The party keeps rolling
This was way less stressful than last year’s ending.
LSU advanced to nationals for the second straight year Sunday with a big win at the Fayetteville Regional Final. The Tigers scored a 198.250 to take home the regional title, the 20th in program history and 14th since moving to the NCAA from the AIAW, and advanced alongside #10 Arkansas who scored a 197.825 for their first trip to nationals since 2018. #7 Kentucky scored a 197.475 and #15 Minnesota scored a 197.400. This is LSU’s 33rd appearance at NCAA nationals in program history.
Like last time, I will give the judge-by-judge breakdown, in order of the judges on the scoresheet, of each score unless all four judges agreed on the score. The links to the routines will come when this article and the semifinal recap article are updated Monday, so watch out for those. Anyway, let’s jump right in.
LSU Beam 49.450 (LSU in 1st)
LSU kicked things off with a solid beam rotation. Sierra Ballard led off with a 9.800 (9.80/9.80/9.85/9.80). She had some leg form in her acro series (.05), hit her full turn, was short on her sissonne (.05) and switch half (.05), had a shoulder check on her kickover front (.05), stepped back (.1) on her roundoff (RO) back 1.5 and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). It was a fine start. [9.650]
Savannah Schoenherr followed with a 9.825 [9.85/9.85/9.80/9.75]. She had leg form in her front aerial (.05), a check at the end of her acro series (.05), a good full turn, a hit beat jump to hit but cheated (.05) straddle 3/4, a balance correction (.05) and slight hop (.05) on her RO back double full and a well held finishing position. It was fine. [9.750]
Konnor McClain nailed her set for a 9.950. She had some leg form in her acro series (.05), but that was it. She does this so consistently, it’s easy to take her talent and execution for granted. [9.950]
Kiya Johnson followed with a 9.850 [9.85/9.85/9.80/9.85]. She hit her full turn, hit her acro series, came up short on each leap (.1) and had a wobble (.05) with her leg off the beam (.1), hit her front toss, stuck her RO back double full and held the finishing position for a full second. This was a little wobbly, but she finished it strong. [9.750]
Haleigh Bryant began her incredible meet with a 9.925 [9.95/9.90/9.95/9.90]. She hit her acro series, hit her leap series, hit her full turn, has a slight check on her standing front (.05), hit her split jump, hopped forward slightly (.05) on her standing punch Rudi and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). The checks weren’t all that egregious, and this was solid. [9.850]
Aleah Finnegan finished things off with a 9.900. The only deduction I noticed was a hop back (.1) on her gainer full. Other than that, his was impeccable. [9.900]
Overall, this was the kind of start LSU needed before going to floor.
LSU Floor 49.625 (LSU in 1st)
This rotation didn’t score as well as the semifinal rotation, but it was close to being as high quality. Konnor led off with a 9.900 [9.90/9.95/9.90/9.90]. She hit her double layout (DLO), hit her switch jump, cheated the turn (.05) on her hit switch half and took a step across her body out of her back 1.5 to front full (.05). This was her usual. [9.900]
Amari Drayton followed up with another 9.900 [9.95/9.90/9.90/9.90]. She hit her DLO, hit her front through to double tuck, overdid her wolf turn (I don’t like this as a deduction, but these floor judges were not having it), didn’t have her front leg up high enough on her switch ring (.05) and hit her switch half. This was a very good routine with nice control. [9.950]
KJ Johnson nailed her floor routine for a 9.925 [9.95/9.90/9.95/9.90]. She slid back very slightly on her full-in (.05), nailed her back 1.5 to front layout (FLO), hit her switch side to cheated (.05) Popa and nailed her double tuck. That leap series is going to keep her from getting 10s from stingy judges, it seems. [9.900]
Aleah scored a 9.950 [9.95/9.95/10.0/9.95]. This routine had better tumbling than her 10.0, but she did not hit her tour jete half at all (.05) and it got bopped by three judges. [9.950]
Haleigh followed with a 9.925 [9.90/9.95/9.95/9.90]. She slid a little on her hit front double front (.05), hit her switch leap, cheated (.05) her hit switch full and nailed her FLO to Rudi. With a standard as high as hers, this is merely okay. Compared to what other gymnasts do, this was incredible. [9.900]
Kiya anchored with a 9.925 [9.95/9.90/9.95/9.90]. She slid back on her full-in (.05), nailed her back 1.5 to FLO, nailed her leap series and nailed her double pike. This was a very good routine that was definitely a PMAC 10. [9.950]
Overall, it’s LSU on floor in 2024, there’s not much to say when it looks like that. It’s ridiculous to think that 49.625 is pedestrian, but that’s the street this team’s paved.
