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No. 2 Gymnastics Earns Program Best Road Opener Score, Finishes Second in Sprouts Collegiate Quad

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No. 2 Gymnastics Earns Program Best Road Opener Score, Finishes Second in Sprouts Collegiate Quad

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (3-1) recorded their highest score for a road opener in program history on Saturday in the second-annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet, finishing in second with their score of 197.650 inside the Paycom Center.

The Tigers put up a fight against No. 1 Oklahoma, who finished on top of the meet with a 197.950. No. 6 California finished third with a 197.275 and No. 4 Utah rounded out the afternoon session in fourth with a 196.800.

Senior Aleah Finnegan and freshman Kailin Chio both finished with a 39.625 all-around score, which tied for second in the afternoon group session. Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers took home the event all-around title with a 39.675.

“I thought we got one step better today,” said head coach Jay Clark. “Certainly we have things that we need to improve on, but we didn’t let those things affect us. We did a good job of not making it about the other teams that were out there with us and focused on us. I thought it was a step forward from last week and that’s really all you can ask for this early in the year, especially given that we are still trying to get some people healthy.”

The Tigers opened the meet on vault and came out of the gate strong with a 49.450, the highest score amongst all four teams in the quad meet. Freshman Lexi Zeiss scored a 9.85 in the opening spot in the first vault routine of her collegiate career. Senior Aleah Finnegan followed in the second spot with a 9.90. Senior Chase Brock followed Finnegan with a score of 9.925 in the third spot. Freshman Kaliya Lincoln scored a 9.825 in only her second collegiate routine ever before sophomore Amari Drayton added another 9.825. Freshman Kailin Chio stuck her yurchenko one and a half in the anchor spot to post a career 9.95.

Chio’s vault score on the day won her the event title, the third of her career and first on vault. LSU’s 49.450 placed them second after the first rotation, trailing Oklahoma’s 49.525 set on  beam.

Zeiss was back in the opening spot for bars and scored a 9.825 to lead things off for the Tigers in the second rotation. Junior Ashley Cowan matched her career-high on bars with a 9.95 in the second spot, followed by fifth-year senior Olivia Dunne posting a 9.725 in the third spot. Chio scored a 9.90 in the fourth spot for the second consecutive week while Finnegan scored a 9.825 in the fifth spot. Sophomore Konnor McClain anchored for the Tigers and posted a 9.925 to round out LSU’s score to 49.425 for the bars.

After two rotations, LSU’s 98.875 sat second only to Oklahoma’s 99.050.

The Tigers moved to the beam for the third rotation, where 5th-year senior Sierra Ballard opened with a 9.85. Dunne posted a 9.775 in the second spot and was followed by Chio with a 9.85. McClain posted a 9.85 of her own in the fourth spot ahead of graduate student Haleigh Bryant scoring a 9.75 in her first pass of the 2025 season. Finnegan anchored the rotation with a 9.925 to lift LSU’s team score to 49.250 for the event.

After the third rotation, Oklahoma narrowly led the meet with a 148.250 over LSU (148.125), California (148.000) and Utah (147.725).

Ballard opened the final rotation for LSU with a 9.825 and was followed by 5th-year senior Chase Brock, who posted her own 9.825 in the second spot. Dunne scored a 9.85 in the third spot before Drayton posted a career-high 9.95 routine in spot four. Chio continued the strong scores with a 9.925 in the fifth spot, which marked the second straight week that the freshman posted a 9.925 on the floor. In the anchor spot, the 2024 NCAA Floor Champion Finnegan performed a near-flawless routine to score a 9.975. 

The Tigers finished floor with a season-high 49.525, topping the 49.500 posted in last week’s season opener against Iowa State as LSU claimed the second highest score on the day. The squad put on a strong showing in Oklahoma City, hitting all 24 routines and finishing with the highest team vault score and second highest on bars and floor amongst the nation’s top competition. 

Finnegan and Chio shared second placed in the all-around amongst all the competitors in the second session with their score of 39.625 on the day. Finnegan also took home the floor title, her second on the event and sixth this year, while Chio beat her all-around score in the Tigers season opener last week.

No. 2 LSU returns home to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center next week and opens conference play against No. 3 Florida on ESPN2 at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, January 17.

Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet – Final Session II Results 

  1. Oklahoma – 197.950
  2. LSU – 197.650
  3. Cal – 197.275
  4. Utah – 196.800