BATON ROUGE — The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (11-3, 5-2 SEC) will host North Carolina (5-11, 1-5 ACC) for their regular season finale and senior night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
“It was a productive weekend and we got everything we wanted out of it. Now looking forward to this week, we need to continue this momentum that we have as we move toward the postseason,” said head coach Jay Clark. “We look forward to celebrating our seniors and getting back in front of our fans, but we still have business to take care of and we need to go out there and compete at a high level.”
The competition between the Tigers and the Tar Heels will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Lyn Rollins and Kaleigh Dickson Abboud as the announcers. Introductions of the team will begin in the PMAC at 7:19 p.m. CT with the first vault set for 7:32 p.m. CT.
Live stats for the meet are available on lsusports.net.
Promotions
It is the final home meet of the year on Friday night in the PMAC as the meet is dedicated to the seniors. There will be a tribute following the conclusion of the meet as the program will honor the 11 seniors on this year’s squad.
There will be a giveaway of LSU Gymnastics belt bags to the first 500 students to arrive at the meet. Doors to the arena open at 6 p.m. CT.
All meet promotions and giveaways items for the 2024 season can be found here.
Scouting The Tar Heels
LSU owns an undefeated 5-0-0 record against North Carolina and are 1-0-0 at home, having only met once in the PMAC in 2009. Friday’s competition marks the two teams sixth all-time meeting.
The Tar Heels had their final home competition of the 2024 season last Friday, falling to Kentucky by a final score of 196.525-197.800.
Their final score in the competition was their second highest team score of the year. In the meet, the Tar Heels recorded three rotations above 49.000, including a season high bars rotation.
Heading into Week 11, Carolina junior Lali Dekanoidze leads the ACC with her 9.842 average on vault and ranks eighth in the Southeast Region. Her NQS of 9.855 on vault and 9.885 on bars both rank third in the ACC, with bars ranking seventh in the region.
Last Time On The Floor
The Tigers finished on top of the Podium Challenge with their score of 198.425 last Friday night in the Raising Cane’s River Center. No. 3 LSU topped No. 14 Auburn (197.050), George Washington (195.100) and Texas Woman’s (194.725) with their second highest score on the season and highest program score away from the PMAC.
It was a record night for LSU as the team improved their NQS to their highest in program history on the night with a record 198.125. The squad’s new NQS marked the first time LSU has surpassed the 198+ mark.
The Tigers also set a new program floor NQS after scoring a 49.675 on the event at the meet to improve their NQS to 49.695, the highest floor NQS in LSU and NCAA history.
Haleigh Bryant recorded back-to-back perfect 10’s on vault and bars and finished the night strong with a 9.95 on beam and 9.975 on floor. Her perfect score on vault was her ninth in her career to complete a season slam, as she now owns a perfect score on every event in 2024. She is only the 10th gymnast in NCAA history to record that achievement.
The Tigers came out hot on vault with a season high score of 49.675 to match the program’s second highest score. The first event was highlighted by Bryant’s perfect 10 as LSU took the early lead in the River Center after the first rotation.
Bryant wasted no time picking up her 16th career perfect score, this time on bars in the second rotation. LSU scored a 49.575 in the second rotation to extend their lead to 99.250 at the halfway point in the River Center. Auburn followed in second with a 98.550, then George Washington with a 97.850 and Texas Woman’s in fourth with their 97.650.
The Purple & Gold Tigers posted a 49.500 on beam in the third rotation before rotating to floor, where the team closed the competition out with a 49.675 in the final rotation to cap off a record night.
Two Tigers recorded new season highs on the night as Olivia Dunne led off on floor for the first time this year and had a 9.900 performance to match her career high and Savannah Schoenherr put up a season high 9.950 on vault.
Bryant finished as the top performer in the meet with her score of 39.925 in the all-around and took home all five titles on the night. Her all-around score at the meet is the highest in the nation by any gymnast, the highest in school history, the second highest in SEC history and the fourth-best in NCAA history.
Bryant, Schoenherr Earn Week Ten SEC Awards
Haleigh Bryant and Savannah Schoenherr both picked up SEC awards this week following their performances in the Tigers last meet at the Podium Challenge, announced by the league on Tuesday afternoon.
Bryant was named the SEC Gymnast of the Week for the sixth time this year and 11th in her career, leading the conference this year. Schoenherr was named the Co-Specialist of the Week for her first honor in the Purple and Gold.
Bryant had a record performance at the Podium Challenge to help lead her team to their highest road score in program history (198.425) and finish first in the quad meet over No. 14 Auburn, George Washington and Texas Woman’s.
The senior finished the meet with a career high 39.925 in the all-around to mark a new school record. The score is the highest by any gymnast in program history, the second highest in SEC history and matches the fourth-best score in NCAA history.
Bryant scored back-to-back perfect 10’s to start the meet on vault and bars and added scores of 9.950 on beam and 9.975 on floor to her already incredible night. After already achieving a gym slam earlier this year, her perfect score on vault was her first this year to complete a season slam, a perfect score on every event in the same season.
She is only the 10th gymnast in NCAA history to record perfection on every event in a single season as she now owns six this year and 16 (9 VT, 3 UB, 3 FX, 1 BB) in her career.
