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Gymnastics Hosts No. 7 Florida for SEC Home Opener Friday Night

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Gymnastics Hosts No. 7 Florida for SEC Home Opener Friday Night

BATON ROUGE– The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (3-1) will host No. 7 Florida (3-0) for a top 10 matchup inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday, January 17 at 6:30 p.m. CT.

“We’ve had a strong start to the year so far and our mindset doesn’t change as we enter conference competition this week,” said head coach Jay Clark. “We want to continue to move forward each week. We had a great score on the road last weekend, and now we’re just looking to build off of that and focus on the next five minutes in front of us. This team has done exactly what it needs to do so far, and this week is just step three in the process. We’re excited to get back in front of our home fans for a big matchup against a top 10 team and hopefully get our first sell out of the year!”

The Tigers will open conference competition on national television, taking on the Gators on ESPN2 with John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek and Taylor Davis on the call. The first vault is set for 6:32 in the PMAC.

Friday’s meet between the Tigers and the Gators is one of the nation’s three top-10 SEC duals this weekend: No. 10 Missouri at No. 1 Oklahoma; No. 7 Florida at No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Alabama at No. 8 Kentucky.

This will be the 125th all-time meeting between the two teams, with Florida leading the series 78-46-0. The last time LSU and Florida faced off was in the 2024 NCAA Finals, where the Tigers made history and won their first-ever national title.

Live stats and broadcast information for the meet can be found here.

Promotion

This week’s giveaway is a mini replica of the Tigers national championship ring, which will be given away to the first 1,000 fans to arrive at the arena on Friday. Doors to the PMAC will open at 5 p.m. CT.

Single meet tickets for the 2025 season can be purchased here.

Last Time On The Floor

LSU recorded their highest road opener score in program history in the second-annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet, finishing in second at the meet with their score of 197.650. LSU came in second only to 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.

LSU earned season high scores on every event following their performance in Oklahoma City. 

The Tigers began 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. Chio’s vault score of 9.950 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.

LSU went on to score a 49.425 on bars and placed in second with a 98.875 to Oklahoma’s 99.050 after two rotations. Junior Ashley Cowan recorded a team high 9.950 for the Tigers on bars.

The Tigers posted a 49.250 on beam in the third rotation, led by Finnegan’s 9.975 in the anchor spot. After three rotations in the Paycom Center, Oklahoma narrowly led the meet with a 148.250 over LSU (148.125), California (148.000) and Utah (147.725).

LSU finished the meet on floor with a season-high 49.525, topping the 49.500 posted in their season opener against Iowa State. Finnegan took home the floor title for the second consecutive week and sixth title on the year.

Week Two Road To Nationals Rankings

The Tigers remain the No. 2 team in the country with an average of 197.475 following their performance in the Sprout’s Collegiate Quad last Saturday in Oklahoma City.

The squad recorded their highest road opener score in program history in the second-annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet, finishing in second at the meet with their score of 197.650. 

Senior Aleah Finnegan took home the floor title while freshman Kailin Chio finished on top on vault. They both put on a strong showing in OKC, posting a 39.625 in the all-around, which tied for second in the afternoon session. 

The LSU squad enters the third week of competition ranked second on vault (49.400), third on bars 49.350), seventh on beam (49.213) and first on floor (49.513) for the second consecutive week. 

Finnegan and Chio continue to shine for the Tigers in the all-around. Finnegan is ranked second in the country while Chio sits in fifth. The duo also ranks amongst the top-20 performers on every event. 

Other Tigers that earned a spot in the national rankings include Chase Brock, Amari Drayton and Ashley Cowan. Brock and Drayton both rank No. 17 on vault with their averages of 9.875, while Drayton also ranks No. 12 on floor. Cowan ranks No. 10 on bars with her average of 9.900.

View the full 2025 Road To Nationals rankings here

Chio, Cowan Earn Week Two SEC Gymnastics Awards

Freshman Kailin Chio earned her second consecutive SEC Gymnastics Award after her week two performance along with junior Ashley Cowan.

A native of Henderson, Nevada, Chio was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week following her career-high 39.625 all-around performance in the Tigers last meet at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad in Oklahoma City. She posted scores of 9.950 on vault, 9.900 on bars, 9.850 on beam and 9.925 on floor at the meet. 

While Chio shares this week’s award with Oklahoma’s Lily Pederson, the freshman has earned SEC Freshman honors in back-to-back weeks following her first two collegiate meets at LSU. She currently ranks the No. 5 all-arounder in the country and earned a spot in the top 20 on every event following the first two weeks of competition.

A native of Hillsborough, North Carolina, Cowan tabbed her first conference award of her career as she was named the SEC Co-Specialist of the Week following her 9.950 bars routine in the Sprouts Quad. She shares the week two honor with Danie Ferris from Florida. Cowan ranks tenth on bars in the nation with her average of 9.900. 

Key Returners in 2025

This year’s squad consists of 21 gymnasts and 15 returners: 10 seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. 

Haleigh Bryant, Olivia Dunne, Sierra Ballard, Chase Brock and Alyona Shchennikova all returned for their final seasons with the Tigers in 2025. Bryant, Dunne, Ballard and Brock enter their fifth-year season while Schchennikova is in her sixth-year.

Shchennikova is back this year after missing the 2024 season due to injury. She is an All-American on the uneven bars and will return veteran routines to the all-around. The Evergreen, Colorado native owns career high’s of 9.950 on vault and bars, 9.925 on beam, 9.975 on floor and 39.525 in the all-around.

Bryant, the 2024 NCAA All-Around Champion, AAI Award Winner and SEC Gymnast of the Year, will compete in her final season with the Tigers in 2025 after a historical season last year. She owns the program record all-around score (39.925) and career high’s of perfect 10’s across all four events.

A Louisiana native, Ballard is a veteran to the beam and floor lineup, where she owns career high’s of 9.950 and 9.925.

Dunne, a native of Hillsdale, New Jersey, played a vital role to the bars and floor lineups for LSU last season as she returned ready to go on three events. She owns career high’s of 9.925 on bars and 9.900 on floor. Brock is capable of impacting the vault and floor lineups in her final season, where she owns career high’s of 9.975 on vault and 9.925 on floor.

Other key returners for the 2025 season include Aleah Finnegan, KJ Johnson, Tori Tatum, Alexis Jeffrey, Ashley Cowan, Konnor McClain and Amari Drayton.

Finnegan, the 2024 NCAA Floor Champion, will be pivotal in the all-around for the Tigers this year. She enters her final season with career high’s of 10’s on vault, beam and floor, 9.925 on bars and a 39.800 in the all-around.

Johnson competed in every meet on vault for the Tigers during their national championship run in 2024 and in all but one meet on floor. She owns career high’s of 9.950 on vault and 9.975 on floor entering her senior season.

Cowan, Tatum and Jeffrey are all mainstays in the bars lineup for the Tigers and all own a career high of 9.950 on the event. 

The duo of McClain and Drayton enter their sophomore season after a prominent freshman season, where the two competed in every meet for the Tigers. McClain is coming off an injury but will impact the bars and beam lineups, owning career high’s of a perfect 10 on both events. 

Drayton is capable of impacting all four lineups for the Tigers in 2025. She appeared in the vault and floor lineups for LSU last year, recording career high’s of 9.975 on vault and 9.925 on floor.

Kailin Chio, Kaliya Lincoln, Lexi Zeiss, Zoe Miller and Victoria Roberts make up this year’s freshman class.

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