LSU gymnastics lost to Florida 198.150-197.950 on Friday in Gainesville despite its new on-the-road high score.
Aleah Finnegan continued her perfection streak, scoring her second 10 on the floor in two weeks.
After Finnegan’s 10, Haleigh Bryant and Kiya Johnson finished the rotation with 9.950s.
Finnegan led the No. 2 Tigers to a 148.600-148.450 lead going into the final rotation.
“That may be the best floor rotation I’ve ever witnessed by any team in my years of coaching,” head coach Jay Clark said. “It was stellar.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the lead didn’t last long.
After Sierra Ballard and Johnson’s 9.825 beam routines, Finnegan followed with a 9.80. Despite Konnor McClain and Bryant’s 9.950s, the Tigers came up short.
“I think our team did enough to win in there tonight,” Clark said. “It was a great overall performance and without a doubt our best road performance of the year from top to bottom.”
The Tigers started the night out on uneven bars. Alexis Jeffrey led with a solid performance, scoring a 9.850. Ashley Cowan, Johnson and McClain posted three scores of 9.825, while Savannah Schoenherr scored a 9.850. Bryant anchored with a 9.925, but No. 5 Florida’s stellar vault routines gave it an early lead.
KJ Johnson led off for the Tigers on vault, scoring a 9.825. Finnegan followed with a 9.80 and Amari Drayton scored a near-perfect 9.975. Schoenherr, Johnson and Bryant finished the rotation with scores of 9.875, 9.950 and 9.925 respectively.
LSU’s vault squad recorded a season-high vault score of 49.550 to tie with the Gators going into the third rotation.
“It was a great meet and great atmosphere,” Clark said. “The sting of the loss bothers us a little bit naturally, but at the same time, we improved… and kept ourselves where we want to be.”
Although LSU only has two losses in away meets, it tends to perform better and produce higher scores in Baton Rouge.
“I would like for us to perform like it’s a home meet and have a complete performance on the road,” Clark said earlier in the week. “This meet is always a good rivalry and we know it’ll be a tough environment, but at this point, it’s just about us measuring ourselves against ourselves.”
