finish fourth nationally, Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena. Oklahoma won the NCAA Championship with a team score of 197.3875. Florida finished second (197.2375) and Utah finished third (197.9375). Junior Haleigh Bryant led the Tigers with a 39.725 all-around score, which marks the best for an LSU gymnast at an NCAA Championship in school history. Overall, four LSU gymnasts made their debut at this NCAA Championship and the program will bring back nearly all 24 routines, including more with the potential for seniors Alyona Shchennikova, Kiya Johnson and Cammy Hall for a fifth and final season. The squad opened the national championship with a 49.3125 on bars. Alexis Jeffrey and Ashley Cowan scored a 9.8375 and 9.825. Tori Tatum matched her NCAA Championship best with a 9.875. Aleah Finnegan followed with a 9.825 and Alyona Shchennikova earned a 9.80. Bryant anchored the event with a 9.95 to match the highest on the event at the NCAA Championship in school history. In the second rotation, LSU scored a 49.2375 and rebounded after a shaky opening routine. Shchennikova scored a 9.8125 to set the next four performers. Jeffrey and Ballard each followed with a 9.825. Bryant built on the rotation with a 9.85 and Finnegan anchored with a 9.925. The Tigers put up six strong floor routines heading into the final half of the meet for a 49.450. Sierra Ballard opened with a 9.8125 and Shchennikova scored a 9.85 in the second spot. Arenas earned a 9.9125 and Chase Brock matched her career high with a 9.925. Two of the top floor performers in the country, Finnegan and Bryant, ended the third rotation with a 9.925 and 9.9375 respectively. LSU punctuated the climb of the 2023 season with an outstanding 49.525 on vault. The score tied the highest at a championship final and second best at an NCAA Championship for the program. Arenas led off the squad with a 9.90 and Shchennikova scored a 9.925. Finnegan scored a 9.8625 and was sandwiched between 9.8875s from Brock and Bryce Wilson. Bryant ended the night with a 9.9875, which tied for the highest at an NCAA Championship in LSU history.
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Da Boot Sports 4/13/2023 LSU Sports Communications By: Alyssa Leal FORT WORTH, Texas – Through one of the most improbable journeys, the LSU Gymnastics program has once again punched its ticket to the NCAA Championship after finishing in the top spot at NCAA Semifinal I, Thursday afternoon at Dickies Arena. The Tigers finished on top in the afternoon semifinal with a team score of 197.475 to advance to Saturday’s championship. Fellow SEC counterpart Florida (197.400) also advanced out of the first semifinal session. California finished third with a score of 196.9125 and Denver finished fourth with 196.500 in the prelims. “I am just so proud of this team. They are such a special group. I just wanted to enjoy the ride and take it as far as we possibly could,” said head coach Jay Clark. “We’ve been riding the wave and going where it takes us. The adversity of this team has been spoken about so much and you saw the fight in them today. At the end of the meet, I just told them how in awe I am of them. I want them to enjoy these moments.” LSU has now advanced to the NCAA team final nine times in school history. This marks the second time since the Four on the Floor format began in 2019 that LSU has advanced to the championship and first time under head coach Jay Clark. The squad will compete for the program’s first NCAA Championship at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 15, at Dickies Arena. The meet, which will air live on ABC, will feature LSU, Florida and the top two finishers from Semifinal II featuring Oklahoma, Utah, UCLA and Kentucky. The Tigers’ rotation will be determined following the evening semifinal and will be based on the teams’ NQS. Junior Haleigh Bryant sits in the top spot in the all-around standings after a 39.6875. Her score is the second highest at NCAA Championships and the best in a semifinal in school history. “We’ve had so much adversity, but Jay always says that if we want to honor someone, then do it with your actions,” said Bryant. “We just want to do our best gymnastics for those people that can’t contribute right now.” Sophomore Aleah Finnegan is also in a favorable spot to take home an NCAA individual championship after