I got senior night tears writing this
Give these seniors your love for the last time.
The reigning SEC and national champion #2 LSU gymnastics team is back home for the final time in 2025. Tonight, they host a surging #10 Georgia in a meet LSU needs to win to have a shot at their first SEC regular season title in seven years. Tonight is also senior night for 10 fourth, fifth and sixth year seniors that have become program stalwarts. The meet begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SECN+ with Garrett Walvoord and Kaleigh Dickson Abboud on the call. Doors to the PMAC will open at 6:00, and make sure to get there early for the two giveaways tonight. The first 2,000 fans will receive a t-shirt featuring the seniors and beyond that, they’re also giving away a plush Mike the Tiger.
Matchup history between LSU and Georgia
LSU is 46-71-2 all-time against Georgia and 11-12-1 at home. The last time the two met on the same floor came on February 9, 2024, in Stegeman Coliseum. LSU won 197.625-197.075 and Haleigh Bryant completed her gym slam in that meet. Georgia’s last win in the PMAC came under the direction of head coach Jay Clark back in 2011. LSU is looking to extend their overall win streak against the GymDogs to 23.
About #10 Georgia
2024 was the point Georgia recognized it was time for change. They finished dead last at SECs for the third straight year and finished 18th overall, their fourth straight finish outside the top 16. The solution was obvious: clean house and reset. That worked better than anyone could’ve anticipated.
The GymDogs lost just two routines from their 2024 squad, and they replaced them with incredible talent. They acquired national vault runner up Anaya Smith as a grad transfer out of Arizona State, brought in Hungarian Olympian Csenge Bacskay as a junior from Nebraska and Kara Eaker, a transfer from Utah who’d initially retired prior to the 2024 season. They also brought in a large freshman class headlined by 5-star Harley Tomlin, who is Mike Tomlin’s daughter if you were wondering. Their superstar is Lily Smith, the 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year and all-arounder who rotated with LSU at nationals last year.
The GymDogs are 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. Their most recent meet was a 197.200-197.150 home win over then-#9 Kentucky. Despite the win, Georgia dropped behind Kentucky because this is a funny sport. Georgia will be looking for a major upset win by showing their stability, though they’re more interested in a strong performance that can keep them in the hunt for the night session of the SEC Championship.
UGA is tied for #15 on vault with Missouri [49.155], #10 on bars [49.330], #5 on beam [49.370] and #18 on floor [49.290]. Georgia is one of two teams in the country led by co-head coaches. Ryan Roberts has held the title slightly longer, taking over the job in April after two years as an assistant. His counterpart as head coach is Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, best known for being Simone Biles’ most recent head coach. They are assisted by a couple of assistants, as in they’re literally married, in Oleksii Koltakov and Marissa King. Both were assistant coaches at Nebraska the past two years before arriving in Athens.
About #2 LSU
(recap of Monday’s press conference)
LSU is tied for #2 on vault with Florida [49.430], #7 on bars [49.370], #3 on beam [49.435] and tied for #6 on floor with Alabama [49.475].
Expect a return to normal lineups after the tweaks from the Podium Challenge. That means Aleah Finnegan in the AA, Kaliya Lincoln on vault and floor, and KJ Johnson on vault (she made the meet graphic, I assume she’s going to compete). Since it’s senior night, expect exhibitions from some people who may not be competing regularly, though don’t expect one from Olivia Dunne. She announced that she won’t be available due to an avulsion fracture in her patella.
I’ll skip a full NQS-capades bit this week because LSU is at home and has less room to move. That said, LSU needs a 197.925+ to remain #2 in the country. If they hit like they did last week, that won’t be a problem.
Senior night sappiness
Senior night means it’s time to get a little sappy. I don’t think it’s crazy to say this one is going to hit like a ton of bricks when it’s all over. This is the last time we’ll ever get to see some of LSU’s icons take floor as gymnasts. Alyona Shchennikova has been at LSU since I got to LSU back in 2019 and is the last remaining active gymnast ever coached by D-D Breaux.
This is the last time a Finnegan gymnast will compete on the PMAC floor, closing a book littered with unforgettable memories. This is the last time we’ll get to see Sierra Ballard take the floor in the place she makes everyone love more by her unrivaled passion for LSU. This is the last time we get to watch KJ Johnson live out a dream she never knew she would’ve been able to live. She was the first person that got me to really care about this sport because of me randomly uploading her Gym 101 floor routine her freshman year.
I don’t want to single out anyone, but it’s Haleigh Bryant’s last time competing in the PMAC, and she deserves to be singled out. She and her parents are three of the single nicest people you’ll ever meet in your lives. Jay’s said it plenty of times, but she’s literally 10x better as a person than she is as a gymnast. She’s going to be back in Baton Rouge in five years leading a team as a head coach, mark my words. Also, she’s done basically everything there is to do as an LSU gymnast, but I’ll save that for when she retires.
LSU needs to take care of business first and focus on the five minutes in front of their face. Go out and beat Georgia first, then celebrate the seniors. If they do that, they’ll be one step from another trophy.