A meet nobody saw coming. Heck, a meet nobody saw.
LSU took their talents 10 minutes off campus Friday and absolutely crushed it. The Tigers recorded their largest score outside the PMAC ever and second-largest score ever with a 198.425, a score that would’ve broken the pre-2024 program record. Auburn finished second with a 197.050, George Washington finished third with a 195.100 and Texas Woman’s finished fourth with a 194.725. The second edition of the Purple & Gold Podium Challenge was a massive upgrade compared to the first edition from an in-arena perspective.
Haleigh Bryant wins SEC Gymnast of the Week, Savannah Schoenherr earns SEC Co-Specialist of the Week honors
First thing’s first, Savannah Schoenherr showed up and killed it after taking the Alabama meet off. The sixth-year senior was named one of three co-specialists of the week after a fantastic performance in which she had two scores over 9.900. It was her best meet as a Tiger by far.
Haleigh Bryant went berserk. 39.925 all-around score. That’s not a mistake, that’s not a joke, that’s just what she did. It’s not only a school record, it’s tied for the best score in a road meet in NCAA history and tied for the fourth best score in NCAA history alongside Maggie Nichols’ performance for Oklahoma at the 2/17/17 GymQuarters Invitational. She brought her career 10s total to 16 to take the active lead for herself and tie Michigan’s Beth Wymer for 10th most in NCAA history. Her vault 10 was the ninth of her career, a feat which ties Jennifer Wood for most on vault and on any single event in LSU history. She won at least a share of all five individual event titles, a feat only accomplished by one other gymnast so far this season (Cal’s Mya Lauzon in their meet at Washington). Her vault title was the 30th of her career, breaking a tie with Rheagan Courville to take sole possession of 2nd in LSU history. Her bars title was the 13th of her career, putting her into a tie with Lexie Priessman and Annie Gagnon for ninth in LSU history. Biggest of all, her all-around title was the 26th of her career, tying Rheagan Courville for the most in LSU history.
It’s preamble time: LSU released a cut of every single routine including exhibitions from this meet since it wasn’t streamed. I didn’t know they were going to do this, so I recorded all of them myself and uploaded them to Twitter. I will link every single clip I took with the corresponding routine so you can watch it. I promise you can see every skill, though splits on floor may be tough to make out.
LSU Vault 49.675 (LSU in 1st after 1)
LSU began the meet by tying their second-best vault rotation in school history. KJ Johnson led things off with a 9.925 on her Yurchenko Full. I didn’t see any deductions, she was just a bit awkward on how she came up from her landing. [9.950]
Aleah Finnegan followed up with a 9.900 on her Yurchenko 1.5 (Y1.5). She has visible knees in the air (.05 for form), hops forward (.1) and fails to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). That form needs to get better in general, and she has to hold the finish. However, the hop is better than fighting for a stick that won’t come. [9.800]
Amari Drayton did the same vault for the same score, a 9.900. She had leg separation in her first flight (.05), took two stutter steps forward (.1) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). This was a tremendous improvement over the vault from the Alabama meet. [9.800]
Sav put up a 9.950 on her Y1.5. She hopped vey slightly (.05) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). Seems like that issue that got cleaned up on the finishing positions wasn’t emphasized in practice enough, but everything else was. This was her best vault at LSU. [9.900]
Kiya Johnson got a 9.875 on her Yurchenko Double. She had leg separation in her first flight (.05), was too far to the right on the landing (.05), hopped back (.1) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). That leg separation is a common issue that needs to be fixed soon. [9.750]
Haleigh closed things out with a 10.0 on her front handspring front pike half, and it was as perfect as could be. No notes, just the standard. [10.0]
Chase Brock exhibitioned a Y1.5 and scored a 9.825. She underrotated it slightly (.05), hopped back (.1) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). This was so close to being a stick, and it showed that she has a viable vault. [9.800]
Overall, I have zero complaints about how this went. More sticks would be nice, but when the team counts five 9.9+ scores, I’m happy.
