Tag: Kiya Johnson

LSU’s Jay Clark is optimistic about future of gymnastics program despite incoming loss of talent

Despite the incoming exodus of talent, Jay Clark is optimistic about next year’s gymnastics squad.

The LSU gymnastics team finally got over the hump in 2024, winning the first national championship in program history with an absolutely loaded roster.

There will be some changes next season, however. The Tigers have 11 gymnasts on the roster who are either seniors or graduate students, including the nation’s top gymnast [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] as well as [autotag]Kiya Johnson[/autotag] and others.

The cupboard won’t be completely bare in 2025, however, with gymnasts like [autotag]Aleah Finnegan[/autotag], a junior, and [autotag]Konnor McClain[/autotag], a true freshman, set to return. With those pieces, coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] remains optimistic about the future despite what this team is set to lose.

“I feel really good about the team we have coming back next year,” Clark said, per On3. “Their role will continue to increase and get more and more. I think they’re tremendous, but I feel incredibly optimistic about what we have coming back and the freshman class that’s coming in. I’m excited.”

LSU has reached the final round of the NCAA tournament three times since 2019, and it seems fair to assume this program isn’t going away any time soon even though it has to retool this offseason.

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Haleigh Bryant, Jay Clark headline postseason SEC awards for LSU gymnastics

The SEC champions dominate the postseason awards, and five Tigers made the All-SEC team.

LSU gymnastics captured its first SEC title since 2019 over the weekend, and now the Tigers head into their NCAA regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as a No. 1 national seed.

The Tigers have a program-best National Qualifying Score of 198.215, and that’s in large part thanks to superstar [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag]. She set the program record for Perfect 10s this season, and she’s been named the SEC Gymnast of the Year.

She’s joined as a postseason award winner by her head coach, [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag], who was named the Co-SEC Coach of the Year alongside Kentucky’s Tim Garrison.

Further, five total Tigers were named to the All-SEC team, including Bryant as well as [autotag]Ashley Cowan[/autotag], [autotag]Kiya Johnson[/autotag], [autotag]KJ Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Konnor McClain[/autotag].

McClain was also named a member of the All-Freshman team.

 

LSU begins its postseason run in Fayetteville next Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. CT.

 

 

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LSU gymnastics notches win in SEC opener against No. 6 Kentucky

The Tigers recorded the highest team score in the country so far this season.

LSU gymnastics began conference competition on Friday, hosting No. 6 Kentucky in the PMAC.

It couldn’t have gone much better for LSU with the Tigers posting a score of 198.125, the highest score we’ve seen around the country this year. LSU had a strong performance on vault, headlined by a 9.975 from [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] and a 9.925 from [autotag]Savannah Schoenherr[/autotag].

But it was the floor that pushed LSU’s score into the upper echelon. The Tigers’ floor score would have been a season-high for any team in the country and was the third-highest in program history.

[autotag]Kiya Johnson[/autotag] stole the show and anchored the rotation with a perfect 10. Johnson finished with a 39.650 in the all-around, a season-high for her.

The win was Jay Clark’s 50th career victory at LSU after taking over the program in 2021.

Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Missouri on Friday. Missouri, which is coming off a win against No. 20 Georgia and has just one loss to No. 4 Alabama, will be another tough test for LSU.

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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.