FORT WORTH, Texas — Jay Clark has a routine to help him cope with the stress of watching his LSU Tigers perform on the balance beam.
He gets a paper cup, takes a sip of water, nibbles the rim, then repeats the process when the next gymnast goes up for college gymnastics’ most unpredictable event.
“I chew a cup between every beam routine,” Clark said. “Most of the time I’m just unraveling the rim with my teeth.”
Clark was working overtime on the paper cups Saturday as LSU went to beam for its final event of the NCAA championship meet at Dickies Arena.
The Tigers led after the first rotation and the second, but they slipped just behind Utah 148.500-148.4625 going into the final rotation. Utah went to vault as LSU moved to beam, trying to track down the Red Rocks and capture the program’s first NCAA title.
“You want to know the truth? I was praying,” Clark said. “I was asking the Lord to take it out of my hands.”
Clark could have saved the cups, even though there was drama after a misstep during Savannah Schoenherr’s second spot in the lineup that left the Tigers no margin for error. But LSU’s other five gymnasts nailed their routines.
When they were done — when Aleah Finnegan stuck her landing and immediately broke into tears of joy — the Tigers had a score of 49.7625 on beam, breaking the record of 49.750 set by UCLA in the 2018 NCAA final.
The score propelled LSU to a relatively comfortable 198.225-197.850 win over California. Utah, which finished with a 49.300 on vault, faded to third with a 197.800. Florida was a distant fourth at 197.4375.
LSU needed a spark to start on beam and got one from senior Sierra Ballard, Clark’s niece. Her only routine of the day was the performance of her life, a career-high 9.95 just as Utah’s first two gymnasts were stumbling on vault.
“Jay always talks about fire starters, and that was her today,” said senior Haleigh Bryant, who won the NCAA all-around individual title Thursday. “She started us on beam on the best note we could possibly have. She’s so locked in and she does it every single day.”
LSU’s euphoria over Ballard’s routine was short-lived. Schoenherr, a sixth-year senior transfer from Florida performing the last routine of her life, stumbled and ended up hanging from the beam. She refused to hit the floor but suffered a major deduction for a 9.3875.
After her dismount, Schoenherr turned from performer to cheerleader.
“I just sent all of my energy into the rest of the girls,” she said.
It must have worked. Freshman Konnor McClain followed Schoenherr onto the beam and turned in a 9.9625, the best individual score of the entire meet. Kiya Johnson, Bryant and Finnegan, who won the NCAA floor title Thursday, all hit 9.95s to complete LSU’s comeback.
“Savannah had that funky thing happen to her and it was just gut-wrenching,” Clark said. “When Lele (Finnegan) got up there, I knew we were in a good spot. I knew she was going to knock it out of the park and she did.”