After a resilient performance at nationals last year, LSU is back and better than ever. The Tigers will be excited to welcome seven new gymnasts to their lineups and have five more making comebacks after suffering from injuries last season. LSU is not losing any of its routines from last season and will be adding numerous routines to each of its lineups, easily making it one of the deepest teams this season.
Be on the lookout for Kiya Johnson, who will be making her competitive return this season after being out with an Achilles tear last year. Savannah Schoenherr, a standout transfer from Florida, will be making her LSU debut and will be one to watch especially on vault and bars. There’s also a little someone named Konnor McClain who will also make her LSU competitive debut. As a standout elite, McClain is one of the most highly anticipated gymnasts to watch this season. McClain showed impressive difficulty on beam and floor at LSU’s Gym 101 so I’m interested to see if she carries that difficulty throughout the season especially as she prepares for the upcoming elite season.
While Ohio State does not have the scoring potential to catch LSU, there are some interesting developments to watch out for the Buckeyes. I’ll have my eye on Payton Harris who finished 11th all-around at Nationals last year. Transferring from Pitt, definitely watch out for Sidney Washington who will make her Buckeye debut and contribute to the vault and floor lineups. The biggest test facing the Buckeyes will be seeing how they deal without last year’s senior class of Elexis Edwards, Sydney Jennings, Colby Miller, and Claire Gagliardi. The incoming freshman class shows lots of potential, but will it be enough to make up the deficit?
Rotation 1: LSU Vault, Ohio State Bars
KJ Johnson: Fantastic FTY! Small step back but the way she flairs it out is just so magical. 9.825
Pritchard: A little sloppy on the ginger to bail, short on handstands, good stick on the double tuck dismount. 9.775
Drayton: Nearly stuck 1.5! Kathy and Bart said it was a stick but there was definitely a little shuffle IMO. 9.925
Washington: Good Maloney to Pak, short on some of the handstands, late on full pirouette into double tuck. 9.775
Finnegan: Omelianchik – knees got slightly crunchy at the end of the salto and a small step back. 9.875
Vetter: HUGE Tkatchev, some feet on the bail handstand, great full-in dismount! 9.850
Schoenherr: LSU debut! Underrotates her 1.5 and has to take a few steps back and has to take a big squat. 9.600
Harris: Great amplitude on Ray, small leg separation on bail handstand, full pirouette into double tuck is solid. 9.875
Kiya Johnson: So excited for her comeback! Wow she does her DTY! A little underrotated so she has to take a step forward but she should be so proud of herself. 9.800
Riccardi: Almost arches over on the first handstand but holds it, nice Ray, Pak, stalder into double tuck with a hop back. 9.850
Bryant: Here we go, explosive as always! Small shuffle back. But this will be a ginormous number. 9.950
Buchanan: Her college debut! Good Ray, small leg separation on Pak, late on some handstands, double layout with hop back. 9.725
After 1: LSU 49.375, Ohio State 49.125
LSU looked really solid on vault. Schoenherr will be disappointed with her vault but right now she’s just getting back into the swing of things after being injured last season and should be fine come next meet. Ohio State also had a solid start on bars. Right now I think they just need to focus on cleaning up some of the details (short handstands, leg separations, hops on the dismount).
Rotation 2: Ohio State vault, LSU bars
Grimes: Small pike down and big hop on the FTY. 9.725
Jeffrey: Maloney into bail handstand, a bit short on the last cast handstand, super floaty full-in dismount. 9.900
Mintz: FTY, bit of a pike down and shuffle back. 9.825
Cowan: Ray into bail is solid, slightly archy on the last handstand, great DLO dismount with a step back. 9.800
Washington: The floatiest FTY from Ohio State so far, nearly stuck. 9.875.
Johnson: Maloney to bail handstand, small leg separations, winds up for stuck DLO dismount.
Riccardi: FTY, good amplitude and shuffle back – 9.875
McClain: Great handstand, huge Church first release but catches it close, Pak with some leg separations, a little late on pirouette, step back on full-in dismount. 9.825
Harris: The first 1.5 of Ohio State’s lineup – great! Hop forward. 9.875
Schoenherr: blind change to Jaeger, huge amplitude, bail is good, double front half with a hop back, some feet form issues on the dismount. 9.850
Vetter: FTY – great amplitude and distance, hop back. 9.850
Bryant: Huge jaegar, bail to handstand, cast handstands are all vertical, hop back on double front half dismount. 9.875
After 2: LSU 98.750, Ohio State 98.425
LSU will be happy with that rotation – Kiya Johnson’s routine was the highlight of the bar rotation with a 9.925. The Tigers have the most stacked bars lineup welcoming Konnor McClain and Savannah Schoenherr into the mix who had a great start.
Ohio State had a solid vault rotation with clean Yurchenko fulls. I was a little surprised by Harris’s vault score which went 9.875, the same as some of the FTYs in the group?
