And picks up a couple natties along the way
One step remains.
The #2 LSU gymnastics team earned their spot in the national finals Thursday for the second straight year after dominating the first national semifinal with a 198.1125. #3 Cal advanced with the Tigers with a 197.7125, the first time they’ve ever made it to the finals. Stanford finished 3rd in the session and 5th overall with a 197.0750 and #10 Arkansas finished last in the session and 7th overall with a 196.4750. The two advancing teams will face off against #4 Utah and #5 Florida Saturday at 3:00 for the national championship. No, that’s not a mistake.
A quick summary of the second semifinal
Maybe you decided to avoid watching the second semifinal because you weren’t interested in Oklahoma dominating yet another meet. If so, I have some news to share: Oklahoma missed the finals. Their first vault was a fall, and then they had to count two near falls that went below 9.5. Oklahoma went 48.3250 on vault, which means they lost more in that one rotation than they did in eight of their 16 meets in 2024. They also counted a fall on beam. That said, it could’ve been worse, just ask Alabama. The Tide had four beam falls and put up a 47.2500, their worst beam score since 1994. Oklahoma finished 3rd in the session and 6th overall with a 196.6625 while Alabama finished last in the session and 8th overall with a 195.4125. This result guarantees that Florida’s run from 2013-15 is the most recent threepeat.
Haleigh Bryant wins All-Around title, Aleah Finnegan wins floor title
Of the five individual titles that anyone could earn, three came from people in the first session (also Anna Roberts of Stanford on vault). Haleigh became the first gymnast since the end of event finals to win the all-around title from the early session, and she did so by the slimmest possible margin. Leanne Wong and Jade Carey finished 2nd with matching 39.7000s, but Haleigh’s 39.7125 stood strong. Susan Jackson is the only other LSU gymnast to win the NCAA all-around title, having done so in 2010. Haleigh joins Susan Jackson, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, Sarah Finnegan, Kennedi Edney and Rheagan Courville in the multiple national championships club at LSU.
Aleah Finnegan also managed to hold onto her national title by .0125. Eight gymnasts finished with a 9.9500 across both sessions. Aleah is the fourth LSU gymnast to win a floor title alongside Nicki Arnstad in 2002, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney in 2009 and Ashleigh Gnat in 2017. Sarah and Aleah are, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, the first pair of sisters to win individual NCAA championships. LSU will add an 11th name to the banner of national champs, and maybe they’ll have to put an “S.” before Sarah’s spot.
I’m writing this breakdown as quickly as I can with the detail that it deserves. This is the point at which there are six judges scoring each event. Unless all six agreed on a score, I will be putting a breakdown of the judges’ scores next to the score each person received ordered from judge 1-judge 6. I will be giving my own deductions or ideas for where judges could’ve deducted to get the given score in parenthesis and giving my overall score in brackets after each routine. It’s the same format as usual.
LSU Vault 49.3250 (LSU in 2nd)
This was a fine start. KJ Johnson led off with a 9.8250 (9.85/9.80/9.85/9.80/9.80/9.85) on her Yurchenko Full. She had a shoulder angle issue (.05, head was way behind her arms) and hopped back (.1), but she held the finishing position for a full second and avoided unnecessary deductions. It was a decent start [9.800]
Chase Brock took the spot Aleah Finnegan normally occupies and scored a 9.8250 (9.85/9.80/9.80/9.85/9.75/9.85) on her Yurchenko 1.5 (Y1.5). She took an uncontrolled (.05) step forward (.1), had a slight step in place (.05) and never held her finishing position (.05). Aleah had trouble in warmups, so it was good to have Chase ready to hit. [9.750]
Amari Drayton followed with a 9.8125 (9.80/9.85/9.80/9.75/9.80/9.85) on her Y1.5. She underrotated it (.1), stepped back with her right foot (.1), slid her left foot (.05) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). She really wants a stick like she got at Florida, but she’d get better scores if she was okay taking a step forward and showing how good her vault mechanics are. [9.700]
Savannah Schoenherr got the first stick of LSU’s day on her Y1.5 and scored a 9.9000. She stuck it with a lean (.05) and an arm swing to maintain balance (.05), and she held her finishing position for a full second. This was good, but she’s capable of better. Hopefully she’s just saving that for Saturday. [9.900]
Kiya Johnson scored a 9.8750 (9.90/9.85/9.90/9.90/9.85/9.85) on her Yurchenko Double Full. She had leg separation in her first flight (.05), hopped back (.1) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). It’s her standard vault performance, but it was well centered. [9.800]
Haleigh closed the rotation with a 9.9000 (9.95/9.90/9.90/9.90/9.90/9.90) on her front handspring front pike half. She hopped back (.1), carried her momentum through her landing (.05) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). It was solid, but it lacked her usual control. [9.800]
Overall, this was fine. Everyone stayed on their feet and left room for improvement.