a 9.9625 on floor in her NCAA Championships debut. She is tied with Florida’s Leanne Wong in first place. The NCAA championships will be determined by the performer with the top score in all four events and the all-around following the second semifinal on Thursday night. The Tigers started the semifinal competition off on beam and scored a 49.275 to sit in third following the first rotation. Elena Arenas led off with a 9.7375 and Alyona Shchennikova scored a 9.775 in the second spot. Alexis Jeffrey and Sierra Ballard both posted strong scores with a 9.8375 and 9.8125 respectively. Haleigh Bryant scored a 9.9375 and Finnegan anchored with a 9.9125. LSU climbed its way to second at the halfway point with a 49.475, which tied for the third-highest prelim score on the event in school history. Ballard set the tone for the squad with a 9.80 and Shchennikova scored a 9.8875 in the second routine. Sophomore KJ Johnson, who was a last-minute confirmation for the floor lineup, gave the Tigers a crucial performance and scored a 9.875. Finnegan earned her 9.9625 in the fifth spot and Bryant anchored with a 9.95. In the third rotation, LSU held its own after scoring a 49.250 on vault. Arenas opened the event with a 9.825 and Shchennikova scored a 9.8375 on her Yurcehnko ½. Finnegan scored a 9.85 and freshman Bryce Wilson made her debut by scoring a 9.85. Bryant anchored the event with a 9.8625. The Tigers stayed in second following both Cal and Denver counting a fall and sat just .100 behind Florida with their score of 148.000. LSU needed five hit routines to advance to the national championship and Jay Clark’s bars lineup delivered six-for six hit routines. Freshman Ashley Cowan and sophomore Tori Tatum made their NCAA debuts and delivered with their scores of 9.875. Finnegan scored a 9.925 and Shchennikova secured the squad’s spot in the championship with a 9.8625. Bryant anchored the bars lineup and the meet for the Tigers with a 9.9375, which pushed the squad to first overall. The 49.475 bars score tied for the second highest on the event at the NCAA Championships in school history and secured the Tigers trip to the championship. LSU and Florida now await the conclusion of Semifinal II to determine the two remaining teams in the final four and the championship rotation. Da Boot Sports 4/2/2023 LSU Sports Communications By: Alyssa Leal DENVER, Colo. – The sixth-ranked LSU Gymnastics team booked their ticket to the 2023 NCAA Championships after advancing out of the NCAA Denver Regional Final with their final score of 197.750 in Magness Arena. No. 14 Denver took the regional title while LSU and Michigan finished the meet tied at second. In order to determine who would advance, the sixth score from each rotation was used to break the tie between the Tigers and the Wolverines. After including all six scores from both teams, the Tigers came out on top with a score of 237.050-235.725. The squad notched the program's 32nd appearance at the NCAA Championships. "The beat goes on. We weren't perfect, but this team just continues to fight and do enough to keep it going," said head coach Jay Clark. "I'm just so proud of them and their spirt and who they are as people. They do it for each other. This is a special group, and it makes it that much sweeter that we got through it in the fashion that we did against some very good teams." LSU started off hot on vault with a score of 49.375 in the first rotation. Elena Arenas led off with a strong 9.900 to set the tone. Alyona Shchennikova scored a 9.825 in the second spot. Chase Brock posted another 9.900 and Aleah Finnegan followed with a 9.850. In her first appearance back in the lineup since the Florida meet, KJ Johnson earned a 9.850. Haleigh Bryant anchored with a 9.875. The bars squad set a new LSU regional record score and a season high score of 49.525 in the second rotation. Alexis Jeffrey recorded a career high 9.950 in the leadoff spot. Ashley Cowan posted a 9.850 in her first postseason routine as a Tiger. Tori Tatum continued to show out for the squad as she recorded a 9.900 and Finnegan recorded 9.850. Shchennikova scored a 9.825 before Bryant anchored and recorded a regional program high score with her 9.975 at the Denver Regional Final. In the third rotation, Arenas led off the beam squad with her 9.850 and Shchennikova followed with a scored 9.875. Jeffrey added