The No. 8 LSU gymnastics team took down No. 6 Auburn in a historic win with two perfect 10’s and a season high score of 197.975 to give LSU its 300th win in the crowded PMAC on Saturday.
Going into the meet, LSU Coach Jay Clark told fans he was hoping for a sell-out, and the fans delivered. The meet was the second-highest attended program in school history with 13,569 people in attendance.
“It was a lot of fun. That’s what it’s supposed to feel like in the PMAC. That’s what we want it to feel like in the PMAC,” said Clark.
In a meet that was tied going into the last rotation, the LSU Tigers stunned the energized crowd with the best floor score in school history of 49.775.
Minutes before Kiya Johnson was supposed to perform on floor, Clark considered pulling her from the event if they had the win. He said he asked assistant coach Garrett Griffeth if they should pull her, but in the end, they knew Sunisa Lee could score a 10 on beam. This would have tied the meet up, so Clark decided to let Johnson go for it.
“Getting her back is tremendous. We’ve got to be careful. At the end, I was looking at the score. Do we have it? Are we taking an undue risk here?” said Clark.
Christina Desiderio led off with a career high performance of 9.95, setting the Tigers up for what would be a stellar rotation that won the meet. Alyona Shchennikova followed afterwards with a 9.925.
Auburn fought until the end and kept things close with Olympic gold-medalist Lee, ending their beam rotation with a 9.975. The final score for Auburn was 197.750.
All of this led up to LSU’s infamous “one-two punch” that was finally back in the all-around for the Purple and Gold after injuries kept them out for the last few meets. Haleigh Bryant scored a 9.95, which set up Johnson’s routine that was the second perfect 10 of the night for the Tigers.
Earlier in the meet, the first 10 of the day was by Bryant in an undeniably perfect vault that received high praise on social media to end the Tigers’ first rotation. This was Bryant’s third perfect 10 and the first in her second collegiate season.
Aleah Finnegan made her freshman debut in the PMAC with a graceful beam routine, reminding fans of her sister, LSU great Sarah Finnegan, who was watching from the stands. She captured her career high of 9.90 on beam, which was one of LSU’s highest scores of the day on the event.
Freshman standout KJ Johnson has yet to disappoint, and she impressed Tiger fans with her first SEC home performance. She set two career highs with a vault score of 9.90 and a floor score of 9.95. Clark credited the fan support for giving her the confidence to go out and do so well.
“KJ Johnson was struggling in warmups, and she went out there with that crowd behind her and just banged one out. It was pretty cool,” said Clark.
Alexis Jeffrey, the controversial new addition to the team, was in attendance and took part in the pre-meet introductions. She has yet to perform at a meet, but this was the first one she attended as a Tiger.
Auburn gymnast Lee had a great meet with her own perfect 10, the first of her collegiate career. Even the LSU fans cheered for her when she was introduced and after every rotation.
“I found it a little bit disheartening that Suni Lee got the largest applause of anyone in the room and over our own kids,” said Clark.
Even though he found it a little disheartening, Clark also said that he understood the hype because of her natural talent. Lee took the all-around title at the meet with a big 39.825.
Several familiar faces with a fan following of their own were spotted in the PMAC on Saturday. Former LSU gymnastics Coach D-D Breaux and current women’s basketball Coach Kim Mulkey showed up to support the Tigers, along with LSU President William Tate and his wife Kim.
LSU is scheduled to travel to Florida to face the Gators in Gainesville for another Top-10 matchup Friday. The No. 4 Florida team will be a tough test for the Tigers, who are looking to keep building their scores for the postseason.