LSU Bars 49.4750 (LSU in 1st)
Bars looked a bit better, but it had as many sticks. Alexis Jeffrey led off with a 9.8125 (9.85/9.85/9.80/9.80/9.80/9.80). She was short on her first handstand (.05), bent her arms to catch her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, landed her half-in half-out (HIHO) with a low chest (.05) and a hop (.1), and held the finishing position for a full second. This was fine, but a stuck landing would’ve made it a bit better. [9.750]
Ashley Cowan followed with a 9.8750 (9.90/9.85/9.90/9.85/9.90/9.85). She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her Ray (.05), bent her arms to catch her overshoot (.05), hit her final handstand, hopped slightly (.05) on her double layout (DLO) and held her finishing position for a full second. This wasn’t her best routine, her overshoot was lower than usual, but it was good enough. [9.850]
Kiya broke through with a 9.9000 (9.95/9.85/9.85/9.90/9.95/9.90). She hit her first handstand, bent her arms in her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, hit her third handstand, came up short on her final handstand (.05), stuck her DLO and held her finishing position for a full second. This was really good. [9.900]
Konnor McClain did slightly better and scored a 9.9125 (9.90/9.95/9.95/9.90/9.90/9.90). She hit her first handstand, hit her Church to Pak, came up short on the handstand in her low-bar half turn (.05), hit her final handstand, hopped back slightly on her HIHO (.05) and held her finishing position for a full second. That was a near-perfect routine with a fantastic landing. [9.900]
Sav followed with a 9.8625 (9.80/9.90/9.85/9.85/9.85/9.90). She hit her first handstand, caught her Jaeger well, hit her second handstand, came up short on her third handstand (.05), hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, hopped (.1) on her cowboyed (.05) double front half and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). It was fine. [9.750]
Haleigh anchored with a 9.9250 (9.95/9.95/9.95/9.90/9.85/9.90). She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her Jaeger (.05), hit her second handstand, hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, hopped back on her double front half (.1) and held her finishing position for a full second. It was pretty much perfect until the dismount. [9.850]
Overall, this was a rotation that needed cleaner landings. Everything else was pretty solid.
