LSU Gymnastics bounced back from a tough loss to Arkansas with a dominant win over Missouri on Friday night.
The Tigers fed off the energy of 13,082 fans—the eighth-largest crowd in program history—scoring a season-high 198.000.
KJ Johnson made her return from injury, impressing on vault with a 9.900.
“KJ starts us in a place with momentum 90% of the time when she goes out there and does that, and so it just lit the fuse and you could just feel it, I started to relax. As soon as she did that I was like, watch this,” Jay Clark said.
LSU defeated Missouri on all four events- vault, bars, beam, and floor.
Helen Hu from Missouri hit a near-perfect beam routine and scored a 9.975. However, Coach Clark didn’t think her score was high enough. He raises concern for the recent changes in scoring.
“Helen Hu should’ve got a ten. That beam set is the best beam set in the country,” Clark said.
Despite these recent score changes, Kailin Chio scored high and earned the top all-around spot with a 39.650. The final team scores of the competition were 198.00 to 197.175.
With this victory, LSU builds momentum heading into their next meet against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.