another 9.850 in the third spot and Sierra Ballard followed with a 9.800. Bryant and Finnegan finished the rotation with scores of a 9.900 and a 9.950, respectively. The Tigers posted its fifth-highest score at a regional with their score of 49.425 on the day. In the final rotation on the floor, Ballard started things off with a 9.850. Shchennikova put up a 9.900 and Brock followed with a 9.850. Arenas recorded a 9.875 and Finnegan added a 9.850. Bryant anchored with a 9.950 to keep LSU in position to advance. The Tigers finished with a 49.425 on floor to close out competition in Magness Arena. LSU recorded the second highest regional score in school history with their final score of 197.750 to defeat No. 11 Oregon State and No. 3 Michigan in the tiebreaker and advance out of the Denver regional. Bryant finished as the top performer on bars and floor in the regional final with her scores on the day. The Tigers are one of eight teams headed to Fort Worth to compete in the NCAA Semifinals on Thursday, April 13, where they will face No. 2 Florida, No. 7 California and No. 14 Denver in Dickies Arena. Da Boot Sports 4/1/2023 LSU Sports Communications By: Alyssa Leal DENVER, Colo. – The sixth ranked LSU gymnastics team advanced to the Denver Regional Final on Sunday, April 2, after posting a score of 197.375 in the first session of second round competition on Friday afternoon. The Tigers finished tied at the top with No. 11 Oregon State with their final score on the day and defeated Georgia and Nebraska to advance to the round of 16. “We did just enough. It wasn’t pretty in all places, but we did enough, and that’s what matters,” said head coach Jay Clark. “That’s always the priority of this whole weekend. Whether you win, whether you’re second or whether you tie as long as you move on. This team has been through so much adversity, and they’ve been galvanized by it and come together as a group. So many kids stepped in, stood up and did the job. They’ve been fighters all year long and I’m proud of that.” Elena Arenas led things off on beam for the Tigers in Magness Arena with her score of 9.825. Alyona Shchennikova followed with a 9.800 in the second spot. Alexis Jeffrey posted a 9.900 and Sierra Ballard added a 9.850. Haleigh Bryant tied for third highest beam score at a regional with her 9.950 routine to elevate the beam squad to the tie for the program’s sixth highest score on the event with a 49.325. In the second rotation, Ballard led off with a 9.875 to start things off on floor. Shchennikova followed with another 9.875 and Chase Brock matched her career high on floor with her 9.925. Arenas posted a strong 9.900 routine and Bryant closed with a team-high 9.950 as the floor squad tied for second highest score at regionals with a 49.525. The Tigers led at the halfway point in Magness Arena with a score of 98.850 followed by Oregon State’s 98.800, Georgia’s 98.600 and Nebraska’s 97.625. On vault, Arenas led off with a 9.850 followed by Schennikova, who also posted a 9.850. Brock scored a 9.800 in the third spot and Aleah Finnegan came back strong and tallied the third 9.850 of the rotation. Wilson added a 9.825 before Bryant posted a 9.875 to close the third rotation with a vault score of 49.250. The Tigers wrapped up the meet on bars, where Jeffrey led off with a 9.900. Finnegan and Shchennikova both added scores of 9.850 before Bryant anchored with a 9.925. The bars squad finished with a 49.275 to clinch the top spot and advance to the next round. Bryant finished as the top performer in the meet with her all-around score of 39.700, which ties for the third highest score at a regional in program history. The junior also took the titles on bars and beam with her scores of 9.950 and 9.925 on the events. Her three titles on Friday afternoon moved her total to 29 titles this year with 10 on the all-around, nine on vault, four on bars, four on beam and two on floor. LSU is one step closer to making their 32nd appearance in the NCAA Championships as they will compete for the program's 14th regional title on Sunday, April 2, at 6 p.m. CT in Magness Arena. The Denver Regional Championship will feature No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Oregon State, and the top two finishers in the second session of the second round, which includes No. 3 Michigan, No. 14 Denver, Minnesota and Arizona. |