LSU Bars 49.575 (LSU in 1st after 2)
The Tigers followed up a fantastic vault rotation with a very good bars rotation. Alexis Jeffrey led things off with a 9.900. She was short on her first handstand (.05), bent her arms in her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, stuck her half-in half-out (HIHO) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). The dismount got much farther away from the bar than last time, so that’s good! [9.850]
Ashley Cowan was next with a 9.850. She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her Ray (.05), hit her overshoot, hit her final handstand, landed her double layout (DLO) with momentum carrying backward through the landing (.05) and stepped backward to salute without holding the finishing position for a full second (.05 for the college stick, .05 for failure to hold). This was fine. [9.800]
Kiya followed with a 9.875. She went over on her first handstand (.05), bent her arms in her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, went way over on her third handstand (.1), hit her final handstand, hopped back on her DLO (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. The handstands were ugly, but that was a fluke. [9.700]
Olivia Dunne made her season debut on bars with a 9.875. She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her tkatchev (.05), had leg separation in her Pak (.05), cheated her low-bar half turn (.05), hit her final handstand, had form issues (.05) in her DLO, hopped in place on the landing (.05) and held the finishing position for a full second. This showed a lot of progress and that head coach Jay Clark’s point about her being nearly good enough to go last week was accurate. [9.750]
Sav finished her incredible night with a 9.925. She hit her first handstand, caught her Jaeger close (.05) with bent arms (.05), hit her second handstand, hit her third handstand, hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, stuck her double front half and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). She managed to save this routine really well after that Jaeger catch. [9.850]
Haleigh got another 10.0, the third of her career on bars and her third in a row going back to the Alabama meet. Absolutely perfect routine. The only potential thing that takes away from it being a five-star 10 is the fact that she didn’t hold a couple of her handstands for very long, but that’s not a deduction. [10.0]
Aleah exhibitioned a bars routine, her first since Worlds, and scored a 9.825. She went over on her first handstand (.05), bent her arms to catch her piked Deltchev (.05), hit her second handstand, hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, stepped forward on her Fontaine (.1) and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). This was very good considering how long it had been since she showed anything on bars. Perhaps she can get back to being competition viable for postseason. [9.750]
Overall, this was also pretty solid. There weren’t major issues on the bars that permeated multiple routines, and that’s usually a good sign.
LSU Beam 49.500 (LSU in 1st after 3)
LSU kept the momentum going with a great beam rotation. Sierra Ballard led things off with a 9.850. She nailed her acro series, hit her full turn, was short on her sissonne (.05) to switch half (.05), hit her kickover front better than I remember her ever doing it, took a step forward (.1) and leaned (.05) on her roundoff (RO) back 1.5, and held the finishing position for a full second. This was a solid start. [9.750]
Alexis followed up with a 9.900. She hit a nice wolf turn, hit her leap series, hit her acro series, was a bit low (.05) on her standing front, stuck her RO back 1.5 and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). This is the consistency and execution that will keep her as a mainstay of the beam lineup. [9.900]
KJ made her season debut on beam in place of the sick Konnor McClain with a 9.725. She began with a press handstand mount, a change from last year’s reverse planche, she nailed her split jump, had a major balance check on her back tuck (.2 for her leg coming up off the beam, waving arms and torso adjustment) to break the connection she needed to start from 10.0, nailed her acro series, hit a side aerial to short (.05) sissonne to get back to a 10.0 start value, hit her full turn, hopped forward on her RO back 1.5 (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. That backup strategy was something that showed growth because in the second meet of the year, it seemed like that wasn’t something they’d practiced. [9.650]
Kiya scored a 9.900 on a 9.95/9.85 split. She hit her full turn, hit her acro series, was short on both of her leaps (.1), hit her front tuck, stuck her RO back double full and held the finishing position for a full second. This was fantastic. [9.900]
Haleigh couldn’t keep her 10 streak going, but she got a 9.950. Unbelievably, she did every hard skill really well, but she was short on her final split (.05), a skill nobody thinks about because it’s usually like clockwork. Oh well, it happens. [9.950]
Aleah finished things off with a 9.900. It was perfect until a substantial lean (.1) on her stuck gainer full. She also failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). This was very positive, though, because she didn’t look like she was under pressure to hit despite being under pressure to hit so they could drop the 9.725. [9.850]
Sav did a beam exhibition and scored a 9.850 on a 9.90/9.80 split. She hit her front aerial, hit her acro series, hit her full turn, hit her beat jump to short (.05) straddle 3/4, hopped back on her RO back double full (.1) and held the finishing position for a full second. This was nice and looked competition ready. [9.850]
Overall, they cleaned up the biggest thing Jay had noted was an issue on the event after the Bama meet: single acro skills like the front tosses. That’s awesome!
