No. 2 LSU wins SEC opener against No. 7 Florida
01/17/2025
(photo credit: @lsugym on X)
BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (4-1) took down the No. 7 Florida Gators (3-1) by a score of 197.550-197.450 in front of 13,515 fans in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday night.
The Tigers were powered to victory by a season-high 49.525 on beam and a strong finish on the floor rotation that saw senior Aleah Finnegan score a 9.95 in the fifth floor spot, followed by a 9.90 from graduate student Haleigh Bryant to lock up the team win for the Tigers.
The all-around title was split by LSU’s Finnegan and Florida’s Selena Harris-Miranda, both finishing with a 39.500.
“It seems like the Florida meet always comes down to a tenth or a tenth and a half, no matter whether it’s here or in Gainesville. I mean, that’s a great team over there. We knew they would come in here and perform well, they always do, and just proud of the team’s fight tonight,” said head coach Jay Clark.
“We had 13 different gymnasts out there tonight, which I think is a big deal, even in the absence of some key people still that have not come back. We’re utilizing our depth and it’s coming from different places. We just need to improve the way we’re preparing a little bit so that that can carry over into the competition a little more, and the execution just still needs to get dialed in a little bit better.”
Freshman Lexi Zeiss got things started for the Tigers in the meet on vault and posted a 9.775 in the opening spot. Senior Aleah Finnegan matched her season-high in the second spot with a 9.950 and was followed by 5th-year senior Chase Brock, who scored a 9.725. Freshman Kaliya Lincoln scored a 9.725 in the fourth spot, followed by a 9.85 by sophomore Amari Drayton in spot five. In the anchor spot, freshman Kailin Chio hit a 9.925 to give the Tigers a strong finish to the rotation.
After the first rotation, the score was 49.350-49.025 in favor of the Tigers.
LSU headed to bars for the second rotation and was led off by Zeiss, with the freshman scoring a 9.825. Junior Ashley Cowan scored a 9.825 of her own in the second spot before senior Alexis Jeffrey posted a season-high 9.90 in the third spot. Chio scored a 9.225 ahead of Finnegan, who scored a 9.825 in the fifth spot. The anchor performance saw sophomore Konnor McClain match her career-high 9.925 to bring LSU’s bar score to 49.300.
At the halfway point, LSU led by a margin of 98.650 to Florida’s 98.475.
Graduate Student Sierra Ballard led off on beam in LSU’s third rotation of the night, scoring a season-high 9.875 in the process. The second spot saw sophomore Kylie Coen make her competitive debut one to remember with a 9.875 in her first official collegiate routine. In the third spot, Chio matched her career-high with a 9.925 before McClain scored a season-high 9.90 in the fourth spot. Graduate student Haleigh Bryant scored a season-high 9.95 in the fifth, followed by a 9.775 in the anchor spot from Finnegan.
The Tigers finished the beam rotation with a season-high 49.525, which gave the Tigers a 148.175-147.975 lead heading into the final event of the night.
LSU led off the floor rotation with a 9.825 in the opening spot from Ballard before 5th-year senior Olivia Dunne matched her season-high with a 9.875 in spot two. Drayton tallied a 9.750 in the third spot ahead of a 9.825 by Chio in the fourth position.
The Tigers trailed 197.350-187.450 heading into the final two passes of the night. The 2024 NCAA National Floor Champion Finnegan posted a 9.95 in the fifth spot before Bryant closed with the final pass of the night, who needed a 9.85 to secure the team win for the Tigers. In her first floor routine in the 2025 season, Bryant posted a 9.90 in the anchor spot to snatch the win for the host team.
Following the team performance on the day, the Tigers took home at least a share of every event title. Finnegan took home the floor title as well as a share of the vault and all-around titles, McClain finished on top on bars and Bryant brought home a share of the beam title.
Finnegan’s title on floor marked her third consecutive win in the event in the Tigers first three meets this year. She moved her wins totals to four on vault, 14 on floor, five in the all-around and 32 in her career.
McClain and Bryant both took home their first event wins of the year, moving their career totals to 10 and 95.
Friday night’s crowd of 13,515 was the third most in program history for a home meet at the PMAC and only the 7th time in program history that attendance was over 13,000. For head coach Jay Clark, the win over Florida improved his SEC opening meet record to 4-1 at the helm. With the win, the Tigers have now claimed victory three consecutive wins over Florida dating back to the 2024 season.
The Tigers are back in action next Friday as they travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for a matchup against No. 17 Arkansas at 6:45 p.m. CT.
**LSU Athletics Release
