The No. 6 LSU gymnastics team placed second at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, beating No. 12 Stanford (6-1, 1-1 Pac-12), No. 16 Missouri (3-1, 1-1 SEC) and Washington (1-2, 1-0 Pac-12), while falling to No. 2 Oklahoma by .800 points on Saturday. 
The Tigers’ goal to perform better than the last time they competed at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena during 2015’s NCAA Semifinals was certainly accomplished, but their nightmare-struggles on beam made somewhat of a comeback.
After starting off strong on bars with a score of 49.325, the 48.600 score on beam marked the Tigers’ lowest event-score of the meet. But LSU’s only counted fall on beam was quickly forgotten as the Tigers were ready to rotate to the team’s best two events, floor and vault.
“This is another learning experience and something that will be a turning point for us,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux in a press release. “We rallied together and picked up momentum in the last two events. I was very pleased with our ladies’ response after beam, and I am proud of this team.”
After finishing the first rotation on bars with a 9.725, it was junior all-arounder Ashleigh Gnat’s night for the Tigers.
Her 9.925 on beam, 9.900 on floor and perfect 10 on vault all served as team-highs and compiled for the third highest all-around score of the meet.
With the 10.000 on her double-twisting Yurchenko, Gnat also became the third gymnast in LSU history to score perfect tens on the same event in back-to-back meets.
The Tigers finished their rotations with a 49.450 vault score to place second for the fourth-consecutive time at the Metroplex Challenge.
You can reach Markus Hufner on Twitter @Hufner_TDR