Another solid start to the 2025 season
Another great meet to start the young season.
The reigning national champion LSU gymnastics team took their first road trip Saturday to the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City for the second annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad. In the second session, the Tigers finished second with a 197.650, the highest in a road opener in program history. Oklahoma took the top spot for the second straight year with a 197.950, Cal finished third with a 197.275 and Utah rounded things out with a 196.800.
Ashley Cowan and Kailin Chio win SEC weekly awards
Another week, another set of conference honorees. Ashley won SEC Co-Specialist of the Week honors alongside Florida’s Danie Ferris. The conference office had a rough time trying to find who should win this award as three different people scored 9.950s on their only routine of their respective meets, but these two got the nod over Kentucky’s Anna Flynn Cashion. Kailin Chio earned SEC Co-Freshman of the Week honors alongside Oklahoma’s Lily Pederson, something which should’ve happened last week instead since Kailin beat Lily by .025 in different meets last week instead of .075 in the same meet this week. Kailin’s 39.625 tied Aleah Finnegan and Oklahoma’s Faith Torrez for second in the meet behind Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers’ 39.675.
What happened with Oklahoma, Cal and Utah?
In short: Oklahoma was Oklahoma, Cal was great and Utah was mid. Oklahoma’s only bad rotation was vault where they scored a 49.200. They finished the meet with a 49.700 on bars because they’re not human when they get in the zone. Cal looked pretty good. It was an improvement over the week prior as they became the fourth team in 2024 to reach the 197 barrier (UCLA became the fifth in the final session). Utah had it rough. Things weren’t up to the level you expect from them, but the same was true last year and they got to the finals despite it. Avery Neff is very legitimate as a freshman and her battle with Kailin makes me dream of a national freshman of the year award trophy.
For readers who wish to follow along to my notes on each routine, this is a link to the meet in full. Deductions I would’ve taken are in parenthesis and my final score is in brackets. If I note a split in scores after a person’s score, it means the judges had a difference of at least 0.1, something I think is worth noting because it shows that they didn’t agree.
Here’s the long form of every abbreviation I’ll be using below: Yurchenko Full (YF), Yurchenko 1.5 (Y1.5), half-in half-out (HIHO), double layout (DLO), round-off (RO), back handspring (BHS), layout-step-out (LOSO), front layout (FLO), front through to double tuck (FTDT).
LSU Vault 49.450 (2nd after 1)
For the first time in perhaps the entire history of the program, LSU competed six 10.0 SV vaults, all of which were Y1.5s. Lexi Zeiss led things off with a 9.850. She had leg separation in her first flight (.05), slight underrotation (.05), a slight step back (.05) and a held finish. That was close to a stick, something she got a ton of hype for during her elite time. [9.850]
Aleah Finnegan followed with a 9.900. She took a step forward (.1), but it was fine otherwise. [9.900]
Chase Brock brought back her 1.5 and scored a 9.925. She hopped forward (.1) and held her finish. I’ve seen people say that this shouldn’t be higher than a 9.900, and I don’t agree with that entirely because the distance she hopped is barely past what I’d call a slight hop that would get a .05 deduction. [9.900]
Kaliya Lincoln followed with a 9.825. She underrotated the vault (.1) and hopped back (.1). She’s going to get it soon, but it’s not bad for now. [9.800]
Amari Drayton was next with a 9.825 of her own. She underrotated the vault (.1) and hopped back (.1). Her rotation threw her hop backward more diagonally, but it’s the same issue that got Kaliya’s deducted. [9.800]
Kailin anchored down hard with a 9.950. The only deduction I could see was for shoulder angle on the block (.05). Everything else from form to landing was textbook. [9.950]
Overall, this was pretty good. It’s very weird watching six people do the same vault, and this was the second time I’ve done it this week (Bama ran six Y1.5s against North Carolina Friday). If the improvements come along and this remains the standard, things should be fine. Bars improved from the opener, too.
LSU Bars 49.425 (2nd after 2)
Lexi led things off with a 9.825. She hit her first two handstands, bent her arms (.05) in her Maloney, hit a good Pak, hit her low bar half turn, hit her final handstand, moved her feet in place (.1, .05 per foot movement) and swung her arms to maintain her balance (.05) in her HIHO landing and held her finish. Another solid lead-off performance. [9.800]
Ashley followed with a 9.950. She hit her first handstand, caught her Ray cleanly, nailed her overshoot, hit her final handstand, stuck her DLO and failed to hold her finish for a full second (.05). She’s so good, and I don’t understand why she isn’t a bit later in the lineup to start the build better. [9.950]
Olivia Dunne was next, a strategic error in my opinion, with a 9.725. She hit her first handstand, hit her Tkatchev, had leg separation in her Pak (.05), never brought her legs together in her low bar half turn (.05), hit her final handstand, tucked her legs in and had leg separation (.1, .05 for each) in her DLO, moved her arms to maintain her balance (.05), stepped forward (.1) and never went to the finishing position (.05). Ashley’s DLO is too good to go before Olivia’s (or anyone else on the team). Had the two swapped places, I think it’s likely this 9.725 goes up to at least a 9.775. Still, this was not good thanks to the dismount. [9.600]
Kailin kept her strong meet going with a 9.900 on a 9.85/9.95 split. She hit her first handstand, bent her arms to catch her Maloney (.05), hit her bail handstand, hit her third handstand, hit her Markelov, hit her final handstand, stuck her HIHO and failed to hold her finish (.05). Once again, she is incredible. [9.900]
Aleah followed with a 9.825. She overdid her first handstand (.05), hit her piked Deltchev, came up short on her second handstand (.05), hit her third handstand, hit her bail handstand, hit her final handstand, slid back (.05) and stepped back (.1) on her full out, and held her finish. This wasn’t up to her typical standards, but the new dismount is still getting worked out. [9.750]
Konnor McClain anchored the lineup with a 9.925. She hit her first handstand, caught her Church well, had leg separation in her Pak (.05), nailed her low bar half turn, hit her final handstand, was slightly off balance in her stuck HIHO (.05) and held her finish. This was a very good routine. [9.900]
Overall, there were some new issues here, but this still looked better than the opener. Progress is good, and we saw more of that on beam.