Rotation 3: LSU Beam, Ohio State Floor
Jeffrey: Wolf leap to switch side is solid, BHS LOSO with a hip break, standing front tuck – impressive! 1.5 dismount is stuck but has some feet form. 9.775
Grimes: Solid double pike opening, 1.5 to front layout could use more amplitude but landing is solid, great landing on the double tuck. Solid opening. 9.800
Ballard: Off on the BHS LOSO series, good dance series, solid front toss, step on the 1.5 dismount. 9.200
Washington: Double pike with shuffle back, layout into front full and hannnngssss on to staying in bounds, her floor music is SexyBack by Justin Timberlake it’s so silly I’m obsessed sdfhskfshfksk great double tuck! 9.775
McClain: Her beam debut! Floaty dance series, BHS BHS Layout GAHH comes off 🙁 fights to hold the side aerial, gainer full dismount. 8.950
Mintz: Full-in small bounce back, good amplitude on leaps, layout to full bounce forward, big double tuck with a lunge back. 9.825
Bryant: I missed the first series but it was solid, great standing front tuck, she’s maintaining good rhythm through this routine, front 1.5 dismount – small hop. That’s what LSU needed. 9.925
Vetter: Double tuck opening, a little tentative on the leap positions, layout to Rudi is solid just a small shuffle. 9.850
Kiya Johnson: BHS LOSO series is good, a little tentative on the switch leap, double-full dismount. Looked a little nervy with some small bobbles throughout. 9.850
Harris: Front double-full into punch front – the punch front is new! Big double pike with a lunge back. 9.875
Finnegan: Spectacular opening BHS LOSO LOSO, switch to split leap is a little shy of 180, she’s doing a great job so far, stuck gainer full. Wow that was huge! 9.950
Hodges: Great double pike opener, good positions on the dance series, lovely Rudi to LOSO last pass. 9.950
After 3: LSU 147.450, Ohio State 147.725
Ohio State grabs the lead after a really solid floor rotation. I was impressed to see how much of its lineup kept three-pass routines (and didn’t even look winded! Now that’s a team with a good conditioning coach). LSU had a rather disappointing beam rotation, counting Ballard’s fall. They had a great rebound from Bryant’s 9.925 and Finnegan’s 9.950.
Rotation 4: LSU Floor, Ohio State Beam
Pritchard: Nice opening aerial, good full turn, solid LOSO series, she looks nervous small wobbles on her choreo, stuck 1.5 dismount. 9.800 is a solid start.
Ballard: Big DLO, 1.5 to floaty layout is great, dance series is solid, good double pike just some feet form. Hairography into the ending pose. Great opening routine. 9.900
Hankins: Small bobble on the full turn, solid LOSO series, tentative on the 180 for her dance series, tiny shuffle on the double-full dismount. 9.750
Dunne: Front tuck into double-tuck is great, switch leap to ring leap half, big lunge back on double pike but holds it.
Warga: Wobbles on the front aerial and misses her series, tries again and makes the series but comes off. Comes off on the switch leap half and looks like she hit her shoulder/head on the beam on the way down. She gets up and walks off luckily but doesn’t finish. Hope she’s okay.
KJ Johnson: A little short on full-in opening, back 1.5 to front layout, double tuck last pass. Her routine suits her SO well oh my god. 9.850
Harris: Pressure on for her to hit after the previous routine. Gets her front aerial to back tuck series with step back, step on her double-full dismount. 9.825
Finnegan: Double arabian is a bit underrotated, 2.5 to punch front love the difficulty! Wonderful. 9.900
Vetter: Beat jump into side aerial, split leap to straddle quarter is a little shy of 180, I think I missed her acro series, good 1.5 dismount. 9.825
Bryant: Nearly stuck double-front, has to wrench her dance series around a bit, front layout to Rudi is great. That will score well. 9.925
Hodges: A tad slow to connect the opening dance series, some feet on the LOSO series but is solid, love the gainer layout! Short on the 1.5 dismount and has to take a sizeable step back.
Drayton: Massive double-layout, punch front to double-tuck is a little low, switch ring to switch half is fine. Great floor debut! I wish her choreographer gave her a routine that suited her better but when she gets more comfortable with it WATCH OUT Y’ALL. 9.925
FINAL: LSU 196.975, Ohio State 196.775
This meet ended up being a lot closer than I thought so hats off to Ohio State! This is just the opening meet so some obvious kinks need to be worked out but it was an extremely solid first meet. As always Haleigh Bryant was so impressive today and won the all-around with a 39.675. Kiya Johnson had an impressive first meet back with her big DTY and tumbling on floor. I’m excited to see how newcomers Amari Drayton, Konnor McClain, and Savannah Schoenherr progress throughout the season. Today was not McClain and Schoenherr’s best performance, but we all know what kinds of routines they’re capable of and it might just take some warming up before we see that.
Ohio State surpassed my expectations and got close to catching LSU, but a nervy beam rotation held them back from surpassing The Tigers. The Buckeyes had a very consistent meet with scores coming in around the 9.8 range. I’m interested to see next time if they’ll test out some of their newcomers in the lineups since Buchanan was the only freshman who competed today and went 9.725 on bars.
VT: Haleigh Bryant 9.950
UB: Kiya Johnson 9.900
BB: Aleah Finnegan 9.950
FX: Ella Hodges 9.950
AA: Haleigh Bryant 39.675
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Live blog by Daniel Rothwell
