FORT WORTH, Texas — As one Sooners gymnast tumbled and stumbled on vault and moments later on balance beam in Thursday’s second NCAA semifinal, as the walls of Fortress Oklahoma crumbled and scattered across the floor of Dickies Arena, a first-ever NCAA gymnastics trophy seemed to slide closer to being in LSU’s grasp.
The Tigers won their semifinal earlier Thursday. They had the best score of any of the four teams to qualify for Saturday’s NCAA championship final. With Oklahoma shockingly out of the picture, LSU may never have a better chance.
But to LSU coach Jay Clark, Oklahoma’s disastrous night was also a reminder of something else.
That all glory, and potential glory, is fleeting.
“They’re human,” Clark said of the Sooners on Friday during an LSU pep rally at the team hotel. “We’ve all been there. It can happen to anyone. Oklahoma has been the gold standard in our sport for years.
“It just goes to show that anything can happen.”
What can happen, what the Tigers and their supporters fervently wish will happen, is that the program finally wins its long elusive NCAA championship. Four times between 2014 and 2019, LSU was the runner-up, each year to Oklahoma (plus Florida which shared the title in 2014).
The Tigers’ fate, along with that of fellow finalists Florida, Utah and California, will be decided Saturday afternoon. First vault for the NCAA final is set for 3 p.m., the championship meet once again on ABC.
Last year, the Tigers surprisingly made it to the NCAA final at the end of an injury-plagued season and seemed to squeeze every drop out of their potential to finish in fourth place.
This season has been different in almost every aspect. Virtually everything to this point has appeared to align for the Tigers. There have been injuries — season-enders like the ones to All-American Alyona Shchennikova and former Southeastern Conference vault champion Elena Arenas — but the Tigers have used their depth and experience to weather it all.
In many ways it has already been LSU’s best season ever. In 15 meets, the Tigers have posted 10 scores of 198.000 or better, including a school record 198.475 on Feb. 2 against Arkansas and a 198.1125 here Thursday, the best score of any of the final four teams and the second-best NCAA championships score in LSU history.
For the final, though, it all gets erased. All four teams start at zero. And for LSU, there is the extra challenge of drawing a start on its best event, floor (the Tigers rank No. 1 nationally on floor) and then competing on vault and uneven bars before finishing on balance beam, always a tricky proposition.
“You’ve got to do all four no matter what,” Clark said philosophically. “Hopefully we can get off to a good start.”
The Tigers, the No. 2 national seed, have stormed through the postseason building success upon success. LSU won the SEC championship meet in March at the Smoothie King Center, won their NCAA Fayetteville regional and won their national semifinal. They even topped off Thursday’s performance with a pair of NCAA individual championships, as senior All-American Haleigh Bryant won the all-around title and junior Aleah Finnegan won on floor.
Perhaps all that success will help LSU’s confidence Saturday, but Bryant knows the Tigers still have to go out there and perform.
“We just have to stay in exactly the same mindset that we’ve had all season,” she said. “One routine at a time, one event at a time.”
This is LSU’s 10th trip to the NCAA final but the first for No. 3-seeded California, which finished second to LSU in their semifinal with a score of 197.7125. No. 5 Utah (197.9375 in its semifinal) and No. 4 Florida (197.875) are two of just seven programs ever to win an NCAA women’s gymnastics title. The Gators seek their fourth championship and first since 2015, while the Red Rocks try to win their ninth title but first since way back in 1995.
The routines that LSU’s gymnasts will perform won’t change because there’s a national championship on the line. The mindset that the Tigers have can’t change either, Finnegan said.
“We don’t need to change a thing,” she said. “The message and the goal stays the same. We need to start fast and finish strong.”
In every instance this postseason, LSU’s skill and preparation and confidence has been enough. Now the Tigers and the world get to see if it’s enough to finally fill the empty top shelf of the trophy case in LSU’s world-class gymnastics facility — the one that has always been waiting for that national championship prize.
“I told ESPN today, there’s no magic pill you can pull out at this time of year,” Clark said. “This is where you want to be. But you can’t treat it like it’s any different than anything else.”
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