Five Tigers Earn WCGA Regular Season All-America Honors

BATON ROUGE – LSU gymnasts Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson, Aleah Finnegan, KJ Johnson and Konnor McClain combined for 10 regular season All-America honors in 2024, announced by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA).

LSU leads the conference in regular season All-America nods this year and tied for second most in the nation.

This is the 12th year the WCGA has recognized regular-season All-Americans. All-America honors are determined by final individual National Qualifying Scores (NQS) and are awarded to the top 16 finishers on each event. The top eight gymnasts on each event and the all-around receive first-team honors while gymnasts ranked nine through 16 receive second-team honors, with all ties included.

This year’s awards moves LSU’s total to 311 total All-America honors in program history, with Bryant now owning the second most career honors by any LSU gymnast. With five All-America honors in 2024, the senior moved her career total to 22 (14 regular season, eight NCAA), second only to Sarah Finnegan and Rheagan Courville with 23. 

Bryant claimed first team All-America honors on every event and the all-around for the first time in the regular season to move her total to 14. Last year, Bryant claimed honors on all but one apparatus.

The senior showed out week after week during the regular season and finished with the highest NQS in the nation with her 39.810 in the all-around. She ranked the No. 1 gymnast in the country for 10 out of 12 weeks of competition, including top-10 rankings on every event. Bryant owns an NQS of 9.965 on vault, 9.960 on bars, 9.950 on beam and 9.965 on floor.

This year has been nothing short of amazing for Bryant as she was recently named the 2024 SEC Gymnast of the Year and AAI Award Finalist. She has earned two individual SEC titles and All-SEC honors, as well as six SEC Gymnast of the Week honors, the most by any gymnast this year.

Bryant has had eight meets with scores of 9.900 or higher on all four events this year and owns season highs of perfect 10’s on each apparatus. She achieved both a gym slam and season slam this year, as she owns six perfect scores this season and 16 in her career, the most by any gymnast in LSU history.

Kiya Johnson is another veteran performer in the all-around for the Tigers this year. She finished as the No. 15 gymnast in the nation to claim second team All-America honors in 2024. The fifth-year senior earned first team honors on floor with her fifth place finish in the standings and NQS of 9.970 on the event.

The Dallas, Texas native, is now a six-time regular season All-American, after achieving All-America recognitions on vault and floor in 2021 and 2022. She owns 10 All-America honors in her career – six WCGA Regular Season, four NCAA. 

This year, Johnson’s season high of 39.675 in the all-around came against No. 7 Arkansas. She owns eight scores of 9.900+ on floor with a season high 10.000 against No. 6 Kentucky. 

Finnegan has ranked as one of the top floor performers in the country for five consecutive weeks and finished No. 9 in the standings with her NQS of 9.960. This year marks her second year as an All-American on floor in the regular season and seventh honor in her career (4 WCGA regular season, three NCAA).

The Lee’s Summit, Missouri native has recorded eight scores above 9.900 on floor this year, including back-to-back 10’s against No. 12 Auburn and No. 5 Florida.

KJ Johnson’s floor performance this year earned her second team All-America honors, marking the first in her career. The junior finished No.14 in the national standings with an NQS of 9.950 on the event. 

Johnson has had a standout year on floor, earning both All-SEC and All-America honors for the first time in her career. Her career high performance came against No. 9 Alabama on March 1, where she scored a 9.975. She earned that same score on two other occasions this year, at the Podium Challenge and at the SEC Championships to earn her first SEC Individual title. 

Johnson posted eight scores of 9.900 or higher on floor this year and spent four consecutive weeks in the top-20 on the event. 

McClain has garnered multiple awards in her first year as a Tiger. Already an All-SEC and All-Freshman team member, the freshman now owns her first All-America honor on beam. 

With seven scores of 9.90+ on beam, McClain finished as the No. 3 beam performer in the country with her NQS of 9.975. She spent five straight weeks in the top-10 nationally on the event and earned three SEC awards throughout the regular season, including two SEC Specialist of the Week honors and one Freshman of the Week.

LSU is headed to the Fayetteville Regional next week, where they will begin their road to Fort Worth for the NCAA Championships from April 18-20. The No. 2 overall seeded Tigers will compete in the second round on Thursday, April 4 at 7 p.m. CT. The top two teams in the regional final on Saturday, April 6 will advance to championships.

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