Published Jan 13, 2024
LSU Gymnastics places second in Sprouts Farmers Market Quad meet
Luke Hubbard  •  Death Valley Insider
Analyst
Twitter
@clukehubbard

LSU Gymnastics hit the road for the first time this season for the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet. The meet included four of the premier programs in the country including No. 3 LSU, No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Utah and No. 12 UCLA.

The Tigers came up short of first place, but they came from behind to steal second place from UCLA after a huge performance on bars.

It was an up and down night for the Tigers, so here's a quick recap of the action to catch you up.

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First Rotation

The Tigers began the meet on the beam with Alexis Jeffrey leading off. Despite a slight misstep, Jeffrey gave the Tigers a 9.775 for their first score.

Annie Beard followed up, but just seconds into her routine, she fell and posted a score of 9.225, leaving the Tigers with little room for error for their next four gymnasts.

Sierra Ballard went third for the Tigers. If you remember, Ballard fell during her beam routine last week which put the Tigers in a tough spot going into the final rotation, but on Saturday, she made no mistakes and posted a 9.775.

Haleigh Bryant was up fourth for LSU and she did what she always does and nailed her routine. Her score of 9.900 was the second highest of any Tiger on the beam. When you're in a bind, you always know Bryant can get you out of it.

Kiya Johnson followed Bryant's performance and nearly took a tumble in the middle of her routine, but she made a great save to keep herself on the beam. Her score of 9.375 wasn't what the Tigers needed, but by saving herself from falling, she saved herself from losing a lot more points, and in the end, it really saved them.

Aleah Finnegan anchored the beam for the Tigers. This was the event they struggled in against Ohio State last week, and once again they needed a big score from Finnegan to save their chances. When the Tigers needed it most, Finnegan posted a score of 9.925, the highest of any Tiger on beam.

After the first rotation, the Tigers found themselves in fourth place. Here were the final results from the first rotation:

After Rotation One
EventLSUOklahomaUtahUCLA

Vault

N/A

49.450

N/A

N/A

Bars

N/A

N/A

49.050

N/A

Floor

N/A

N/A

N/A

49.200

Beam

48.750

N/A

N/A

N/A

Second Rotation

The Tigers moved to floor for their second event of the afternoon where Sierra Ballard led off. After posting a 9.775 on beam, Ballard scored a 9.825. Olivia Dunne followed up with a score of 9.850, just lower than her 9.875 from the first meet.

KJ Johnson went third for the Tigers. After delivering a team-low 9.850 in their first meet (which is still very good), Johnson posted a 9.925, the second highest score of any Tiger on floor.

Aleah Finnegan went next for LSU. In the Tigers first meet, Finnegan posted a score of 9.900 on floor, but on Saturday she put up an astonishing team-high 9.975. Exactly the type of performance the Tigers needed to get back into this one.

Haleigh Bryant followed Finnegan's 9.975 with her second 9.900 of the night. After Bryant, Kiya Johnson anchored for the Tigers. By the time Johnson was up, the worst the Tigers could score on the floor was a 49.475, but she decided that wasn't enough and scored a 9.875 to give the Tigers a team score of a 49.525.

Their score of 49.525 would be tied for the second highest team score by any team on any event in this meet behind LSU on a later event.

After two rotations, the Tigers moved up to third in the meet. Here were the final results from the second rotation:

After Rotation Two
EventLSUOklahomaUtahUCLA

Vault

N/A

49.450

N/A

49.400

Bars

N/A

49.450

49.050

N/A

Floor

49.525

N/A

N/A

49.200

Beam

48.750

N/A

49.175

N/A

Total

98.275

98.900

98.225

98.600

Third Rotation

The Tigers hit the vault for their third event of the night, and KJ Johnson led off the event with a 9.925. They needed a big score from their leadoff gymnasts, and Johnson delivered.

After Johnson, freshman Amari Drayton (who was the savior for the Tigers in her first collegiate meet last week with two 9.925's) took a bit of a stumble, but still posted a 9.825 as the second leg.

Aleah Finnegan went third, but she was a little off-center and didn't get a clean landing. Finnegan scored a 9.800 for the Tigers, and they really couldn't afford another poor performance...But the Tigers poor performance on vault continued with Savannah Schoenherr. She too took a bit of a stumble on her landing and receive just a 9.700 for her efforts.

Kiya Johnson was the fifth leg for the Tigers, and man did they need a good performance out of her. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as she posted a 9.775. Haleigh Bryant then anchored and posted her third 9.900 of the night, but it was too little too late.

What started off as a great event for the Tigers after KJ Johnson's 9.925 quickly turned into a disaster. They finished the vault with a team score of 49.225, the lowest of all four teams on vault.

At the end of the third rotation, the Tigers were back in fourth place. Here were the final results from the third rotation:

After Rotation Three
EventLSUOklahomaUtahUCLA

Vault

49.225

49.450

N/A

49.400

Bars

NA

49.450

49.050

49.250

Floor

49.525

N/A

49.350

49.200

Beam

48.750

49.525

49.175

N/A

Total

147.500

148.425

147.575

147.850

Fourth Rotation

LSU finished the night on bars, which was tied for their second best event in their first meet against Ohio State. The Tigers were basically out of the running for first place, but they had a shot to climb into second or third place with a strong performance on bars.

Alexis Jeffrey led off her second event of the night and started the event off on the right foot for the Tigers, posting a score of 9.900.

Next up for the Tigers was Tori Tatum in her first event of the season. She put up a solid effort, scoring a 9.850 on bars, a score that was eventually dropped.

Kiya Johnson completed her all-around effort on bars with an incredible score of 9.950, giving her a total score of 38.975 on the afternoon. The 9.950 was exactly what the Tigers needed as they try to climb back into this.

After Johnson, Konnor McClain made her first appearance of the night and absolutely killed it on bars, scoring a perfect 10.000. That was the Tigers first perfect 10 of the season and gave them a serious chance to dig themselves out of fourth place.

It's hard to follow up a perfect 10, but Savannah Schoenherr did a pretty good job, posting a score of 9.875 in her final performance of the night. With one gymnast to go, the worst the Tigers could score was a 49.575, which would already be the highest score by any team on an event all afternoon.

Of course, Haleigh Bryant anchored and was not content with a 49.575, so she went out there and scored a 9.925 to give LSU a team score of 49.650 on bars.

Here were the results from the fourth rotation:

Final Results
EventLSUOklahomaUtahUCLA

Vault

49.225

49.450

49.400

49.400

Bars

49.650

49.450

49.050

49.250

Floor

49.525

49.475

49.350

49.200

Beam

48.750

49.525

49.175

49.250

Total

197.150

197.900

196.975

197.100

Final Results

The Tigers huge performance on bar was enough to catapult them from fourth to second in this meet. No. 1 Oklahoma would win by a pretty healthy margin, but if it weren't for poor performances on beam and vault, LSU could've made this meet very competitive.

There were a lot of ups and downs in this one, but this team continues to find way to come through in the clutch.

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