The first crown protection of the season is here
The first title defense comes tonight.
The reigning SEC and national champion #2 LSU gymnastics team has made it to the postseason with their eyes on a title defense. The Tigers are looking for a strong score in what’s certain to be one of the best SEC Championships of all time as they compete against #1 Oklahoma, #3 Florida and #7 Missouri in the night session in Birmingham. LSU is in search of their sixth ever title and wouldn’t mind seeing a few gymnasts earn SEC titles of their own. The meet begins at 7:00 on SECN with John Roethlisberger, Aly Raisman and Sam Peszek on the call and Taylor Davis performing floorside duties.
Evening session teams’ history at SECs since 2019
Oklahoma is making their first appearance at the SEC Championship after spending each season since 1996 in the Big 12. They won the Big 12 every year under KJ Kindler except for 2007, 2011 and 2021 for a total of 14 titles. LSU’s last five finishes were, in order from 2019-24, #1, #2, #5, #3 and #1. Florida’s last five finishes were #2, #3, #1, #1, and #4. Missouri is making their SEC evening session debut. Their last five finishes were #8, #6, #4, #6 and #5.
A brief look at the afternoon session
At 2:30, the last four teams in the SEC Championship will face each other, those being #8 Kentucky, #10 Georgia, #12 Auburn and #13 Alabama. One team is missing due to the new format change that leaves out the lowest ranked team. That happens to be #16 Arkansas this year, a team that made nationals last year. Anyway, this is a quick overview of these teams since they aren’t a threat for the team championship.
#8 Kentucky will start their meet on vault. The Wildcats have hit a stride in the last two meets with high 197s, something they lacked most of the season. Their goal tonight is to try and remain consistent and lock in for a push to nationals, something they should see as an attainable goal. If they’re on and Missouri isn’t, they might even sneak into the top four again.
#10 Georgia will start on bars. This has been a successful season for the formerly desolate GymDogs. They closed out the season with six straight 197s, their most 197s in a regular season since 2019. They capped off their regular season with a 197.975, the sixth-best regular season score in the history of the program. Their goal is to try and build off that momentum and seize a higher seed, particularly one on the 8/9 line. A top four finish is highly unlikely, but so is an 8th place finish like they’ve done the last three years.
#12 Auburn will start on beam. If you watched the most recent LSU meet, you just saw this team. They are unpredictable due to their injury situation as I said last week. Yes, they put up a strong score last week, but can they do it again? This meet is all about improving NQS and hitting a stride that could push them into an upset berth at nationals. Honestly, their first goal is to make regional finals after the last two years.
#13 Alabama will start on floor. What on earth happened to Alabama? Last season, they were way better. The fabulous fifth years couldn’t have been the only thing holding this team together, but that seems to have been the case. Alabama is essentially hosting this championship and they are lucky to be here. They had the benefit of an extra meet compared to Arkansas and it gave them enough of a boost to make it here. Alabama has a roughly quarter century-long streak of top three finishes at SECs. If they do it this year, I will be flabbergasted.
Let’s jump into the teams sharing the floor with LSU, three teams whom LSU has not seen in over a mnonth. All event rankings are relative to the rest of the SEC.
#7 Missouri (starts on beam)
Missouri is ranked #7 on vault [49.285], #4 on bars [49.435], #7 on beam [49.370] and t-#3 on floor [49.545].
One of Missouri’s big goals coming into this season was making the night session of SECs for the first time. They did that through underrated consistency and their first 198 in program history. Their last three meets were the ones that allowed them to push through to the evening session, all of which were top four in program history. The top three teams would be foolish to overlook this squad.
In terms of championship contenders, there’s a couple. One of two reigning SEC bars champs is a Missouri Tiger: Mara Titarsolej. She can still hit at a high level. The top contender for the beam title is Helen Hu, the only person in the country with two 10s on the event in 2025. If she doesn’t win SEC Specialist of the Year, the award loses meaning.
#3 Florida (starts on floor)
Florida is ranked #2 on vault [49.485], #2 on bars [49.495], #2 on beam [49.555] and t-#3 on floor [49.545].
Yep, it’s still Florida. They are still one of the best teams in the country like they are every year. Since LSU last faced them, one major thing has changed: Sloane Blakely tore her Achilles. Despite that, the Florida machine has barely lost a step. They are still very good and can’t be overlooked as a threat for the team title if they hit.
For individual titles, it’s basically everyone. Florida’s superstar all-arounders Selena Harris-Miranda and Leanne Wong are capable of taking home any event title and the all-around title, and so are the specialists.
#1 Oklahoma (starts on vault)
Oklahoma is ranked #3 on vault [49.475], #1 on bars [49.600], #1 on beam [49.565] and #1 on floor [49.615].
Oklahoma is very good, but their strength comes from their lack of weakness. Basically, they aren’t going to put up a 198.600 or something like last year, but they aren’t going to go lower than 197.700 barring unexpected disasters. Their season high came last week with a 198.475 at Georgia, and that might be enough to win the title. If they’re on, they’re going to beat you. Oklahoma cannot be beat when they hit at their highest level, it’s just not possible based on how they coach and develop their team.
Again, everyone is a threat for an individual title, though Jordan Bowers and Faith Torrez are expected to be top contenders for the all-around title.
#2 LSU (starts on bars)
LSU is ranked #1 on vault [49.525], #3 on bars [49.490], #3 on beam [49.475] and #2 on floor [49.580].
To be perfectly honest, no amount of analysis is going to matter when it comes to this championship because the top three teams are about as equally likely as each other to take home the title. It’s a waiting game to see who hits up to their potential, and that’s what makes this so fun. This is an SEC title with the top three teams in the nation facing off. There is no conference outside the MAC, a chaotic masterpiece of a championship, with this many teams with a legitimate chance at a title. The best way for me to push against some of my anxiety is to enjoy what should be one of the greatest SEC championships in any sport ever and let what happens happen.
There are still regionals implications from the scores at this meet, and that leads to the final edition of the NQS-capades for 2025.
NQS-capades
This is the last meet that counts toward NQS. As with last week, LSU can get the #1 seed with a 198.400 no matter Oklahoma’s score. LSU cannot drop below the #3 overall seed, and they can prevent Florida from having any shot at jumping them with a 198.125. If Oklahoma fails to score better than 197.925, LSU can jump them with a 197.825 or better. All of these numbers are meaningless. The only number that matters is 1: the finish they want at the end of the night.