LSU Beam 49.5875 (LSU in 1st)
LSU found their footing on beam. Sierra Ballard led off with a 9.9000 (9.90/9.85/9.95/9.90/9.90/9.90). She hit her acro series, hit her full turn, was short on her sissonne (.05) and switch half (.05), had a slight wobble on her kickover front (.05), stuck her roundoff (RO) back 1.5, and held her finishing position for a full second. This was really good, one of the best she’s done the entire season. [9.850]
Sav followed with a remarkable 9.9250 (9.90/9.95/9.90/9.95/9.95/9.90). She hit her front aerial, hit her acro series, hit her full turn, hit her beat jump to short (.05) straddle 3/4, stuck her RO back double full with wide feet (.05) and held her finishing position for a full second. This was her best beam routine of the year. [9.900]
Konnor kept the train rolling with a 9.9125 (9.90/9.90/9.95/9.85/9.90/9.95). She hit her leap series, had a leg form issue (.05) in her acro series, nailed her wolf jump, leaned on her full turn (.05), hit her side aerial, stuck her gainer full and held her finishing position for a full second. It was quite solid. [9.900]
Kiya followed with a 9.9000 (9.90/9.95/9.90/9.90/9.90/9.90). She nailed her full turn, hit her acro series, came up short on her leaps (.1), hit her front toss, stuck her RO back double full and held the finishing position for a full second. She’s had some recent issues with her leaps, but everything else was great. [9.900]
Haleigh killed her routine for a 9.9500 (9.95/9.90/9.95/9.95/9.95/9.95). The only deduction I saw was a slight lean on her front toss (.05), but other than that, it was incredible. [9.950]
Aleah anchored with a 9.8875 (9.85/9.90/9.90/9.85/9.90/9.90). She leaned on her acro series (.05), hit her switch leap, came up short (.05) on her split jump, hit her full turn, leaned on her front aerial (.05), stuck her gainer full and held her finishing position for a full second. Good stuff, but needs fewer leans. [9.850]
Overall, this was a very good rotation. It tied for the second best beam rotation at nationals in program history and tied for the best in a national semifinal.
LSU Floor 49.7250 (LSU wins)
This was business as usual. Konnor led off with a 9.9375 (9.90/9.95/9.90/9.95/9.95/10.0). She nailed her DLO, hit her switch leap, cheated the turn (.05) on her hit switch full and stepped across her body (.05) on her back 1.5 to front full. Overall, this was a great start. [9.900]
Amari followed with a 9.8875 (9.90/9.90/9.85/9.80/9.90/9.90). She killed her DLO, took a slight step forward (.05) out of her front through to double tuck, overdid her wolf turn (.05), hit her switch ring and came up short on her switch half (.05). Overall, it was a fine routine. [9.850]
KJ nailed her routine for a 9.9500 (9.95/9.95/9.95/9.95/9.95/9.90). Once again, she lost for imprecision in the turns in her leap series (.05). A Popa is a switch side full, and she’s doing a switch side 3/4. This was all she messed up, and her tumbling was unbelievable. [9.950]
Aleah hit a remarkable 9.9625 (9.95/9.95/9.95/9.95/10.0/10.0). The only issue I noticed was a short (.05) tour jete half, but everything else was superb. She nearly underdid her double Arabian, but she got just enough rotation to nail it and stag leap out of it. This was very deserving of a natty. [9.950]
Haleigh finished up her great meet with a 9.9375 (9.95/9.95/9.95/9.95/9.90/9.90). Once again, this had a cheated turn (.05), this time on her switch full. It was superb otherwise. [9.950]
Kiya anchored with another 9.9375 (9.90/9.95/9.90/9.90/9.95/9.95). She slid back on her full-in (.05), stuck her back 1.5 to front layout, nailed her leaps and nailed her double pike. She’s done this so many times, it’s become routine, but that’s a testament to her greatness. [9.950]
This was the best floor rotation in LSU’s nationals history by .0125. It was just another day at the office for the team, though.
Overall thoughts
This was a repeat of the regional semifinal, but instead of going 197-something, they went 198-something. It was crisper on the bars and beam, and it looked like they were getting settled into nationals. Good, now they need to do like they did at regional finals and annihilate the competition. They start on floor, which means they set the tone for the other teams on the event. If everyone has to live up to LSU’s standard on floor, they will need luck either from LSU or from themselves.
LSU also finished with 16 NCAA All-Americans, the most of any team. First-team honorees are top 4 finishers, including ties, in each session while second-team honorees are finishers 5-8 in each session. Here is a list of each award winner in alphabetical order.
Sierra Ballard: Second-Team BB
Haleigh Bryant: First-Team AA, VT, UB, BB, FX
Aleah Finnegan: First-Team FX
KJ Johnson: First-Team FX
Kiya Johnson: First-Team AA, FX; Second-Team BB
Konnor McClain: First-Team BB, FX; Second-Team UB
Savannah Schoenherr: First-Team VT, BB