No. 2 LSU gymnastics is gathering in the PMAC for the final time this Friday to compete against No. 10 Georgia. Compared to previous meets this season, this one is personal.
Why? Well, to start, the Tigers will be sending off seniors like graduate students Alyona Shchennikova and Haleigh Bryant amongst many others.
“We still have a job to do, and then after that last routine goes, I think all those tears will fall for all of them and for us,” all-around freshman Lexi Zeiss said about her teammates. “So I would say, get the job done first and feel the feels later.”
On top of that, LSU versus Georgia is always a much anticipated competition given the schools’ colorful histories with one another, specifically in regard to LSU’s head gymnastics coach Jay Clark.
Clark coached gymnastics at the University of Georgia from 2009 until 2012, where the Gym Dogs earned several titles recognizing their achievements like three different NCAA individual national championships as well as 23 All-American honors.
Clark’s wife, Julie Ballard Clark, was also a gymnast at the university in Athens, where she helped lead her team to a national championship in 1998, after earning the SEC Freshman of the Year title in 1995. She was recruited by Clark to be an assistant coach in 2009.
Does the name Ballard sound familiar?
It definitely should because, if you didn’t know by now, LSU’s Sierra Ballard is Clark’s niece, and her mother also has a strong tie to the Bulldogs.
“I feel like it’s full circle that it’s against Georgia, considering that’s where my mom went,” Ballard said.
Lori Strong-Ballard competed with Team Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and then continued her career in college with the Gym Dogs, appearing in the 1993 National Championship.
“To watch somebody that you love and care for, the way that I do her, develop into the human being that she is, it’s just kind of neat,” Clark said of his niece. “Because she’s so passionate, she’s so full of life, and she’s so desirous of doing the right thing. It’s rare to be around people like that.”
As the family shares this full-circle moment, it’s important to note on how they continue to work as part of something greater, their team.
“The mindset stays the same. We still have the job to get done this Friday, so approaching it as every other week,” Ballard said.
In LSU’s 198.25-195.475 win against George Washington last weekend, Ballard posted a career high on the floor with a 9.950, the highest score of the night.
On Georgia’s side of the mat, both all-around freshman Nyla Aquino and sophomore Lily Smith earned the Gym Dog’s their highest floor scores of 9.950s, in a 197.125-197.050 win against Arkansas.
This floor score has been matched by several LSU gymnasts, and topped by senior Aleah Finnegan with a 9.975 in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in January.
While that score was earned at the beginning of the season, if the Tigers’ mindset truly continues to stay the same despite the injuries that several gymnasts have seen this season, then they should have what it takes to pull in a win against Georgia.
“We don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room in terms of health,” Clark said. “We just need to make sure that we’re smart and that we don’t get greedy and make a poor decision.”
