LSU gymnastics pulls off comeback to punch ticket to championship final

LSU gymnastics has punched itself a ticket into the NCAA championship finals with a 197.4375 in the semifinal round. 

The meet was all but sunshine and rainbows, but a very late push put LSU above Georgia when all was said and done. 

But from the jump, it felt like maybe the sunshine and rainbows would be over the Tigers as they opened the meet with a great vault score. But like head coach Jay Clark has said all season, his team needs to carry that momentum into the next rotation. 

LSU’s vault rotation scored a 49.4750, with two vaults scoring over 9.5. Those vaults came from Kaliya Lincoln and Kailin Chio, who both scored a 9.9625. 

But that was set up by LSU’s consistent lead-off routines. 

Lexi Zeiss, who has led LSU all season on vault, posted a 9.8500 to kick the event off. After that, Konnor McClain vaulted after some concern she wouldn’t see the lineup after suffering a fall and injury in the regional final two weeks ago. 

McClain posted a 9.8250, but most importantly, showed that she is healthy. 

Next up was Victoria Roberts, who posted a 9.7250 in the third spot. But the rest of the lineup knew they needed to score high to drop that score. 

Lincoln posted her 9.9625 in the fourth spot, with Amari Drayton following with a 9.8750. But stealing the show with a stuck landing and a 9.9625 to anchor the rotation. 

After one rotation, LSU had the lead over Florida, Stanford and Georgia. 

Next up was bars, where LSU had some trouble landing its dismounts. And the scores showed it. 

The first stuck landing was McClain’s in the sixth spot. It was also LSU’s first 9.9 on bars, going 9.9125. 

Before that, Zeiss scored a solid 9.8375, and Ashley Cowan matched that right after. Madison Ulrich got a 9.7750 in the third spot, which was ultimately dropped, then Chio and Haley Mustari both scored 9.8000 to set up McClain. 

As the second rotation ended, and the third started, LSU had lost its lead and fell behind by 0.2375. 

In the third rotation, LSU had come on even harder times. 

It all started when Kylie Coen and Zeiss had wobbles on their routines, scoring 9.7875 and 9.7625, respectively. 

LSU needed a major momentum swing so it could drop one of those scores, and Drayton provided that with her 9.8625 in the third spot. 

But LSU found itself off the rails again following Lincoln’s routine. 

After a disconnect and some wobbles, her score flashed as a 9.4250. That meant LSU would count two 9.7s, but adding to the growing anxiety was Georgia’s floor scores. The Bulldogs had four scores in the 9.9s, and the other was a 9.8625, moving into the second spot, the last spot in the final. 

But LSU’s third-place fate wasn’t inevitable, as Chio was the anchor on beam for the Tigers. She needed a 9.9250 to claim the second-place spot back, or a 9.9000 to tie for that spot. 

She would also wobble, but a great recovery and stuck landing helped raise her score back up.

She finished with a 9.8875, leaving LSU just behind a finals berth. 

Luckily for the Tigers, though, it traveled to floor — where it ranks No. 1 nationally. 

And it all came down to Chio and Lincoln. 

LSU opened up the rotation with solid scores. Emily Innes’ lead off 9.8625 brought some much-needed energy to the rotation. Then came Nina Ballou, competing in her first NCAA championship, scoring a 9.7750. 

LSU needed to drop Ballou’s score, and the rest of the lineup made sure of that, starting with Coen. She scored a 9.8500 and made sure to erase Ballou’s score. 

Drayton set the tone in the fourth spot, scoring a huge 9.9375. But Chio’s 9.9625 all but secured LSU’s finals spot. 

As Lincoln stepped onto the floor, she just needed a counting score — a score higher than Ballou’s score — to advance LSU into the final. And her 9.9125 did just that. 

Fighting back from rough bars and beam rotations, LSU had done it. They avoided the same pain of last year and gave itself a chance to claim its second national title. 

As the final approaches, LSU needs to focus on more stuck landings and more solidification of its beam routines to claim its spot at the top. The final meet is Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.