The LSU Tigers continued their quest to defend the national championship on Friday when they traveled to Oklahoma City for the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad meet. Their session featured four of the top teams in the country: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU, No. 4 Utah and No. 6 Cal and was an absolute dog fight.

For the second week in a row, the Tigers were without Haleigh Bryant in the all-around. She didn't perform on any events last week and only participated on beam this week as she recovers from an UCL injury. They were also without KJ Johnson, who sprained her ankle in practice earlier in the week.

The Tigers were lucky enough to receive their preferred rotation order, starting on vault and finishing on floor like they would at a home meet.

True freshman Lexi Zeiss got things started for the Tigers on vault, earning a 9.850 in the leadoff spot. She was followed by Aleah Finnegan, who began her all-around effort with a 9.900. However, it was fifth-year senior Chase Brock and true freshman Kailin Chio who stole the show with a 9.925 and 9.950 respectively, both of which were early season-highs.

LSU finished the first rotation with a team score of 49.450, which put them in second place, trailing Oklahoma (49.525) and leading Cal (49.325) and Utah (49.250).

The Tigers moved to bars for the second rotation of the afternoon, and for the second time tonight, Lexi Zeiss led off and earned a 9.825, which beat out her first ever bar score of 9.800 last week.

Ashley Cowan, who came along towards the end of last season and proved to be one of the best bar performers in the country, didn't have her best last week when she earned a 9.850, but she came out this afternoon and put together a monster routine, which ended with a perfect landing and earned a 9.950.

True freshman Kailin Chio has been arguably the most impressive gymnast of the short season so far. In her first meet, she posted three scores of 9.900+ and began this meet with a 9.950 on vault before earning a 9.900 on bars, which many felt was too low of a score for a near-flawless routine.

Konnor McClain, who is still recovering from her torn achilles she suffered just over six months ago, didn't have her best stuff last week when she delivered a 9.800 and 9.850. However, with some first meet jitters out of the way, McClain delivered with a massive 9.925 in the anchor spot to help the Tigers post a 49.425 on bars.

Through two rotations, LSU (98.875) found themselves once again in second place, trailing Oklahoma (99.050) and leading Cal (98.650) and Utah (98.450).

After bars, the Tigers moved to the hardest event: balance beam, which is ironically the event the Tigers clinched the 2024 national championship on.

LSU's fire starter, Sierra Ballard, got things started on beam. Last week, she fell on beam and received a 9.250, but she did not make the same mistake this time around and got a 9.850 to kick things off on beam.

Haleigh Bryant made her season debut on beam today. LSU Head Coach Jay Clark said she's been "chomping at the bit" to get back out there after suffering her UCL injury, but they got the all clear for beam this week, and in her first event of the season, Bryant received just a 9.750.

LSU, who were already counting a 9.775, needed a massive score from Aleah Finnegan on beam to give them any chance of coming back and knocking off Oklahoma, and the Olympian delivered with a 9.925 to give LSU a team score of 49.250.

Luckily for LSU, everyone else struggled in the third rotation, so they were still just .125 off the lead with their best event - floor - yet to come.

LSU trailed Oklahoma 148.250-148.125 with just one more rotation to go. The whole meet it felt like if LSU was within a tenth of OU by the time they got to floor, they felt like they had a good shot. Unfortunately they weren't able to capitalize on OU's poor vault performance, but they still were within striking distance of the Sooners if they could have a big rotation.

Sierra Ballard led things off for the Tigers on floor and nearly went out of bounds, but was able to save herself. It cost her a couple tenths though as she earned a 9.825. Chase Brock also delivered a 9.825 right after. On the other side of the floor, Oklahoma kicked things off with a 9.900 and 9.875 on bars, so it wasn't a great start for the Tigers.

Olivia Dunne went third on floor, and after a couple 9.7s, she finally got into the 9.8s with a 9.850, but Oklahoma responded with a 9.950 on bars, essentially eliminating LSU from winning the meet.

Sophomore Amari Drayton finally got LSU into the 9.9s with a massive routine which earned her a 9.950. After that, the Tigers rolled on floor with Kailin Chio and Aleah Finnegan scoring a 9.925 and 9.975 respectively. Unfortunately, Oklahoma posted a 49.700 on bars, which was the highest score on any one event this afternoon.

The Tigers, who were without two of their top gymnasts, kept it close with the No. 1 team in the country, but couldn't capitalize in the third rotation and ultimately finished second ahead of Cal and Utah.

Overall I'd call this meet a success. Without KJ Johnson and Haleigh Bryant (for three events), they were still able to beat two of the best teams in the country and give Oklahoma a run for their money. The Sooners come to Baton Rouge in February when both Johnson and Bryant should be back, so we'll get a rematch between the two best teams in the country shortly.

Here were the final scores from tonight's meet:

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