Top Shelf: LSU Gymnastics Seeks Its First NCAA Championship Trophy In Saturday

FORT WORTH, Texas —

In the lobby of LSU’s world-class gymnastics facility sits a trophy case filled with shelves of prizes and accolades won by the Tigers over the years.

One shelf of the trophy case, the top shelf, sits empty.

It’s the spot reserved for the one prize LSU does not have.

An NCAA championship trophy.

Saturday here in the NCAA final, the Tigers may never have a better chance. With No. 1-seeded and two-time reigning national champion Oklahoma shockingly eliminated in Thursday’s semifinals, No. 2-seeded LSU emerges as the favorite in the sport’s version of the final four against No. 3 California, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah.

The quest for the prize begins at 3 p.m. at Dickies Arena. The meet will be televised on ABC.

It has already been a stellar season for LSU gymnastics. A championship season.

The Tigers won the Southeastern Conference championship meet in March at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. They won their NCAA Fayetteville regional. They won their semifinal Thursday, with senior Haleigh Bryant and junior Aleah Finnegan surviving all challengers from the afternoon and evening sessions to emerge as NCAA individual champions with the all-around and floor titles, respectively.

All are things LSU gymnastics has done before.

This is different. Four times the Tigers have been NCAA runners-up, most recently in 2019. Last year they reached the Final Four and finished fourth, an impressive feat in its own right considering what an injury-plagued season 2023 was for LSU.

This season, just about everything to this point has appeared to align for the Tigers. There have been injuries, season-enders like the ones to All-American Alyona Shchennikova and former SEC vault champion Elena Arenas, but the Tigers have used their depth and experience to weather it all.

In many respects it has already been LSU’s best season. In 15 meets, the Tigers have posted 10 scores of 198.000 or better, including a school record 198.475 on Feb. 2 against Arkansas and a 198.1125 here Thursday, the best score of any of the Final Four teams and the second-best NCAA championships score in LSU history.

For the final, though, it all gets erased. All four teams start at zero. And for LSU, there is the extra challenge of having the unusual task of starting on its best event, floor (the Tigers rank No. 1 nationally on floor) and then competing on vault and uneven bars before finishing on balance beam, always a tricky proposition.

That said, beam was where LSU separated itself from the pack in Thursday’s semifinal. After two so-so routines on vault and bars, the Tigers scored a 49.5875 on beam to put a trip to the program’s 10th NCAA final firmly in its grasp. Led by Finnegan’s floor title-winning 9.9625, LSU powered to a 49.725 on floor to easily advance ahead of California (197.7125).

The Bears are in their first NCAA final, while Florida and Utah are trying to expand on their NCAA title collections. Two of just seven programs to win the women’s national championship, Florida is trying to win its fourth title and first since 2015, while Utah is trying to win its ninth but first since way back in 1995.

Utah won the evening semifinal with a 197.9375, while Florida scored a 197.875 to earn the second transfer spot. Oklahoma, which has won six of the past nine NCAA titles, never recovered from an opening 48.325 on vault and finished a distant third at 196.6625, the first time the Sooners have not reached the final since 2012.

The Tigers will try to send Florida, Utah and Cal packing as well, and pack up women’s gymnastics’ ultimate prize to place on that top shelf back home.

NCAA Gymnastics National Semifinals

Thursday

Fort Worth, Texas

(Top two teams advance)

Meet scores

Session I

1. #2 LSU 198.1125 (Vault — 49.325, Bars — 49.475, Beam — 49.5875, Floor — 49.725)

2. #3 California 197. 7125 (Vault — 49.3625, Bars — 49.525, Beam — 49.4125, Floor — 49.4125)

3. Stanford 197.075 (Vault — 49.225, Bars — 49.250, Beam — 49.3125, Floor — 49.2875)

4. #10 Arkansas 196.475 (Vault — 49.325, Bars — 49.200, Beam — 48.8125, Floor — 49.1375)

Session II

1. #5 Utah 197.9375 (Vault — 49.200, Bars — 49.5125, Beam — 49.6375, Floor — 49.5875)

2. #4 Florida 197.875 (Vault — 49.500, Bars — 49.450, Beam — 49.475, Floor — 49.450)

3. #1 Oklahoma 196.6625 (Vault — 48.325, Bars — 49.6625, Beam — 49.100, Floor — 49.575)

4. #8 Alabama 195.4125 (Vault — 49.2625, Bars — 49.4875, Beam — 47.250, Floor — 49.4125)

Individual (includes first place and all LSU competitors)

All-around — 1. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 39.7125; 7. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 39.6125.

Vault — 1. Anna Roberts, Stanford, 9.95; T8. Savannah Schoenherr, Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 9.90; T17. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.875; T35. KJ Johnson, Chase Brock, LSU, 9.825; 39. Amari Drayton, LSU, 9.8125.

Bars — T1. Audrey Davis, Oklahoma, Leanne Wong, Florida, 9.9625; T6. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 9.925; T12. Konnor McClain, LSU, 9.9125; T18. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.90; T33. Ashley Cowan, LSU, 9.875; T37. Savannah Schoenherr, LSU, 9.8625; T48. Alexis Jeffrey, LSU, 9.8125.

Beam — T1. Audrey Davis, Faith Torrez, Oklahoma, 9.9625; T3. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, T12. Savannah Schoenherr, LSU, 9.925; T16. Konnor McClain, LSU, 9.9125; T19. Sierra Ballard, Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.90; T24. Aleah Finnegan, LSU, 9.8875.

Floor — 1. Aleah Finnegan, LSU, 9.9625; T2. KJ Johnson, LSU, 9.95; T10. Konnor McClain, Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.9375; T28. Amari Drayton, LSU, 9.8875.

Attendance: 5,679