LSU Floor 49.675 (LSU wins)
LSU set the NCAA record for highest floor NQS ever, and it probably should’ve scored slightly higher. Olivia led things off with a 9.900. She nailed her front through to double tuck (FTDT) with a slight foot movement (.05, I haven’t pointed this out much this year, but these judges were really on top of it), hit her leap series, cheated (.05) her Y-turn and stuck her double pike. This was a great start to the rotation. [9.900]
Amari followed up with a 9.875. She slid back on her DLO (.05), slid back on her FTDT, hit her wolf turn, hit her switch ring and looked short on her switch half (.05). This was pretty solid, but it lacked some of the control she usually has. That’s potentially the result of the different feel on podium, though, and it may be something she needed to get back used to. [9.850]
KJ followed up with a gorgeous 9.950. She had a slight control issue on her full-in (.05), hit maybe the best back 1.5 to front layout (FLO) she’s done in her career, hit her switch side, failed to complete the turn in her Popa (.05) and nailed her double tuck. Upon further review, this isn’t her best routine ever nor is it a 10 because the Popa turn is a clear deduction, one that judges aren’t consistent about taking, but it was incredible. [9.900]
Aleah finished her night with a 9.825. She started with a hit double Arabian to stag that the nearside judge ruled out of bounds. Jay submitted a video inquiry, but it didn’t overturn the call. Based on video evidence I’ve seen and eyewitness testimony (a tweet) from PA announcer Mike Smith, she stayed in bounds. I believe them. Anyway, she hit her leap series, stepped across her body (.05) out of her back 2.5 to front tuck and hit her final split jump. She went a bit too far on her passes during warmups, and that translated over to her routine a bit. [9.950]
Haleigh set a new school record in the all-around with a 9.975. The only thing I noticed as a deduction was that she cheated the turn on her switch full (.05), but everything else was amazing. She even stuck her front double front for the first time all year. [9.950]
Kiya finished the night off with a 9.975 of her own (apologies for my finger accidentally getting in the way of the lens). This might’ve been the best routine she’s ever done, and the only deduction I noticed was her front foot moving on her double pike landing (.05), something that I rarely see get taken. Her first two passes were basically flawless and her leaps turned well with impressive amplitude. [9.950]
Kylie Coen did an exhibition routine and scored a 9.875. She had control issues at the end of her FLO to front double full (.1), hit her tour jete half to cheated (.05) Popa and stuck her back 2.5 layout, the best term I can think of to describe that pass. Overall, this was really good, and she showed improvement on her first pass which had given her a bunch of trouble in the past. [9.850]
Overall, this was an incredible floor rotation. By the standards this team has had, though, it was pretty decent.
Overall thoughts
LSU did better than anybody could’ve possibly anticipated. They managed to do it without Konnor McClain, by the way. They also put up a higher score than Oklahoma ended up posting on Sunday, a 198.350 that nudged their NQS up. LSU shot their NQS up well past 198 for the first time in school history, but nobody on the team had that as the top priority. The biggest takeaway is that LSU is more than capable of putting together a complete meet when they do their normal. This was a very relaxed team, and if that’s the mindset they show the rest of the season, they’ll be extremely dangerous.