Bryant finished as the top performer on every event at the Podium Challenge to take home all five titles on the night. She shares her floor title with teammate Kiya Johnson, who also posted a 9.975 on the event.
With her performance at the Podium Challenge, Bryant now owns 84 titles in her career with 30 on vault, 13 on bars, six on beam, nine on floor and 26 in the all-around. Her total career vault titles is the second most in school history while she is tied at the top with Rheagan Courville for most career all-around titles in program history.
Schoenherr was another senior who shined in the Tigers meet last Friday. The sixth-year senior posted scores of 9.950 on vault and 9.925 on bars to add to LSU’s record performance in the River Center. Her score on vault marked a season and career high at LSU.
Week 10 Rankings
The Tigers improved their record to 11-3 last Friday with their first place finish in the Podium Challenge to earn a program-best National Qualifying Score (NQS) and move them back up to No. 2 in the national polls.
LSU recorded the program’s highest road score in their last meet, improving their NQS above the 198 mark for the first time in school history. LSU earned their fifth score of 198+ this year, the second most by any team this year.
The Tigers enter the eleventh week of competition with an NQS of 198.125 and have ranked in the top-five nationally for all 10 weeks of competition this season. The squad’s five counting scores heading into the regular season finale this week are 198.425, 198.325, 198.300, 197.950 and 197.625.
LSU remains in the top-five on every event for the fourth consecutive week and seventh week in the top-20. The squad will enter their final home meeting ranked second on vault (49.490), third on bars (49.530), fifth on beam (49.470) and first on floor (49.695).
The Tigers own the highest floor score by any team in the country and have placed at the top of the event on six occasions this season, including the last three consecutive weeks.
Bryant remains the top performer in the country for the eighth consecutive week. She sits at No. 1 in the all-around with her NQS of 39.800 and owns an NQS of 9.900 or higher on every event.
The senior heads into this week ranked individually on every event to mark her second straight week in the top-10 on every event and eighth week in the top-25. She currently ranks first on vault, sixth on bars, seventh on beam and third on floor.
Kiya Johnson improved her NQS to 39.570 in the all-around to move her up to No. 14 in the rankings. The fifth-year senior has ranked amongst the top-25 gymnasts in the country for seven consecutive weeks, while also earning a spot at No. 13 in the floor rankings.
Aleah Finnegan and KJ Johnson remained in the top-20 in the floor rankings after recording scores above 9.900 at the Podium Challenge last Friday. Finnegan is the No. 5 floor performer in the country with her NQS of 9.955 on the event, marking her third straight week in the top-five while Johnson owns an NQS of 9.940 on the event to place her in the top-20 for the second straight week.
Freshman Konnor McClain owns an NQS of 9.940 on beam as she remains in the top-10 on the event for the third straight week.
Program History
Head Coach Jay Clark enters his fourth season leading the Tigers and 13th season overall as he continues to grow the LSU Gymnastics program. He is joined by Assistant Coaches Garrett Griffeth, Ashleigh Gnat and Courtney McCool Griffeth. Gnat is in her fourth season with the Tigers while the Griffeth duo enters their third season on staff.
The Tigers climbed their way to the NCAA Championship Final in Fort Worth for the ninth time in program history last year as they look to secure their spot in the championship again in 2024. The Final Four appearance marked the second time that LSU has advanced to the finals since the format began in 2019 and the first time under Clark’s tenure.
Last season marked the program’s 38th straight appearance in the NCAA postseason and 40th overall appearance for the Tigers. With the team advancing out of regionals, LSU marked their 32nd program appearance in the NCAA Championships.
LSU has a total of 16 individual national titles across 10 gymnasts in program history, including current senior Haleigh Bryant who was named the NCAA vault champion in 2021.
The Tigers own four SEC Championship titles in program history, winning three consecutive titles from 2017 to 2019. The last time LSU took home the conference title was in 2019 in the Smoothie King Center, the site of this year’s conference championship.
The 2024 Squad
This year’s roster is composed of 22 gymnasts with 11 seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen. The Tigers welcomed two transfers this year in Savannah Schoenherr and Jillian Hoffman and four new freshmen as Konnor McClain, Amari Drayton, Kylie Coen and Leah Miller begin their first year in the Purple & Gold.
Cammy Hall is a sixth-year who is returning this year from injury, while fifth-year seniors Kiya Johnson, Alyona Shchennikova and Kai Rivers all returned for their final year of competition with the Tigers.
Haleigh Bryant, Sierra Ballard, Chase Brock, Elena Arenas and Olivia Dunne all enter their senior year while Aleah Finnegan, Alexis Jeffrey, Tori Tatum, KJ Johnson begin their junior season.
Ashley Cowan, Bryce Wilson and Annie Beard enter their second year as Tigers.
Tickets
All single-meet tickets are available at the general admission level. Ticket prices vary by meet with a range of $10-$14 for adults and $5-$7 for youth (ages 3-12).
Discounted group tickets for 15 or more are available by calling the ticket sales and services staff at 225-578-2184.
For all ticket information, please visit lsutix.net.
Follow the Tigers
Stay up to date with all things LSU Gymnastics by following the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.