It’s the final weekend of the regular season and we have the battle of the Tigers to close out SEC competition.
LSU easily qualified into the night session of the conference championship and is now fighting for seeding and the possibility of earning the No. 1 national ranking. If it can score above a 198.025 (shout out to our senior data editor Claire H for doing the math!), LSU will have a chance for that top spot while a 198.400 guarantees that ranking regardless of what Oklahoma scores. It won’t be easy; the Tigers haven’t gone 198 outside of the state of Louisiana this season, so they will need a stellar performance in Auburn to make that happen. Look for the all-around trio of Haleigh Bryant, Kailin Chio, and Aleah Finnegan to lead the way, although Finnegan has been pulled from the all-around in recent meets to give her a mental break.
Auburn’s season started out with a lot of promise. Injuries to fifth-year Olivia Hollingsworth and freshman Katelyn Jong have hurt its depth, but getting Marissa Neal back last week on bars and beam was a much-needed boost. Unfortunately, Auburn is now fighting for its spot in the SEC championship. A 197.500 guarantees its place in Birmingham next week, so it will want to have its destiny in its hands rather than hope for another team to falter. It’s also senior night for several key contributors, including fifth-year Gabby McLaughlin, so look for the team to rally for a final farewell to its seniors.
Quick links for tonight: Live stats and lineups can be found on Virtius and live streaming will be streaming on SEC Network+ linked here. Of note, LSU will go with their three all-arounders. Both teams were scheduled to have exhibitions on all events, including the return of Alyona Shchennikova on bars, but LSU appears to have pulled Leah Miller’s exhibition on vault.
Rotation 1: AUB vault, LSU bars
Huff (AUB):
Zeiss (LSU):
Bell (AUB):
Cowan (LSU):
Schumaker (AUB):
Finnegan (LSU):
Hubbard (AUB):
McClain (LSU):
Zois (AUB):
Bryant (LSU):
Hill (AUB – exh):
Shchennikova (LSU – exh):
After 1:
Rotation 2: LSU vault, AUB bars
Johnson (LSU):
Boyd (AUB):
Zeiss (LSU):
Leonard (AUB):
Finnegan (LSU):
Neal (AUB):
Drayton (LSU):
Groth (AUB):
Chio (LSU):
Irvine (AUB):
Bryant (LSU):
Greaves (AUB):
Bartman (AUB – exh):
After 2:
Rotation 3: AUB beam, LSU floor
Ahern (AUB):
Coen (LSU):
Greaves (AUB):
Ballard (LSU):
Zancan (AUB):
Chio (LSU):
Neal (AUB):
Drayton (LSU):
Groth (AUB):
Finnegan (LSU):
McLaughlin (AUB):
Bryant (LSU):
Zois (AUB – exh):
Shchennikova (LSU – exh):
After 3:
Rotation 4: LSU beam, AUB floor
Ballard (LSU):
Ahern (AUB):
Coen (LSU):
Zancan (AUB):
Chio (LSU):
Bell (AUB):
McClain (LSU):
O. Greaves (AUB):
Bryant (LSU):
McLaughlin (AUB):
Finnegan (LSU):
Groth (AUB):
Drayton (LSU – exh):
Zois (AUB – exh):
FINAL:
VT:
UB:
BB:
FX:
AA:
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Live blog by Savanna Wellman
