LSU gymnastics’ all-around freshman Lexi Zeiss is one of the five newcomers to the team this year, making quite the impression on the Tigers while balancing what it truly means to be a student-athlete.
Named as one of the March 2025 CCACSA student-athletes of the month, Zeiss has posted a season high 9.925 on the uneven bars against George Washington University and vaulted a 9.900 in LSU’s victory against Auburn.
“She has shined academically, including being on the Dean’s List in Fall 2024,” Assistant Director with the CCACSA Taylor Dennehy said in her nomination for Zeiss. “I am so proud of how hard she works and it is a joy to have her at LSU!”
The mass communication gymnast is a prime example of what it takes to strive both academically and athletically, something her father, Jess Zeiss, has expressed great pride over.
Jess Zeiss told the Reveille that his daughter earning that particular title is his No. 1 proudest accomplishment of hers, knowing the lengths she goes to in order to achieve success.
“That’s such a huge accomplishment as her first year navigating college, especially when she wasn’t at traditional school for the last three years, she was navigating it online,” Jess Zeiss said. “But to infiltrate her back into the classroom, that’s the thing I’m most proud of.”
Jess Zeiss also expressed great pride in her being a part of the Regular Season SEC Champion team, as well as her recent season high scores.
Her parents have always gone the distance for their daughter to ensure she was more than just her sport, including after their family moved from Nebraska to Minnesota for Zeiss to train with Twin City Twisters.
“I always told Lexi, you’re Lexi and you’re a gymnast,” Dana Zeiss said. “You’re not a gymnast named Lexi, because I never wanted her whole identity to be that she’s a gymnast.”
While Zeiss has seemed to have found the common ground between her identity and her success, she’s adjusted to the dynamic of competing for her team and not just for herself like she did as an elite gymnast.
“When you’re attempting to reach the highest level of elite competition, you’re basically trying to become an Olympian,” Zeiss’ former elite coach Steve Hafeman said. “And the routines are really long, the bar routines are twice as long as college routines.”
Zeiss’s mother said that it was almost like elite gymnastics “stole” something from Lexi, especially after she landed short while vaulting in Germany for the DTB Pokal, ultimately tearing the deltoid ligament of her ankle in half.
During this injury, Zeiss continued working with her mindset coach Larry Widman, who has been in Zeiss’ life since she was 12 years old, aiding the gymnast through mental blocks.
“Lexi reached out to me on her own through her parents, and said that she had this dream to be a Division I athlete, and she had two schools in mind,” Widman said. “She either wanted to go to Florida or LSU, which is pretty amazing for a 12 year old.”
While working together, Zeiss came up with a strategy that led her to earn the honors title for the all-around for 2023 Winter Cup, a victory claimed prior to her injury.
“Lexi came up with a really cool strategy called ‘Good Enough’, and she took it from the things we talked about, but she made it her own,” Widman told the Reveille. “She started writing the letters ‘G’ and ‘E’ with a sharpie on her wrist to remind herself that she didn’t need to be perfect.”
In utilizing the Good Enough strategy, Zeiss has carried the affirmation with her for the past few years, and it has shaped her into a valuable teammate for LSU.
“When you’re a true freshman and are being asked to lead off by Coach Jay Clark, on the bars and on vault and certainly on bars, what it tells you is that the coach trusts them,” Widman said. “It tells you a lot about Coach Clark’s trust in Lexi to be out there and be consistent and set the tone.”
Committed to going to DI for as long as she can remember, Zeiss is now entering her first collegiate championship alongside the Tigers in the SEC Championship this weekend, competing against the Florida Gators, and her supporters couldn’t be prouder.
“We haven’t missed a meet. We’ve never missed a meet in her life,” Dana Zeiss said. “For her to come and really find her love for the sport again after elite, and to be loved by her teammates and coaches has, just as a parent, been so heartwarming. I don’t worry, because I know she’s so loved at LSU.”
