Gymnastics falls To No. 14 Arkansas in SEC road opener

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (4-2, 1-1 SEC) were defeated by No. 14 Arkansas (3-4, 1-1 SEC) by a score of 196.875-196.600 in their SEC road opener on Friday night in Bud Walton Arena.

The Tigers claimed event titles in three events on the night; freshman Kailin Chio won vault with a 9.95, sophomore Konnor McClain took the bars title with a 9.925 and senior Aleah Finnegan was the beam winner with a 9.925. The all around title went to Arkansas’ Joscelyn Roberson, who tallied a 39.350 across four events.

“I think we let a mistake or two snowball on us tonight. The first two events went really well and we saw some improvements over previous weeks, and then we let it get away from us, “ said head coach Jay Clark. “We didn’t prepare well this week and it was reflected in our performance. In some ways, hopefully this serves a purpose as a motivator to get better. Whether it’s positive or negative, it’s always about what happens next.”

Freshman Lexi Zeiss led off the night for the Tigers on bars with a season-high 9.85, followed by junior Ashley Cowan’s 9.875 in the second spot. Next, senior Alexis Jeffrey scored a 9.875 of her own ahead of freshman Kailin Chio’s 9.725 routine in the fourth spot. The fifth spot saw senior Aleah Finnegan score a 9.85 before sophomore Konnor McClain anchored the Tigers with a stellar 9.925 routine to round out LSU’s first rotation score to 49.375.

The first rotation came to a close as the visiting Tigers led by a score of 49.375-49.250 over the Razorbacks.

Vault was the second rotation of the night for the Tigers and opened with Zeiss scoring a 9.80 in the leadoff spot. Senior Chase Brock hit a season-high 9.90 in the second spot ahead of Finnegan’s 9.75 in spot three. Freshman Kaliya Lincoln hit a career-high 9.85 in the fourth spot and was followed up by sophomore Amari Drayton, who posted a 9.85 of her own. In the anchor spot, Chio matched her career-high on vault with a 9.95 to give the Tigers a 49.350 team score in the second rotation.

Chio matched her career-high on vault, putting up a team high 9.950 for the Tigers in the anchor spot. The win was her fourth title of the year and second on vault. LSU led by a margin of 98.725-98.500 at the halfway point in Fayetteville.

Brock also put up one of her strongest vault’s yet to help lift the Tigers in the second rotation, finishing with the second highest score on the night.

The Tigers hit the floor for the third rotation of the night and were led off by senior Olivia Dunne, who scored a 9.70. Brock posted a 9.825 in the second spot before Drayton followed it up with a 9.875. The fourth spot saw Chio post a 9.100 score, followed by a 9.575 by Finnegan. Senior Haleigh Bryant finished strong with a 9.875 in the anchor spot to help lift the score to a 48.850 for the Tigers.

McClain continues to be a solid anchor for LSU on bars, taking home the title on the event the last two weeks straight. She claimed her second bars title of the year, now owning BLANK on the event and blank titles in her career.

The Tigers held a 147.575-147.350 lead heading into the final rotation of the night.

The final rotation of the night took the Tigers to the beam. Senior Sierra Ballard opened the rotation with a 9.80 before sophomore Kylie Coen scored a 9.650 in the second spot. The third spot saw Chio post a 9.85, followed by a 9.575 from McClain. The Tigers finished with two strong routines as Bryant scored a 9.800 in the fifth spot and Finnegan anchored with a 9.925 to bring the team’s score in the rotation to a 49.025.

The Razorbacks finished their final rotation with a 49.525, which meant the home team overtook the visitors to claim the meet win by a margin of 196.875-196.600.

After stepping out of bounds on floor, Finnegan went lights out on beam to finish the meet strong. The senior posted a 9.925 in the anchor spot to take home her second beam title and 10th title this year. She moved her career total to 33 titles with nine of those coming from beam.

Four Tigers also participated in exhibition passes tonight following the conclusion of each rotation. Senior Tori Tatum appeared on bars, freshman Victoria Roberts on vault, sophomore Leah Miller performed her floor routine and Zeiss concluded the night with an exhibition on beam.

No. 2 LSU is back in action when they host No. 11 Missouri inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday, January 31, at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.