BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The LSU gymnastics squad entered the Southeastern Conference championships on Saturday fully expecting to compete for the league’s title, and they were in prime position after the first rotation.
But a mishap on the balance beam from the team’s anchor quickly tilted the scale against the Tigers, and they never recovered from the costly mistake.
For the second consecutive season, LSU (15-5, 5-2 SEC) placed third in the SEC championships, finishing with a score of 197.325. It was the squad’s lowest score since Feb. 7 against Arkansas.
The big winner of the evening was Alabama (17-3, 6-1 SEC). The Crimson Tide scored a 197.875 to steal the title from defending champion Florida (15-2, 6-1 SEC), who had the lead entering the final rotation.
The Tigers appeared to be in the mix with the top two teams after their performance on the uneven bars. The squad tallied a 49.350 and trailed Florida by a mere .025 heading to the balance beam.
But junior all-arounder Jessie Jordan, LSU’s beam anchor, had an uncharacteristic fall near the end of her routine, and the momentum the squad built after the first rotation quickly faded.
“Our start on bars was as good as you would want it to be,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “We went to beam, and our anchor, our best person, cracked and fell, and I think that kind of set the tone a little bit.”
The Tigers ended up scoring a 49.100 on beam, their second lowest output of the season, and dropped from second to third place halfway through the meet.
And as the gap steadily kept growing, the usually confident and self-assured Tigers suddenly began to doubt themselves, and it showed in their performances. This wasn’t the same team Breaux had grown accustomed to seeing this season.
“It’s the first time [the team] kind of felt some nerves,” Breaux said. “The kids lost their competitive edge, lost their focus a little bit and cracked.”
Senior Sarie Morrison also felt the team’s overall mindset prevented them from producing the typical stellar performances that they’ve come to expect of themselves.
“I think one of the biggest things is not necessarily that we got tight with our gymnastics, but we got tight with our minds,” Morrison said. “When things got tight, we were saying in our minds, ‘I hope I got this, I think I’ve got this,’ instead of knowing that we’ve got this. We let our minds be in doubt, and that’s what did it for us.”
LSU hit the floor exercise for the third rotation, where junior Lloimincia Hall provided one of the squad’s few highlights of the night. Her floor routine had all the flair and power it’s renowned for, and Hall danced and flipped her way to a 9.950 to earn a share of the SEC floor title for the third consecutive year.
“That’s what [Lloimincia] wanted to do, and she didn’t let anything cloud her vision,” Breaux said.
As a team, the Tigers recorded a 49.350 on the floor exercise. But a 49.700 from Georgia on the uneven bars pushed LSU down to fourth place after the third rotation.
The Tigers finished the night on the vault, which was their best performance of the meet. The squad tallied a 49.525, which tied Alabama for the highest vault score of the meet.
Four Tiger gymnasts scored at least a 9.900. Jordan rebounded from her earlier, costly fall on beam and led LSU with a career-high tying 9.950. Junior Rheagan Courville added a 9.925, and seniors Kaleigh Dickson and Morrison earned 9.900s.
But the Tigers’ early mistakes prevented the huge vault score from being a major factor in the final tallies. A fall from Florida gymnast Claire Boyce in the final rotation opened the door for Alabama to grab the conference title, but at that point, LSU’s fate was already sealed.
“One little mistake can cost you the meet, and we should have been in the hunt right there,” Breaux said. “We should have been taking advantage of [Boyce’s] mistake and capturing it right here because we vaulted good enough to do that.”
But as tough as the loss was for the Tigers, their season’s not over just yet, and their dreams of a national title are still very much alive.
“I think this was a great setup for what we’re going to have at nationals,” Courville said. “But we really need to put it together. This was a wake-up call.”
LSU will be one of the hosts for the NCAA regionals, which are April 5. Breaux said the disheartening loss her squad suffered will be the perfect fuel for the final push toward a national title.
“We’re going to be able to take this and go home and get mad, but we’re going to work harder because of it,” Breaux said. “[We’ll] take all this SEC championship stuff out of the conversation and just turn it into blue collar work. I think we’ll come back here with a vengeance.”