The LSU Tigers Gymnastics squad are in the midst of a historic run. They finished the regular season with the highest NQS average (198.215) in program history, won the SEC Championship, are ranked No. 2 in the nation and rank inside the top-three in all four events.

Now, just a few weeks removed from said SEC Championship, the Tigers are looking towards a trip to Fort Worth for the national semifinals on Thursday, April 18th.

For LSU Head Coach Jay Clark, it's business as usual. In his 33-year coaching career, he's been to nationals more times than not. Before coming to LSU, Clark spent 20-years with the Georgia Bulldogs, and over that span, they won seven national titles.

"It's exhilarating, it's nerve wracking," said Clark. "It's all the things that you would expect, but I don't feel a sense of urgency.”

Since coming to Baton Rouge in 2012, Clark's helped lead the Tigers to four SEC titles, 11 NCAA Tournaments and seven national title appearances. Despite making six appearances as an assistant coach and one as a head coach, he's yet to capture the program's first national title.

However, this year feels a bit different. Not only is this quite possibly his best team yet, there's a certain swagger to this team that they haven't had in years past.

They have Haleigh Bryant and Kiya Johnson, two all-world gymnasts who you can count on to give you multiple 9.9's every night. They have Aleah Finnegan, a future Olympian and one of the best performers in the country. They have KJ Johnson, someone Clark has called their 'fire starter' who brings so much energy to this team. They have a pair of freshman in Amari Drayton and Konnor McClain who look like seasoned veterans every time they take the floor.

That's enough to carry most teams very far into the postseason, but we haven't even mentioned any of their specialists such as Savannah Schoenherr, Ashley Cowan, Sierra Ballard or Alexis Jeffrey, who all play huge roles for this team.

Clark has one of the largest rosters he's ever assembled - 22 gymnasts in total - and it's provided them with a ton of depth. In meets where they've wanted to give one of their big names such as Kiya Johnson a break, they've been able to insert gymnasts like Chase Brock, Tori Tatum and Olivia Dunne into the lineup and get virtually the same result.

Having this type of flexibility and depth has helped the Tigers stay healthy all season, which is not something they could say a year ago when they placed fourth at nationals without some of their stars. Sure, they have a few scrapes and bruises, but they expect everybody to be a full go when they get to Fort Worth in a little over a week.

If you aren't familiar with how the NCAA Gymnastics Tournament works, once you get to nationals, there are eight teams who are split up into two sessions. This year, the Tigers will perform in the early session (3:30pm CT) against No. 3 California, No. 12 Arkansas and No. 19 Stanford. The top-two teams from that session will advance to face the top-two teams from the night session on Saturday, April 20th at 3pm CT.

Based on NQS, LSU should have a pretty good shot at advancing to the finals. Their NQS average is nearly .700 higher than Arkansas and is over a point higher than Stanford. Arkansas' highest score this season (198.100) is lower than LSU's average score (198.215), but anything can happen in this tournament as we saw last weekend.

If the Tigers advance, they will almost certainly face No. 1 Oklahoma and either No. 4 Florida or No. 8 Alabama. the Sooners will be the heavy favorites to win their third consecutive national championship. They look a step above everyone and a NQS average that's nearly .300 points above LSU's.

However, if anybody is going to dethrone the Sooners, it's likely going to be LSU. They've been the most consistent team outside of Oklahoma and are so well balanced on all four events. It would take nearly a perfect meet from the Tigers and they would need some uncharacteristic mistakes from the Sooners, but it's not entirely impossible.

If for some reason you haven't tuned into LSU Gymnastics all season, make sure you clear some time on April 18th and 20th, because these women are a treat to watch, and they have a real shot at brining home the program's first national title.

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