FORT WORTH, Texas - The LSU gymnastics team has nothing to hang its head about, LSU associate coach Jay Clark told his team at the conclusion of the Super Six on Saturday night.
Finding themselves in fifth place at the midway point, the Tigers clawed back for a chance at their first national championship in program history.
Although LSU came up just short, finishing No. 2 in the nation — its best finish in school history — with a 197.4500 team score, junior all-arounder Ashleigh Gnat said the ranking felt as good as gold.
Oklahoma bested the Tigers with a 197.6750 team score for its second national championship in three years.
Alabama (197.4375) earned a bronze-medal finish, while Florida (197.3500), UCLA (196.8250) and Georgia (196.8125) finished fourth through sixth.
Sitting out the first rotation on bye while the competing teams’
respective fan bases roared to life, the Tigers stayed in their “Purple Zone,” which entailed singing along and choreograhping their own dance moves to the tunes flowing through the
loudspeakers.
“Shut up and dance with me!” freshman all-arounder McKenna Kelley sang to senior all-arounder Jessica Savona.
Starting the night with a 49.1250 on bars, the Tigers were in a hole as they rotated to beam, but it didn’t seem to affect them as they put down the shovel and posted the best beam total at the NCAA Championships in program history.
Leading off the lineup, sophomore all-arounder Erin Macadaeg tallied a 9.8875, and sophomore all-arounder Myia Hambrick followed Macadaeg’s example with a 9.8875 of her own.
Freshman Julianna Cannamela secured the lineup’s third spot after an intense competition in the weeks leading up to the NCAA Championships, said LSU
gymnastics coach D-D Breaux.
Even after a fall in Friday’s semifinals, Breaux left Cannamela in the lineup, and she rewarded Breaux’s trust in her with a career-high 9.85.
“Julianna came up so big for us as a freshman on beam after not doing so well last night,” Breaux said. “She came back today and had a couple judges give her 9.9s. It was a fabulous effort from a freshman that’s going to give us a lot of good gymnastics.”
Freshman all-arounder Sarah Finnegan’s 9.875 made up for her fall on bars, and Gnat anchored the lineup with a 9.8375 for a 49.3375 team score.
LSU sat in fifth place heading into its second bye, with each team tallying two event scores.
With its two highest-scoring events ahead, LSU began to ascend the scoreboard on floor.
“After beam, we knew that we could still win,” Gnat said. “It was never like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to do so good to win.’ We had to be ourselves, and we had to have fun. That’s exactly what we did.”
Hambrick got the lineup on track in the second spot, scoring a 9.925. Kelley and senior all-arounder Randii Wyrick also rose to the occasion for the Tigers, posting a 9.90 and 9.8875,
respectively.
Gnat, the No. 1 regular season floor specialist in the nation, was up next. She executed all three tumbling passes to near perfection, earning an emphatic “L-S-U” chant and a 9.925.
Trailing Oklahoma by .175 and Alabama by .0625 with only vault remaining, the Tigers had a chance.
With the national championship trophy in sight, they had some fun.
“I said, ‘Hey guys, when we’re loose and we’re having fun, that’s when we do our best work,’” Wyrick said she told her teammates. “We didn’t even really
focus on [scores]. It was just a matter of if we go out there and do our best … Regardless of anything, we’re going to know that we laid it all out there, we did our best and whatever happens, happens.”
Cannamela followed her career-high beam performance with a 9.90 on vault, setting the pace for the remaining five vaulters. Junior all-arounder Sydney Ewing and Finnegan came next, scoring LSU’s second and third-
consecutive 9.9 scores.
Hambrick added a 9.875, and again, it was Gnat in the anchor spot. The nation’s top regular-season vaulter stuck her double yurchenko for a 9.950 and the vault title.
“My girls are awesome,” Gnat said. “It was amazing to be a part of the vault lineup that we had tonight.” 
The Tigers scored a meet-high 49.5250 on vault, but it wasn’t enough to secure the precious first-place hardware, as Oklahoma achieved a 49.575 on floor to clinch the victory.
Although the national championship trophy isn’t following the Tigers back to Baton Rouge, Breaux said the lesson her team learned from its resiliency spells success for the future.
“You have to learn how to compete to win,” Breaux said.