Tag: Jay Clark

What to know before LSU gymnastics competes for national title

Here are a few things to know before the NCAA championships.

For the ninth time in program history, LSU gymnastics is competing for a national title.

LSU scored a 197.145 in the semis and advanced along with Florida in Session 1. From Session 2, Utah and Oklahoma advanced to the NCAA Championship.

This was a year with plenty of ups and downs for LSU. The team was never completely healthy and was streaky. Yet, in spite of that, it will get to play for it all on Saturday.

LSU is led by head coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag], who took over for legend [autotag]D.D. Breaux[/autotag] in 2020.

Here are the storylines to watch as LSU competes on the sport’s biggest stage.

LSU gymnastics advances to NCAA semifinals

LSU will advance to the NCAA semifinals for the 32nd time in program history

After placing second at the Denver regional, LSU gymnastics will compete in the 2023 NCAA Championships.

LSU scored a 197.750, which tied Michigan. After the tiebreaker process, it was LSU that got to advance.

The drama of the weekend reflected the way LSU’s done it all year. Injuries have forced LSU to deal with adversity, but the Tigers have strung together some hot streaks this year.

“This is a special group and it makes it that much sweeter that we got through it in the fashion that we did against some very good teams,” [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] said in a release.

A highlight of the weekend was LSU’s performance on bars, where the Tigers set a program regional record on the event.

[autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] posted a 9.975 on bars while [autotag]Alexis Jeffery[/autotag] led off with a 9.950.

Bryant came through in the clutch again on the floor with a 9.950. It was enough to keep LSU in the tiebreaker spot and put the cap on what was a strong weekend for Bryant.

The NCAA semifinals take place on April 13 in Fort Worth, Texas.

LSU will again be competing against SEC champion Florida as well as Denver, who LSU just saw last weekend.

LSU places 3 gymnasts on All-SEC team

Haleigh Bryant, Aleah Finnegan and Bryce Wilson earned honors after the SEC championships.

Following the SEC championship meet, a few Tigers have earned all-conference honors. [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag], [autotag]Aleah Finnegan[/autotag] and [autotag]Bryce Wilson[/autotag] made the All-SEC team.

Bryant and Finnegan earned it for their performances on the floor while Wilson excelled on vault. It should be noted that these honors are strictly based on performance at the SEC championship rather than the entire season.

For Finnegan and Wilson, it was the first time either has appeared on an all-conference team. Bryant is no stranger to the honor, having received it three straight years now.

Bryant entered the weekend with a chance at gymnast of the year, but that nod went to Florida’s Trinity Thomas as the Gators took home the team title, too.

With the regular season over, LSU sets its sights on NCAA competition where the Tigers are seeded No. 2 in the Denver Regional.

Hosted by No. 14 Denver, LSU will be one of nine teams competing in the regional. Notably, LSU will be joined by No. 3 Michigan and SEC peer Georgia. The postseason begins on March 31.

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LSU gymnastics finishes third in SEC championship meet

Despite a strong performance on the floor, LSU came up short of a conference title. The Tigers now await a decision from the NCAA selection committee.

LSU gymnastics concluded SEC play in Atlanta on Saturday night competing in the SEC championship meet at Gas South Arena.

The Tigers finished third, posting a 197.800 score. The title went to the Florida Gators, who successfully defended their championship after winning last year.

“We’re always disappointed when we know we left things on the floor, but the other part of that is they continued to show their fight and their grit,” coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] said in a release. “I am just proud of their continued fight.”

LSU performed well on the floor. LSU’s 49.625 in the event was tied for the top score on the night. [autotag]Aleah Finnegan[/autotag] and [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] posted 9.950’s on the floor.

LSU now awaits the selection committee on Monday. Last year, LSU was sent to Raleigh, North Carolina, where it placed third in the regionals.

Despite the third-place finish, LSU improved its NQS score on Saturday, which should help with placement.

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LSU gymnastics leads SEC in attendance

Baton Rouge showed up in full force to support the Tigers this year.

Baton Rouge loves gymnastics.

With the regular season in the rearview mirror, LSU announced it set a new program record for attendance on its way to leading the SEC.

LSU averaged 12,075 fans per contest. Over 60,000 fans traveled to the PMac throughout the year. The largest crowd came on Jan. 16 when 12,065 fans showed up to watch LSU face Oklahoma.

According to the release, LSU sold over 7,400 season tickets.

