Tigers put up another 198 in semifinal drubbing
Thrived and advanced.
The back-to-back SEC champion and reigning national champion LSU gymnastics team powered their way to the Pennsylvania Regional Final with a convincing 198.100, their fifth straight 198+ score. #16 Arkansas advanced alongside LSU with a 197.550. Michigan scored a 197.050 and Maryland scored a 196.825 to round things out. LSU and Arkansas will take a day off today before competing in the regional final tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. against #8 Michigan State and #9 Kentucky. I would do a longer recap of this meet if I had time, but I’m at the Alabama Regional and thus don’t have a ton of time to go into depth on what happened, so here’s a quick recap of everything.
The other three teams
Maryland was more of a factor in this meet than anyone expected. They dialed it in on all four events and put up their best regionals score ever. Vault looked spectacular with a couple of sticks, and Maddie Komoroski’s 9.950 on beam has her in position to make nationals if LSU and Kentucky qualify as teams. I really enjoyed watching them.
The main battle in this meet was between Arkansas and Michigan, and it was tight at the start. In the end, though, Arkansas pulled away and advanced after they took some pressure off by dropping a beam fall in the third rotation. They locked up their spot in the next round before their final gymnast went, but if Frankie Price wanted a spot at nationals, she had to compete. Sadly, disaster struck when she punched into her first pass and she went down in a way consistent with an Achilles tear. Head coach Jordyn Wieber spoke about how they’ll be competing for her Saturday afternoon, and if they can improve on their score, the fourth best in school history, they could upset the single-digit seeds.
LSU
I am at the point where I don’t know how you stop this team. This is what their normal looks like, and it’s still good enough to get a 198. The judges helped on that front, and I’ll admit this was closer to a high 197 than it was to a 198, but LSU was the best team on that floor by a decent margin. They had a solid start on floor, an event on which Konnor McClain warmed up prior to the meet. On vault, KJ Johnson led things off with a stick, and every counting score was a 9.900 for a total of 49.500. LSU was up to 99.050 after two before another great bars rotation that was, admittedly, not as clean as the scores indicate it was thanks to some landing errors and issues on the bars (such as with Ashley Cowan’s Ray). LSU finished things off with six hit beam routines capped off by a 9.950 by Aleah Finnegan that secured her a spot at nationals regardless of what happens Saturday.
This felt like smooth sailing for LSU. It was calm and relaxed, and that’s all LSU needs to get out of this regional. This team competes at a level that only a few other teams can, and none of those teams are in this regional. LSU needs to do at least this well to cruise into nationals, and if the last month and change have been any indication, they’re more than capable of doing it.