LSU Vault 49.550 (LSU in 1st)
This was a perfect time to bring out a great vault rotation. KJ led off with a 9.925 [9.95/9.95/9.90/9.90] on her Yurchenko Full. It was basically perfect except for when she failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). The obsession exists for a reason. [9.900]
Aleah followed up with a 9.850 [9.85/9.85/9.85/9.80] on her Yurchenko 1.5 (Y1.5). She took a step forward (.1) and had a bit of a balance issue (.05), but she held the finishing position for a full second, something she has missed on vault many times. Improvement is always good. [9.850]
Amari followed with a 9.875 [9.90/9.85/9.90/9.80] on her Y1.5. She landed on the right guide line (.05 for direction) and hopped forward (.1), then she held her finishing position for a full second. This was very close to being stuck and was one of her best vaults of the season so far.
Sav scored a 9.800 [9.80/9.80/9.75/9.80] on her Y1.5. She had insufficient height (.05), underrotated the vault pretty badly (.1), landed on the right guide line (.05), hopped back (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. The lack of height really hurt this vault, and that was bound to happen from the block on the table. [9.700]
Kiya scored a 9.900 [9.90/9.85/9.90/9.90] on her Yurchenko Double. She hopped back (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. It was solid. [9.900]
Haleigh anchored with a 10.0 [10.0/10.0/10.0/9.95] on her front handspring front pike half. It was a 10. It’s a stuck Haleigh Bryant vault with no direction issues, chest position issues or finishing position hold issues. It was the 17th 10.0 of her career and 10th on vault, braking a tie she held with Jennifer Wood for most on vault and on any single event in LSU history. [10.0]
Overall, this was the kind of vault rotation LSU needed going into the final quarter of the meet.
LSU Bars 49.625 (LSU wins)
This was a tense rotation after the start, but it was unreal. Alexis Jeffrey led off with a 9.200 [9.20/9.20/9.20/8.95]. She hit her first handstand, hit a nice Maloney, hit her bail handstand, came up short on her final handstand (.05), overdid her half-in half-out (HIHO) and had a low landing (.05) with a fall (.5, hands hit mat), a step forward of her right foot (.1) and a side step of her left foot when coming up (.1). By rule, she is not required to hold the finishing position after a fall. That was her first fall and was the result of coming off the bar a little too early. This created some tension the rest of the routines would have to ignore. [9.250]
Ashley Cowan followed up the fall with a 9.900 [9.90/9.95/9.90/9.90]. She hit her first handstand, nailed her Ray to overshoot, hit her final handstand, hopped on her DLO (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. This was very close to being perfect and was as clean on the bars as she’s ever been. [9.900]
Kiya finished her meet with a 9.925 [9.90/9.95/9.95/9.90]. She hit her first handstand, failed to have a straight body position in her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, came up short on her final handstand (.05), stuck her DLO and held the finishing position for a full second. This was clutch. [9.900]
Konnor followed with a clutch 9.950 [9.95/9.95/9.95/9.85]. She nailed her first handstand, hit her best Church to Pak of the season, didn’t hit a handstand in her full turn (.05), hit her final handstand, had a slight hop back on her HIHO (.05) and held the finishing position for a full second. This was as poised a routine as a freshman could do in this situation, and it harkened back to her experience in bigger competitions. [9.900]
Sav hit her routine for a 9.850 [9.85/9.90/9.80/9.85], just .050 off what would’ve been needed to clinch a spot at nationals while counting the 9.200. She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her Jaeger (.05), hit her second handstand, came up short on her third handstand (.05), hit her bail handstand, went way over on her final handstand (.1), cowboyed (.05) her double front half, hopped back (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. This looked a tad nervy, but she’s also been dealing with a bit of a shoulder issue recently. [9.650]
Head coach Jay Clark was thinking about pulling Haleigh for Livvy since her elbow was feeling a little sore, but she felt she could go. She finished the rotation with another 10.0 [10.0/10.0/10.0/9.95]. This was genuinely perfect with no deductions. Even College Gym News’ Rhiannon Franck gave it five stars. This set a new LSU record for highest score on bars at regionals, breaking the old record of 9.975 set by Haleigh Bryant at the 2023 Denver Regional Finals. This was the 18th 10.0 of Haleigh’s career, which laps the field for most in LSU history since the two gymnasts tied for second each have nine. This was the 10th bars 10.0 in LSU history, a feat Haleigh has accomplished four times (nobody else has more than two). This was the 100th 10.0 in LSU history. This capped off a 39.850 all-around performance, a new LSU record for any postseason meet. Most of the things I have to say about Haleigh are new records, and it’s a little unbelievable. [10.0]
This is a new record for a bars rotation at an NCAA postseason meet in LSU history by 0.100, surpassing the previous mark set at the 2023 Denver Regional Final. This was clutch as could be with hit after hit after hit following the fall. What a way to close it out.
Overall thoughts
There is nothing to gripe about, nothing to complain about, nothing to harp on about, and there’s a big reason for that: they looked like they were at home. They started on beam for the first time since the Collegiate Quad Meet in January and made that look like nothing. They went and hit clutch routines left and right. They showed what they’re made of and are off to Fort Worth. The next step will be the first national semifinal, and if you aren’t aware of the opponents, you will when the preview comes out early next week.