Tonight, the LSU Gymnastics team came out confident, outscoring Kentucky in every event except for bars. Despite the solid performances of every gymnast, one Tiger in particular flipped the script.

Last year during the Tigers’ meet with Kentucky, Kiya Johnson tore her achilles which left her out for the remainder of the season. Only a year later, she received a perfect 10 for her floor routine at this season’s Kentucky matchup.

“Physically we knew she was back,” Coach Jay Clark said. “But it’s been a year since that happened. Sometimes you’re gun-shy, sometimes things creep into your head, sometimes you just don’t feel it yet and things just aren’t clicking.”

Johnson and Coach Clark partially attributed her success to the performances of the girls who came before her in the lineup. With each tumbling pass hitting, Johnson was confident with the team’s momentum and felt less pressure when her turn came.

“My mindset was really to just have fun,” Johnson said. “I’m very thankful that he let me go out there and do the routine. I’ve been looking forward to competing floor in the PMAC for a while, so it was really fun.”

Before she even received her score, Johnson was surrounded by encouragement from her teammates. With her performance, they knew they had the meet in the bag before it was official, chanting “10” with the crowd.

“I almost pulled her off of floor after Haleigh hit,” Coach Clark said. “Because we’re sitting there at a 198, but I ran through my checklist: she feels good, she hadn’t really done her floor set yet, she needs to get experience, it’s home, she likes this floor, so we let her go.”

Johnson was not the only one who had a special night. Haleigh Bryant also added another perfect 10 to her long list of accolades and Coach Clark secured his fiftieth win at LSU.

After being able to add tonight’s meet to the “W” column, the Purple and Gold will take on Missouri on Friday, Jan. 26.