ST. LOUIS — In a season of firsts, Saturday was a night of lasts for three seniors.
After returning to the Super Six, the LSU gymnastics team fell to Oklahoma, finishing in second place for a second straight season.
The trio of seniors, Ashleigh Gnat, Sydney Ewing and Shae Zamardi will leave LSU without a championship, but have a lot to look back on.
“[The seniors] brought such a sense of satisfaction and such a sense of right,” coach D-D Breaux said. “They do everything right. They do what we ask them to do. They have done everything we’ve asked them to do in the gym and outside the gym. They’re tremendous leaders and even the ones that aren’t great outfront leaders, are great first followers. And that’s what they brought to the program.”
As one of the most decorated gymnasts in LSU history, Gnat walked off the floor after her final performance on the beam and she walked over and embraced her teammates.
“I really wanted to be with my team,” she said. “I wanted to be with the people that were strangers when I got here and now they’re my family.”
During a banquet prior to the NCAA championship, Gnat was named the 2017 AAI award winner which is given to the most outstanding senior in the country, also considered the Heisman trophy of college gymnastics.
The only other gymnast to win the award is two-time NCAA champion Susan Jackson, who was honored with the award in 2010.
During Gnat’s four years at LSU, she has been listed as an All-American 11 times entering the 2017 season, but her awards don’t stop even close to there.
During her junior season, Gnat had six perfect scores and was the first LSU gymnast to do so.
Gnat was also named the Central Regional gymnast of the year for the second year in a row after earning first team All-American honors on vault, floor and beam in the regional meet adding to her long list of accolades.
“These memories last forever,” Gnat said. “D-D always says that tradition never graduates. This year is in the history books. We had an amazing season and I’m really excited for the future of this program, but I’m glad this team was able to make its mark.”
Before the Tigers took off to compete in the NCAA championship, LSU made a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska where the team grabbed its fifth straight regional title and 16 total.

Even before that, LSU won the SEC championships to go along with the SEC regular season title.
“This season set the tone that we are a team to be reckoned with,” Gnat said. “Everybody knows that our time is coming.”
Moments before LSU went on beam, trailing Oklahoma, Breaux wanted her team to feel calm.
“I knew that I wanted to go up there and represent our school and represent our coaching staff and this program and everything it has given me,” Gnat said. “This school has given me every opportunity and I just wanted to give it back to them.”
As the seniors move on to the next chapter in their lives, Breaux is optimistic for what is to come for LSU.
“I told them when they finished beam that we are not going to be weak and timid and we’re not going to be cry babies,” Breaux said. “We’re going to take second place and we’re going to take it with pride and bring it home and begin the process for next year.”
The team’s focus for next season is getting more gymnasts healthy and putting sophomore Lexie Priessman in a position where she is healthy enough to compete all-around.
Breaux also said that sophomore McKenna Kelley has a lot more to offer.
“This program is something special,” Gnat said. “And we’re on the rise year after year.”