It’s official: The quest for LSU’s first gymnastics national championship in program history begins next week, and its first stop will be in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Tigers clinched the No. 2 seed in the tournament following their SEC Championship victory in New Orleans on Saturday night. They will be the top seed in the Arkansas Regional, which will take place from April 3-7.
In its first matchup, LSU will face No. 15 Minnesota, Oregon State, and the winner of Boise State and BYU’s first-round play-in showdown.
This time of year, the goal is simple: beat the team across from you, survive, and advance. If the Tigers can take care of business and finish in the top two in their first matchup, they will move on to the Arkansas Regional Final.
With No. 7 Kentucky, No. 10 Arkansas, Arizona and Nebraska competing in the other second-round matchup in Fayetteville, LSU could run into some familiar foes down the road.
But the Tigers aren’t trying to look too far ahead.
“We don’t even look at the teams,” LSU freshman standout Konner McClain said. “Just going into Arkansas and remembering that we’re competing against the whole country and not just the teams that are there and just doing the same thing that we’ve been doing.”
Competing in April is not new for Tigers head coach Jay Clark; he’s been in this spot before. But for gymnasts like Kiya Johnson, who missed last year’s tournament with an Achilles tear, and McClain, to which this is all new, Clark says the day-to-day preparation part stays the same, with some minor tweaks.
“This time of year, less is more,” Clark said. “It’s a little bit of a shift but not an awful lot; you don’t wanna completely take them out of their pattern physically.”
Clark’s tournament experience and wisdom could give LSU the edge it needs to reach the top. Last year’s championship run was far from easy for the Tigers, with injuries and an overall lack of rest.
“I think the rested teams do better in April,” Clark said. “I think teams with fresh legs generally do better. If you looked at us last year with everything we went through and we got to the finals, you could tell by the time we got into the finals, we looked tired.”
Clark knows how grueling April can be.
“We were at the end of the line; we were emptying the tank,” Clark said. “Fortunately right now we’re not in that place at the moment, but we’re just gonna try and manage that.”
With their path finally laid down, LSU will look to climb the April mountain and hang up a banner once it’s all said and done.