While the LSU gymnastics team season may have ended at the Raleigh Regional, junior Kiya Johnson will be competing as an individual on vault at the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, April 14.
Johnson finished in the top spot on vault during the second round of the regional and will be competing in Semifinal II at the championships at 5 p.m. Additionally, she has been paired with Auburn and will complete her vault after Auburn’s lineup completes their turn on the event.
Despite dealing with an injury this season, Johnson has been a critical piece of the LSU lineup and has dominated when given the green light to compete.
Since she will be representing LSU this week at nationals, here are five of her best routines from this season to kick off championship week.
5. Vault at Raleigh Regional (9.950)
This is the vault that propelled her to compete individually at this year’s National Championships. Johnson’s Double Twisting Yurchenko scored a 9.95. While she may have just missed perfection with this score, she was very close. This gave her one more shot at winning nationals, and she remains a big contender for the title.
4. Beam vs. Utah (9.950)
Johnson on beam is simply special, and the meet against Utah was no exception. With the home crowd cheering her on, she put up a 9.95 in the anchor spot to help push LSU to its highest season score that was above a 198.
Her overall performance against Utah earned her the title of SEC specialist of the week.
3. Vault vs. Utah (9.975)
Johnson’s score of 9.975 on the vault against Utah is as close as possible while just missing out on that perfect 10. Nevertheless, this strong score on vault brought up the team and set up teammate Haleigh Bryant for her own perfect vault.
Bryant is the defending national champion on vault.
2. Beam vs. Alabama (10.000)
Johnson got the second perfect 10 of her career on the beam and the seventh in her overall career. There have only been six gymnasts in LSU history to score more than one perfect 10 on the beam. Johnson’s perfect score pushed LSU significantly above the Tide and helped secure its victory. LSU had a lead of 148.600-147.975 going into the last rotation, and it is worth noting this Alabama team has qualified to the 2022 National Championships.
1. Floor vs. Auburn (10.000)
In her season debut on the floor, Kiya Johnson scored a perfect 10 at home against Auburn. In the moments before her routine, it was unclear if LSU Head Coach Jay Clark would put her in, hold her back or let her go. Ultimately, Olympian Sunisa Lee was on the beam and Clark knew anything could happen. He made the decision to let her go, and the result was perfection.
