LSU Gymnastics claim first national title in program history

The LSU Tigers have handled business all season long. They came into this meet with a 28-3 record and were the highest ranked team in the championships. The hard work, the preparation, the months and months of practice all led to this; a chance to compete for the program's first national title.

A year ago, the Tigers defied the odds and overcame numerous injuries to reach the championships, but ultimately placed fourth. Today, they had a shot at redemption, and they came through to reach the pinnacle of college gymnastics.

The Tigers went into the final rotation trailing Utah by .0375, but a 49.7625 on beam - a program record - pushed them over the edge.

If for some reason you couldn't tune into this afternoon's meet, here's a recap of tonight's meet:

LSU began their hunt for the national title on floor this afternoon. The Tigers have been the best floor team in the country all season long, so they desperately needed to build a decent sized lead in this first rotation.

The always calm, cool and collected freshman, Konnor McClain, led things off for the Tigers today. McClain starts her routine with a bang; a massive double layout that shows the judges she means business. As she's done all season long, she absolutely killed her routine and earned a 9.9250.

Amari Drayton, the other big freshman contributor on this team, follows McClain. She also begins her routine with a huge double layout, which she nailed, and went on to give LSU another massive score of 9.9125.

After those two freshman, the Tigers had four of the top-15 floor gymnasts based on NQS average still to come. The first of those four to go tonight was KJ Johnson. Unfortunately, she fell on her second pass after under rotating and earned just a 9.2875.

Thankfully, they still had three of the top-nine floor gymnasts yet to go. With no more room for error, Aleah Finnegan took the floor. She nailed her arabian double front on her first pass before sticking her 2.5 punch front on her second pass. When the Tigers really needed it, Finnegan delivered with a 9.9125.

The 2024 AAI Award winner and all-around national champion, Haleigh Bryant, took the floor next. It has to be so comforting knowing that, even if someone falls, Bryant and Kiya Johnson aren't going to mess up in the final two spots. Of course, Bryant came through with the highest score of the afternoon thus far with a 9.9375.

Finally, Kiya Johnson anchored the event. The fifth ranked floor gymnast in the country did what she always does and came through with a massive score of 9.9250 to give LSU the lead through one rotation.

After taking a .1375 lead in the first rotation, the Tigers moved to vault, where they are the No. 2 ranked team in the nation and average a 49.448 team score. However, the Tigers had their fair share of struggles on their landings in the semifinals.

KJ Johnson led off and had the chance to redeem herself for her fall on floor (though, it didn't really matter), and she had a slight balance check on her landing to earn a 9.800. Aleah Finnegan also struggled to stick her landing, earning just a 9.8375.

Amari Drayton got her second action of the night as a true freshman on vault. She averages just below a 9.9000 this season, but they needed a big score from her in the three hole, but she was only able to muster a 9.8250.

With their three star vaulters to go, LSU really needed some 9.9+ from Savannah Schoenherr, Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant.

Schoenherr went first of the trio, and she had a pretty good routine, but she too couldn't quite stick the landing, but she earned the highest score of the rotation with a 9.8750.

Finally, Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant anchored the event for LSU. Johnson went first, and she gave the Tigers their best vault of the night with a 9.9125. The Tigers were guaranteed at least a 49.2500 team score, but Haleigh Bryant came through with a huge stick to finish the rotation with a massive 9.9500.

Despite their early struggles, Johnson and Bryant came through to save the Tigers lead heading into the third rotation.

Moving to the uneven bars, Utah made up a bit of ground on the Tigers, who led by just .1000 halfway through.

As she's done pretty much all season, Alexis Jeffrey led off on bars. In the semifinal, Jeffrey was only able to manage a 9.8125 in the lead off spot, but on Saturday, she did much better and led off with a huge 9.900.

Ashley Cowan, the 2024 SEC bars champion, went second on bars. She has been red hot on the event of late, and despite a slight balance check on her landing, she looked really good once again. Looks like judges agreed as she earned a 9.8875.

Kiya Johnson, who delivered a 9.9125 on bars on Thursday, went third for the Tigers. She came out aggressive and earned a 9.8875. I'm not a judge for a reason, but I don't know where the .1125 deduction came from, because her routine looked really good.

After Johnson came the freshman phenom, Konnor McClain. If you remember, back in January McClain earned a perfect 10 on her first career bar routine. Like Cowan, she had a slight balance check on her landing, but outside of that, she was pretty much flawless as she earned the Tigers second 9.900.

Savannah Schoenherr went fifth on bars for the Tigers. She's been one of the Tigers stars on bars, but she had to catch herself on her landing and earned a 9.8625, a score that was eventually dropped.

Haleigh Bryant anchored the event, and everything was looking great, but she took a pretty big step on her landing (a very uncharacteristic mistake) and received a 9.8750.

After the Tigers bar rotation, Utah took a .0375 lead heading into the final rotation. The Tigers moved over to beam and the Utes moved to the vault. For reference, in their semifinal matchup, LSU scored a 49.5875 on beam while Utah scored a 49.2000 on vault.

Just moments after Utah's first vaulter suffered a fall, Sierra Ballard kicked things off on beam for the Tigers. She's been such a steady lead off for LSU (earned a 9.900 on Thursday), and she absolutely killed her routine in a huge moment, scoring a massive 9.9500.

The Utes once again suffered a fall on vault with their second gymnast, but Savannah Schoenherr does as well in the second hole, earning a 9.3875. Big mistakes from the top-three teams early in the rotation.

Next up for the Tigers was Konnor McClain. There was no more room for error for LSU on beam if they wanted to capitalize on the Utes mistakes. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, McClain absolutely delivered with a near-flawless routine that earned her a 9.9625.

Kiya Johnson had the honors of following McClain's huge routine. Watching her, you'd have no idea the national championship was on the line. She looked so calm up there and nailed her routine and landing, receiving a 9.9500 for her efforts.

Next up was Haleigh Bryant. Bryant averages a 9.9500 on the event this season, and after her slip up on bars, she was amazing, earning a 9.9500 to put the Tigers one step closer to their ultimate goal.

Aleah Finnegan anchored on beam and she had all the pressure in the world on her shoulders. If she could just stay on the beam, she could cement the national championship for the Tigers. All she needed was a 9.6875 and she could claim the title, and of course, she delivered with a 9.9500 in the anchor spot to capture the program's first national championship.

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