Rarely do tears and excitement intersect, but for the LSU gymnastics team’s Senior Night on Friday, the two will be perfectly pieced together.
Senior gymnasts Jessica Savona, Randii Wyrick and Michelle Gauthier will take center stage in the PMAC as the No. 4 Tigers play host for a final time this season against No. 3 Alabama.
All three said Friday will be an emotional night, and Gauthier will likely be a teary time bomb.
“I’ll cry when I see my teammates crying,” Gauthier said. “If they start crying, I’m going down.”
After the tears subside and the gymnasts take center floor, the three will exhibit the same joy they have since 2013, their freshman season.
For them, the past four seasons have passed rapidly.
“Then I was like, ‘oh dang, now I’m in college, and now I’m leaving college,’” Wyrick said. “It all just happened so quickly. Time really flew.”
In the those seasons, the trio experienced the evolution of LSU gymnastics into a national superpower, translating into the construction of the Tigers’ new gymnastics facility.
At the beginning of their respective journeys, the gymnasts had entirely different feelings heading into meets. Their first and last home meets do not elicit similar emotional responses, they said.
“Freshman year the nerves were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this all so new,” Wyrick said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been there and done that. I have a great team behind me, and now I’m just excited. I’m excited to go out there, kill it with my team and put on a show for all the fans one last time.”
Wyrick, a Las Vegas native, will have seven of her family members in town to watch her final performance in Baton Rouge.
Through four seasons at LSU, the fans are what she will cherish from her time as a Tiger.
“Going into an arena filled with people knowing that they are cheering you and your teammates on,” Wyrick said. “Knowing they fully support you, and want you to do well. Knowing we have so many people from all over the place taking their time out to come and watch us. You know, it’s crazy the amount of people that we inspire and touch daily by doing the thing that we love.”
Gauthier agreed, the fans are — and have been — incredible to her team, she said.
But her lasting memory will be what happened toward the end of the 2015 season, her junior year.
“One of my favorites would be when we defeated [then-No. 2] Florida in front of 12,000 [people],” Gauthier said. “Then the meet after that we had about 13,000 fans. We just kept breaking records. It was great, the fans and scores kept breaking records. It was so exciting.”
Wyrick and Gauthier commended the loyalty of the Tiger faithful through their highs and lows, especially from the little girls decked in purple and gold bows and costume leotards, mimicking their idols.
It’s a touching subject for all three. Wyrick said she vividly remembers being the girl who ran up to the gymnasts after a competition to take a picture.
“We were all that little girl once,” Wyrick said. “I love being able to go up to them after the competition, take pictures and sign autographs. Now, to be able to give back in a way, is so meaningful. It’s awesome to be able to know by signing an autograph, by taking the time out to take a picture … it can affect them in such a positive way.”
Gauthier said she adores the amount of young girls that look up to LSU’s featured gymnasts.
The girls, team bonding and an evolving program have all been a part of Gauthier’s, Wyrick’s and Savona’s collegiate ride, too.
“Seeing those little girls is amazing,” Gauthier said. “It’s been a great four-year ride. It’s just crazy.”