(photo credit: @lsugym on X)
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU Gymnastics remains the No. 2 team in the country following their 197.300-194.100 season opening win over Iowa State in the PMAC last Friday night.
The LSU Tigers earned the second highest opening score of the 2025 season, following No. 1 Oklahoma, who opened with a 197.550 at the American Gold Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Classic Meet in Nashville.
The Tigers posted a strong opening in their first competition of the year, earning a spot in the top five on every event after week one – third on vault, fifth on bars, fourth on beam and first on floor.
Senior Aleah Finnegan and freshman Kailin Chio led the Tigers to victory in the all-around on Friday. Finnegan made her first all-around appearance since March 15th, 2024 and posted a 39.725 on the night, which was the highest all-around score by an LSU Gymnast on an opening night.
The senior took home the titles on all four events and the all-around for the first time since Haleigh Bryant in the Podium Challenge on March 8th last season. She shares the bars and beam titles with Chio, who claimed the first event victories of her young career.
Finnegan enters the second week of competition ranked first on vault, seventh on bars, fourth on beam, first on floor and first in the all-around in the nation following her performance on Friday night.
Chio was the first LSU freshman to compete in the all-around since Kiya Johnson in 2020 and recorded the school’s highest all-around debut score by a freshman with her 39.575 on opening night. She currently ranks amongst the top 10 performers in the nation on bars, beam and floor.
Other LSU gymnasts who earned a spot in the week one rankings include Olivia Dunne, Chase Brock and Amari Drayton.
Dunne and Brock share the sixth spot on floor with their score of 9.875 while Drayton ranks fourth on vault with her 9.925 routine.
The second-ranked LSU Tigers will return to action on Saturday, January 11, when they compete in session two of the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah and No. 6 California. The competition is set for 3 p.m. CT on ABC at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
View the full Road To Nationals rankings here.
**LSU Athletics Release**
