Another season is in the books! In one of the most memorable NCAA Championships to date, the season wrapped up on Saturday afternoon in exciting fashion as the LSU Tigers clinched their first team title in program history. But it wasn’t without drama, as every session of the weekend had everyone sitting at the edges of their seats as results came down to the final routines.
Semifinal Surprise
Kicking off the final weekend in semifinal one were No. 2 LSU, No. 3 California, No. 10 Arkansas, and unseeded Stanford, with the two favorites unsurprisingly advancing to the final. The Tigers breezed through with the only 198-plus team total of semifinals, while the Golden Bears were able to drop a few falls to dispel any thoughts of an upset from the Razorbacks or Cardinal. Arkansas took itself out of contention after counting a few misses on beam, while Stanford—who entered the postseason ranked 19th and leaves finishing fifth—was able to put together a hit day but lacked the 9.9 depth to advance. This semi produced a few individual champions, as longtime favorite Haleigh Bryant of LSU nabbed the all-around title with a 39.7125, and Stanford’s Anna Roberts drilled the landing of her Yurchenko one and a half to upset Bryant for the NCAA vault title. Standing alone atop the floor podium at the end of the day was LSU’s Aleah Finnegan, bringing the Tigers’ championship total to two after day one.
It was in semifinal two where things got spicy, as predicted, with a tough field of former winners in No. 8 Alabama, No. 5 Utah, No. 4 Florida, and No. 1 Oklahoma vying for a championship three-peat. But, in shocking fashion, the Sooners opened their meet with a sat vault followed by two near-falls to put Oklahoma at a deficit from the get-go. After briefly getting things back on track on bars, beam went awry, and counting a fall put the nail in the coffin on the Sooners’ season. Beam was also unkind to Alabama, which suffered a four-fall beam rotation to take itself out of the race. On the contrary, the Utes started hot on their signature event, beam, to take a lead that they never relinquished, while the Gators put forth a balanced effort across all four apparatus to sail into the final. Sooner Audrey Davis ended her career as the year’s only double event champion, tying with Florida’s Leanne Wong for the bars title and matching teammate Faith Torrez to win beam.
A Wide-Open Championship
After months of assuming Oklahoma was set to win its third-straight title, Saturday’s Sooner-less final was anybody’s to win. The Tigers and Golden Bears were fighting for championship No. 1, the Gators in search of their fourth and first since 2015, and the Red Rocks hoping to tie Georgia for the most in NCAA history with 10 and their first since 1995.
Florida finished fourth after an overall hit day, but in such a tight race, getting stuck primarily in the 9.8s and counting a 9.6 on beam was the difference-maker despite getting through the meet with just a single fall. Utah surged to the lead after the third rotation after two outstanding lineups on beam and floor. However, two underrotated vaults to start the decisive final rotation opened the door too wide and resulted in Utah’s fourth-straight third-place finish.
The Golden Bears earned runner-up—good for their best result in program history—after coming on strong in the back half of the final and posting the top totals on vault and bars with more stuck landings than any other team. While California was able to drop falls on floor and bars and a miss on beam, the opportunities lost to put up mega, game-changing totals ended up being the difference between champion and runner-up.
A fall from KJ Johnson on floor in LSU’s opening rotation and one from Savannah Schoenherr on beam in the final rotation kept the pressure on, but the Tigers had no issues stepping up to the occasion in clinching the program’s first national title with a school record beam total of 49.7625. With a fall likely to give California the win, Finnegan delivered in the anchor spot on beam to remove the Tigers’ least-favorite moniker—best team to never win a championship.
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Article by Brandis Heffner