LSU faced adversity this year, getting bit by the injury bug, but it finished the year having not lost in six matches.

The Tigers are now preparing for the SEC championship meet in Duluth, GA. LSU will compete in the night session on Saturday after earning a top-four seed. The Tigers will be joined by Alabama, Kentucky and Florida.

LSU will look to unseat the Gators, who are the defending champions.

This was head coach Jay Clark’s third year at the helm after long-time coach D.D Breaux retired.

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Haleigh Bryant sets LSU’s program record for perfect 10s

Bryant put on a show Friday night.

It was senior night for LSU gymnastics, and though she’s not a senior, [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] gave the fans something to remember in LSU’s final regular season home meet.

Bryant stole the show with three perfect scores in one night.

Bryant began the night with a 10 on vault and followed it up with a perfect performance on bars.

Her third 10 of the night, and 10th of her career, came on the floor.

Bryant’s been a star for LSU all year. Now a junior, she’s been a key contributor since she arrived on campus.

She was the NCAA vault champion in 2021 and All-American in 2022. She’ll have a case to be the SEC’s gymnast of the year this season. LSU’s regular season is now complete as the Tigers shift their attention to the SEC Championships at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia this weekend.

LSU last won the tournament in 2019, finishing off a stretch where the Tigers won three in a row.

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LSU Sports Weekend Recap: Gymnastics thrives and Kim Mulkey’s group survives

From baseball to gymnastics, here’s how the LSU teams fared in the last week.

With spring sports in full swing, it’s one of college athletics’ busiest periods as they overlap with winter sports.

At LSU, it’s no different. [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and the No. 1-ranked baseball team began their season while [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] and gymnastics secured a huge conference win.

Kim Mulkey got her group back on track while the men’s team continued its slide. It’s quiet on the football front as we wait for spring practice to get underway, but things will soon heat up there, too.

With all that going on, there’s something for everyone. Here’s a recap of the last week in LSU athletics.

This Week in LSU Sports: Women’s hoops still perfect, Burrow and the Bengals moving on, gymnastics takes No. 1 Oklahoma to the wire

Here’s everything LSU fans need to know this week.

Football is over, but this one of the busiest times of the year for college sports.

Winter sports are in full swing with conference play heating up and spring sports are fast approaching. It was an eventful week for LSU with some good and bad. Men’s basketball, women’s basketball and gymnastics all had multiple contests while there was some significant transfer portal news on the football side of things.

It can all be a lot to keep up with, so we’re going to recap the past week in LSU sports, from football’s offseason news to what’s happening on the basketball court. We’ll also take a look at some storylines to monitor going forward.

The 8 moments that defined LSU athletics in 2022

2022 was quite a year on the bayou.

It was a wild year for LSU.

We saw coaches get fired and hired. Hearts were broken by blocked extra-points and put back together with game-winning two-point conversions. There were improbable comebacks and squandered opportunities.

New arrivals, like [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag] and [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag], excelled on the field and on the court. Meanwhile, bona fide stars like baseball’s [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] and gym’s [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] did their thing, too.

Stories about NIL and the transfer portal dominated the discussion around college sports, and it was no different at LSU with football and baseball signing transfer after transfer and gym’s [autotag]Olivia Dunne[/autotag] signing NIL deal after NIL deal.

Here’s a look at the stories that defined LSU in 2022.

Breaking down the 5 LSU teams that have undergone coaching changes since 2020

Each of LSU’s major sports has undergone coaching transitions in the last two years. Let’s take a look at all of them.

Since August 2020, what could be considered LSU’s five major sports have all undergone coaching changes.

Those five sports are football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, and gymnastics.

The situations leading to each change were wildly different, and sometimes not even in the same stratosphere. Nonetheless, the changes did occur and the athletic department looks a whole lot different than it did when 2020 began.

Gymnastics was the first to transition and also the most seamless, when [autotag]D-D Breaux[/autotag] retired, associate head coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] was tabbed to assume the head position.

Next, in what was the most impressive hire, [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] came to LSU after building a dynasty at Baylor. Not long after that, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] was hired to helm the baseball program after the retirement of [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag].

I doubt many people need refreshers on what happened in football or men’s basketball, given how dramatic and high-profile each situation was, but [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] took over after a wild conclusion to the [autotag]Ed Orgeron[/autotag] era. Most recently, [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] was hired after the [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag] saga came to an inevitable ending.

With all five coaches now in place, let’s take a look back at each transition, and where each sport stands going forward.