- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,153,740
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
That was okay.
The back-to-back SEC champion #3 LSU gymnastics team picked up an easy win over #14 Penn State 197.525-196.125 in the PMAC Friday. A Krewe of Athena-impacted 11,516 fans piled into the building to watch a solid performance, but LSU had moments that weren’t as good as they have been in the past. With the result, LSU moves to 5-1-1 and PSU moves to 4-1.
Rotation 1: LSU 49.475-Penn State 48.975
Penn State had an okay bars rotation, but their poor dynamics put them lower than they’d scored all season. LSU put up a new season high on vault.
Lexi Zeiss stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 cold for a 9.875. Konnor McClain followed with a 9.825 on her Yurchenko Full. Courtney Blackson had an awkward Y1.5 that scored a 9.725 [9.65/9.80]. Amari Drayton cleaned up the miss with a 9.925 on her Y1.5. Kaliya Lincoln came as close as she has to sticking her Y1.5 all year and got a 9.875. Kailin Chio did a perfect Y1.5 to finish things off and somehow got a 9.975 (literally how).
Nina Ballou (now officially pronouncing her last name “bayou” for those curious) scored a 9.600 [9.55/9.65] on her Y1.5 exhibition, and Victoria Roberts scored a 9.750 on her front pike half exhibition. Nina’s looked as off as her competition vault against Kentucky, while Vic overpowered her vault too much (good mistake).
Rotation 2: LSU 98.750-Penn State 97.750
Penn State scored a season-low 48.775 on vault, which I thought was a bit too low considering the quality of their gymnastics. Either way, it’s something they can work on. LSU scored a season-low 49.275 on bars.
Lexi led things off with a decent routine that scored a 9.775. Alexis Jeffrey made her return to the lineup after a tough road through recovering from back surgery, and she scored a 9.675 [9.75/9.60] on a routine that was great until her dismount. Madison Ulrich settled things down with a phenomenal 9.950. Kailin then hit her routine for a 9.900. Courtney finished an oddly off night with a 9.825. Konnor finished the rotation with a 9.825 on her own that saw her finally connect her Church to her Pak, though her Pak was arched.
Nina scored a 9.850 on her bars exhibition.
Rotation 3: LSU 147.975-Penn State 146.925
Penn State scored a 49.175 on floor, a solid score for a solid rotation. LSU scored a season-low 49.225 on beam.
Kylie Coen led things off with a 9.775 [9.70/9.85] that looked similar to the one she did at Missouri. Lexi followed with a good 9.875. Amari had a bobbly routine that managed a 9.800. Kaliya nailed her routine for an astonishing 9.750 [9.70/9.80] that made no sense especially when compared to the 9.750 she got at Missouri. Konnor got a 9.850 [9.90/9.80] on her routine, one in which she had to change her acro series because of a balance break. Kailin anchored the rotation with a 9.925.
Emily Innes scored a 9.900 [9.85/9.95] on her exhibition routine, and Madison Ulrich scored a 9.875 on her exhibition routine.
Jay was absolutely furious with the beam judging because of how inconsistent it was. Amari got the only score on which both judges agreed. Konnor and Kailin’s routines were the only consecutive LSU routines in which the same judge went higher than the other. It was weird.
Rotation 4: LSU 197.525-Penn State 196.125
Penn State finished with a season-high 49.200 on beam, and the beam judging was still inconsistent. Two of their six routines had scores on which the judges agreed, while the other four had splits fo at least 0.10. LSU scored a stellar 49.550 to close things out.
Emily led things off with a 9.875, then Nina followed with a 9.875 of her own. Kylie scored a career-high 9.925 on her best floor routine of her career. Amari drilled her routine for a 9.950. Kailin’s floor music didn’t work when she initially walked out on floor, and perhaps that contributed to the mistake on her final pass that earned her a 9.800. Kaliya nailed her routine for a 9.925 to give LSU the exact score necessary to move their average up.
Lexi scored a 9.825 on her floor exhibition, and Madison scored a 9.850 [9.80/9.90] on her floor exhibition.
Final thoughts:
I need to give props to Penn State for showing up and doing a good job of fighting down the stretch to get above 196. They have to travel back to University Park for a home meet Sunday, but hopefully they enjoyed the experience of getting in front of a big crowd. They’re the kind of team that’s poised to pull an upset somewhere in their season.
This was one of the strangest meets I’ve seen from LSU. Everything looked fine in warm-ups, but when it came time to move over to bars, the vibes were off. Head coach Jay Clark seemed quite irritated in his post-meet press conference because of how they performed in this meet compared to how well they practiced. This was an opportunity to get a huge score and LSU did not seize it. Hopefully that lights a fire under them when they host Auburn next week. Interestingly, barring a 198.250+ from UCLA at Minnesota, LSU will move up in the rankings thanks to Florida’s shocking 196.500 in their loss at Missouri.
Madison Ulrich picked up her second event title as a Tiger with her first bars title in her time at LSU. Amari Drayton picked up her second career floor title and fifth career event title. Kailin Chio picked up her eighth career beam title, 10th career vault title and 10th career all-around title to put her at 37 for her LSU career. She is now tied with five others for 11th all-time in LSU history in all-around titles and is tied with Lloimincia Hall and Rachelle Fruge’ for 18th all-time in LSU history in career event titles.
Continue reading...
