On Monday afternoon, LSU Gymnastics Head Coach Jay Clark spoke to the media expressing his gratitude towards the LSU marketing staff, his thoughts on Friday’s meet highlighting the senior gymnasts and the team’s mindset traveling to Auburn for their meet on Friday.
Clark began by shouting out LSU’s marketing staff and how they have made this 2024-25 season a huge success, resulting in the team’s four-consecutive sell-out meets in the PMAC this year and attracting fans from all over the Baton Rouge area.
“In my 13 years here, that was far and away the most successful season from an event management, marketing, and ticket sales team,” Clark said. “Everything was seamless and just very grateful for the support that we have from our extended support staff and what they have helped us create.”
When asked about Senior Night versus Georgia, Clark stated how much the seniors have meant to the program and how emotional it was for him to see them being honored in front of thousands of fans.
“I did feel a release at the end,” Clark said. “We were taking the photos with their families, and they were coming up, and I was able to embrace them and say some things to them that I wanted to express about how much they meant to me personally and to the program as a whole. There is that emotional release that comes after a meet like that.”
Senior Aleah Finnegan was the focal point of the meet on Friday against Georgia, managing to have a perfect 10.00 on beam. Seniors Haleigh Bryant and KJ Johnson would also be key contributors by having nearly perfect performances on floor and vault, solidifying the Tigers’ win against the Bulldogs.
Within the final minutes in front of the media, Clark wanted to point out how the team is at a point where they are critiquing minute mistakes and perfecting their craft as they compete in their final meet of the regular season.
“Now we’re at place where we’re really trying to just get some fine details,” Clark said. “The better you get, the harder it is to improve.”
“For me, I think we’re in a good place. We want to go over there and win the meet. Certainly, we’re not dismissive of any of the things we set out as our goals in the beginning of the year.”
No. 2 LSU will finish off their regular season facing Auburn on Friday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. CT.