LSU Beam 49.250 (2nd after 3)
Sierra Ballard led things off better than last time with a 9.850. She hit her BHS LOSO, nailed her full turn, did a short sissonne (.05) to short switch half (.05), had some leg form in her kickover front (.05), stuck her RO back double full and held her finish. This was much better than last week when she fell. [9.850]
Olivia followed with a 9.775. She dropped her shoulder in her full turn (.05), had leg form (.05) and a slide back (.05) in her BHS LOSO, had leg form in her front aerial (.05), did a hit switch leap to short (.05) switch jump to short ring jump (.05), had a form issue in her gainer pike (.05), hopped back slightly (.05) and held her finish. This had some issues throughout, but they’re not things that should be a problem in the long run. [9.750]
Kailin hit a 9.850 on a 9.90/9.80 split. The only deductions I noted came on her front aerial, which had leg form (.05), a wobble (.05) and arm movement to maintain balance (.05). Other than that, it was very good. [9.850]
Konnor also hit a 9.850 on a 9.90/9.80 split. She did a hit switch jump to short switch half (.05) with a shoulder drop (.05), did a front aerial to BHS with some leg in the front half (.05), had low releve on her full turn (.05), had a good side aerial, nailed her wolf jump, stuck her gainer full and held her finish. This wasn’t her at her best, but it was fine for the early part of the season. [9.800]
Haleigh Bryant made her season debut with a 9.750 on a 9.90 SV. She hit her front aerial to BHS, hit her switch leap, checked (.05), hit her switch leap to straddle quarter (.1 to SV for failing to connect the two skills, a repeated skill is ignored for these purposes), randomly checked (.05), nailed her full turn, nailed her standing front, hit her split jump, went off to the side on her stuck standing punch Rudi (.05) and held her finish. Kiya Johnson made the same mistake last year at this same meet and scored far lower. I wonder how she felt seeing it in the production truck. [9.750]
Aleah anchored the rotation with a 9.925. She leaned at the end of her BHS LO LOSO series (.05), hit her switch leap to split jump, hit her full turn, had a bent leg in her front aerial (.05), stuck her gainer full and failed to hold the finishing position for a full second (.05). It was good. [9.850]
Overall, at least nobody fell. This wasn’t top tier, but it was good for early in the season. By this point last season, LSU hadn’t broken 49 on beam. Take the baby steps. Floor was as usual.
LSU Floor 49.525 (2nd overall)
Sierra led off with a 9.825. She slid back (.05) and had a big lean and swing of her arms to keep herself in bounds (.1 for both combined) on her DLO, nailed her back 1.5 to FLO, did a hit switch half to short (.05) sissonne and stepped forward out of her double tuck (.1). Yes, that’s normally a double pike, but it’s fine as a tuck. Overall, this was very off for her standards. [9.700]
Chase followed with another 9.825. She had a low chest (.05) and step forward out of her full out (.1), hit her wolf jump full, hit her back 1.5 to FLO and nailed her switch side to Popa. That full out is the only big problem she has. Also, I didn’t remember the wolf full being in there, but it it’s great. [9.850]
Olivia finished her solid day with a 9.850. She slid back on her FTDT (.05), hit her leap series, landed with a low chest on her double pike (.05) and had a low back leg in her Ferrari (.05). It was fine. [9.850]
Amari absolutely drilled her routine with a 9.950. She slid back on her DLO (.05), hit her leap series, stuck her FTDT cold and hit her wolf turn. This was pretty close to perfection and a huge return to what made her a star last year. [9.950]
Kailin finished her impeccable road debut with a 9.925. She had a lean back on her stuck full out (.05), hit her switch ring to cheated (.05) tour jete half, nailed her back 2.5 to front tuck and hit her final split jump. She is on fire so far in her career. [9.900]
Aleah brought the house down with a 9.975. She stuck her double Arabian to stag jump, hit her switch ring to cheated (.05) tour jete half, stuck her back 2.5 to front tuck cold and hit her final split jump. This was great, but that tour jete half is still something that’s bothering me. [9.950]
Overall, this squad is missing Haleigh and KJ, no doubt about it. KJ is out for the time being with an ankle injury she suffered on her leap series in podium training the day before the meet. Chase and Liv are not conventional starters. Despite that, they’ve put up two of the three best floor scores in the country (UCLA set the new season high in the final session of the Collegiate Quad with a 49.600).
Overall thoughts
This was a good show of growth. It’s going to be a gradual rise in scores, especially with Haleigh limited and KJ out. I am very excited by the prospect of six 10.0 vaults since that’s become a very important tool in the arsenal of top teams, and I love the growth on bars. Beam is still a work in progress, but that’s been true every January I’ve seen in the past two years. Floor is great, though the first three need to fix their issues to make things even more solid in case things get tight. Things are looking up as SEC play starts Friday night vs Florida.