With a dramatic finish, LSU scores its first gymnastics national title
Coach Jay Clark watched from behind the judges’ table, and when Finnegan stuck her dismount, he threw his arms up, briefly looked toward the ceiling and launched into the air a blue paper cup that had occupied his nervous energy.
This wildly popular LSU team had nearly every achievement except a national title, and the Tigers finally prevailed on the biggest stage Saturday. LSU turned in a score of 198.225, more than enough to finish ahead of runner-up California and third-place Utah, which had the edge entering the final rotation.
Utah led the Tigers by a tiny margin — 0.0375 points — when the Utes headed to vault, their worst event, while the Tigers closed on beam, on which nerves can rattle a team. Utah began its last rotation with a fall and then another low score. But the Tigers also had a major mistake: Savannah Schoenherr, the second gymnast in the lineup, fell, boosting the pressure on each remaining LSU gymnast.
During that program-defining stretch to close the rotation, freshman Konnor McClain notched a 9.9625 and veterans Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant followed with 9.95s. After each successful routine, the roar intensified from a crowd filled with LSU fans. And then came Finnegan, who clinched the championship with another 9.95. All five routines that counted toward the Tigers’ team total scored at least a 9.95 for a program record on the apparatus, a remarkable feat given the high stakes.
That final rotation was “gut-wrenching,” said Clark, whose beam-watching ritual is to get a new cup of water and drink it before “just kind of unraveling the rim a little bit with my teeth in tense moments.” Eventually, the stress turned into relief.
Utah’s struggles on vault sent it tumbling behind California. The Golden Bears had reached the final for the first time — an impressive rise that began after the school reversed a 2010 decision to eliminate the program — and scored a 197.85 for second place. The Utes (197.8) were just behind; Florida (197.4375) had a shaky beam rotation on its way to fourth.
LSU’s national title is a fitting end to a season in the spotlight. The Tigers earned three of the five best team scores in school history and led the nation in attendance at home meets. Many of the gymnasts haveled by who has more than 13 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined. Over the past three years, LSU’s gymnasts have disclosed $4.9 million in endorsement deals, according to data obtained by The Washington Post though an open-records request. Between those commitments and what Clark described as the “noise about people wanting this to be the team to finally break through and win,” he sees how his gymnasts could have become distracted. On Saturday, their performance alone is what garnered the attention.
This is something that I dreamed about since I seriously committed in the eighth grade to come to this program,” Bryant said. “I’m just so, so happy. And, yes, it lives up to every expectation and exceeds everything.”
This might be LSU’s most talented team ever. The Tigers lean on their star, Bryant, who won the individual all-around title Thursday and scored eight perfect 10s this season, at least one on each apparatus. But the team’s depth is impressive: Bryant, McClain, Johnson and Finnegan each earned multiple scores of 9.9 or better. That kept LSU within reach of a title, even when the Utes made a strong push with fantastic beam and floor performances.
Top-ranked Oklahoma entered Thursday’s semifinals as the heavy favorite to win a third straight title. The Sooners had stormed through the season, breaking the NCAA team score record. But on Thursday, they had a shocking series of mistakes . That opened the door for all four finalists, who were separated by less than three-tenths of a point at the halfway point.
“It made for a championship that became so packed with emotion because every team out there believed they could do it,” Clark said of Oklahoma’s absence.
