Haleigh Bryant, Aleah Finnegan lead LSU to NCAA gymnastics semifinal win with 198.1125 score (2024)

FORT WORTH, Texas—Soaring higher and higher. That’s how the LSU gymnastics team progressed through Thursday’s first NCAA semifinal.

The No. 2-seeded Tigers, performing in the Olympic order of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor, improved on their scores with each rotation to end up easily advancing to Saturday’s NCAA final here at Dickies Arena.

The Tigers finished first with a score of 198.1125, ahead of No. 3 California, which also advanced with a 197.7125. Stanford finished third at 197.075 while No. 10 Arkansas, which had a disastrous start on beam and never recovered, was a distant fourth at 196.475.

LSU was led by senior Haleigh Bryant and junior Aleah Finnegan. Bryant had a 39.7125 in the all-around, joining Susan Jackson in 2010 as the only all-around champions in program history. Finnegan won the floor title with a 9.9625, joining her sister Sarah (2017 and 2019 bars titles) as an NCAA champion.

No. 5-seeded Utah (197.9375) and No. 4 Florida (197.875) advanced from Saturday's second semifinal and will join LSU and Cal in Saturday's 3 p.m. final on ABC.

In a shocking turn, two-time reigning NCAA champion Oklahoma, favored to win again, is out of the running. The Sooners, who had a dreadful start on vault for a 48.325, finished a distant third at 196.6625, while Alabama was fourth at 195.4125.

It is LSU’s 10th trip to the NCAA final. Suddenly, this could be the Tigers' best shot at claiming their first overall crown.

LSU coach Jay Clark said he shared a story about the crow and the eagle with his team before it won the Southeastern Conference championship meet last month at the Smoothie King Center.

“I saw it on Instagram. It wasn’t like some genius thing,” Clark said. “The only thing that will dare mess with an eagle is a crow. He’ll peck on his neck, but instead of reacting the eagle will soar higher and higher until the crow falls off.

“That’s the analogy I wanted to tell them about distractions, whether it’s NIL or the noise about people wanting this team to finally break through (and win the NCAA title). I’m super-pleased with how they stayed focused and on message and soared higher and higher.”

LSU started solid if unspectacularly on vault, where the Tigers ranked second nationally this season. LSU had no scores below 9.8125 but topped out with 9.90s from Savannah Schoenherr and Haleigh Bryant to post a 49.325. After one rotation, the Tigers trailed California, which had a 49.4125 on floor.

Clark said he was determined that the Tigers not overhype Thursday’s meet, but in doing so may have turned the dial a little too far.

“We were a little emotionally flat,” he said. “I didn’t feel the energy I normally feel. Halfway through the lineup I said, ‘We don’t have to be perfect, but we don’t need to sleepwalk, either.’

“That’s when Sav (Schoenherr) planted her vault.”

Schoenherr added: “My vault felt great. I think we came out with some huge vaults but struggled to hit a few landings. I told a few of the girls we’d rather have big gymnastics than be timid. Our momentum carried through bars and the rest of the meet.”

LSU’s momentum moved the Tigers into the lead on their next rotation with a 49.475 on bars. Kiya Johnson posted a 9.90 in the third spot, Konnor McClain followed with a 9.9125 and Bryant anchored with a 9.925. The score put the Tigers at 98.800 through two rotations, just ahead of California (98.775), which was on vault.

“I think we were so excited going into the competition we had to settle down and do our normal gymnastics,” Bryant said. “After vault we circled up and said just do our normal gymnastics and we just kept going.”

Women’s gymnastics’ most dangerous event, balance beam, was where LSU separated from the pack. The Tigers started with a season-high-tying 9.90 from Sierra Ballard and counted nothing less than that en route to a 49.5875. Schoenherr followed with a career-high 9.925, McClain got a 9.9125, Kiya Johnson a 9.90 and Bryant a 9.95, which tied for first with Cal's Mya Lauzon.

LSU, the nation’s top floor team, was on cruise control by the time it reached the final rotation. The Tigers counted nothing less than a 9.9375, getting those scores from Konnor McClain, Bryant and Kiya Johnson. KJ Johnson, who shared the SEC floor title with Kiya Johnson, had a 9.95, while Finnegan posted her 9.9625 that held up for the winning floor score.

Bryant came in as the nation's top-ranked all-arounder and a winner earlier this week of the AAI Award, given to the nation’s top senior gymnast.

LSU’s second straight trip to the NCAA final was especially gratifying for Kiya Johnson. She suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in January 2023 and was a mere spectator as the Tigers reached the final and finished in fourth place.

“I feel really good,” Johnson said. “This year has been everything and more for me to come out of last year after what happened. Going to the final four with my team is awesome.”

Once again, LSU will take aim at winning the program’s first NCAA gymnastics title. The Tigers have finished second four times, most recently in 2019.

NCAA Gymnastics National Semifinals

Thursday

Fort Worth, Texas

(Top two teams advance)

Meet scores

Session I

1. #2 LSU 198.1125 (Vault — 49.325, Bars — 49.475, Beam — 49.5875, Floor — 49.725)

2. #3 California 197. 7125 (Vault — 49.3625, Bars — 49.525, Beam — 49.4125, Floor — 49.4125)

3. Stanford 197.075 (Vault — 49.225, Bars — 49.250, Beam — 49.3125, Floor — 49.2875)

4. #10 Arkansas 196.475 (Vault — 49.325, Bars — 49.200, Beam — 48.8125, Floor — 49.1375)

Session II

1. #5 Utah 197.9375 (Vault — 49.200, Bars — 49.5125, Beam — 49.6375, Floor — 49.5875)

2. #4 Florida 197.875 (Vault — 49.500, Bars — 49.450, Beam — 49.475, Floor — 49.450)

3. #1 Oklahoma 196.6625 (Vault — 48.325, Bars — 49.6625, Beam — 49.100, Floor — 49.575)

4. #8 Alabama 195.4125 (Vault — 49.2625, Bars — 49.4875, Beam — 47.250, Floor — 49.4125)

Individual (includes first place and all LSU competitors)

All-around — 1. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 39.7125; 7. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 39.6125.

Vault — 1. Anna Roberts, Stanford, 9.95; T8. Savannah Schoenherr, Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 9.90; T17. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.875; T35. KJ Johnson, Chase Brock, LSU, 9.825; 39. Amari Drayton, LSU, 9.8125.

Bars — T1. Audrey Davis, Oklahoma, Leanne Wong, Florida, 9.9625; T6. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, 9.925; T12. Konnor McClain, LSU, 9.9125; T18. Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.90; T33. Ashley Cowan, LSU, 9.875; T37. Savannah Schoenherr, LSU, 9.8625; T48. Alexis Jeffrey, LSU, 9.8125.

Beam — T1. Audrey Davis, Faith Torrez, Oklahoma, 9.9625; T3. Haleigh Bryant, LSU, T12. Savannah Schoenherr, LSU, 9.925; T16. Konnor McClain, LSU, 9.9125; T19. Sierra Ballard, Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.90; T24. Aleah Finnegan, LSU, 9.8875.

Floor — 1. Aleah Finnegan, LSU, 9.9625; T2. KJ Johnson, LSU, 9.95; T10. Konnor McClain, Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson, LSU, 9.9375; T28. Amari Drayton, LSU, 9.8875.

Attendance: 5,679