Gymnastics Performs Fast & Focused, Downing No. 2 Florida

Photo By: Jonathan Mailhes

Da Boot Sports
2/18/2023
By: Terrill J. Weil


   BATON ROUGE, LA - It was an electric night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday as a crowd of 12,000 plus witnessed LSU's strongest performance of the season. 

   Florida faulted early in the bars and the Lady Tigers took advantage of the mistakes as they defeated the #2 ranked Gators, 198.100 - 197.975 

   LSU finally put an entire meet together with strong showings in all four events. The performance showed the nation how talented this group of young ladies are, as they competed at the highest level, a level that everyone has been waiting to see since the season began. 

   In the opening vault event LSU was lead by Haleigh Bryant's 9.975 and Aleah Finnegan's 9.950, while
the Gators were having struggles on the bars. 

   Next, the Lady Tigers took to the bars in dominating fashion with six outstanding scores to keep them ahead of the #2 ranked team in the country at the halfway point. 
   Bryant again led LSU with a 9.950 while Elena Arenas, Alexis Jeffrey and Tori Tatum scored a solid 9.900 each. Alyona Shchennikova and Finnegan each finished with 9.850

   The beam is where LSU has had most of their struggles so far this season, but ended up performing with grace and focus, scoring their best overall score of the season in the event. 
   Aleah Finnegan was perfect in her routine, scoring a 10.00, followed by Bryant's 9.925 and Kai River's 9.900,..
KJ Johnson landed a nice 9.875 while Shchennikova scored a 9.850 and Arenas recorded a 9.825

   LSU put an exclamation point on their victory with their typical strong showing on the floor. KJ Johnson led the way with a 9.950 that should have been a 10.00, followed by Bryant's outstanding 9.925,.. Shchennikova  finished with a 9.925 while Finnegan landed a 9.900, Sierra Ballard's 9.875 and Arenas with a 9.825

   With the win the 8th ranked Tigers are now 3-5 overall and 3-3 in SEC action. 

   Next up LSU will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama, Friday, Feb. 24 at 7:00pm CT. 

---

Photos Below By: Jonathan Mailhes

---