According to Jay Clark, the LSU Tigers are currently going through the gymnastics equivalent of the Chicago Bulls losing Michael Jordan.
“We’ve been through some stuff,” Clark said in his post-meet press conference after pushing the Sooners to the brink Monday, but ultimately losing 197.600 to 197.450. The meet came three days after the Tigers lost senior all-arounder Kiya Johnson to an Achilles injury on floor at Kentucky. “The emotion surrounding that was just hard…but [today] they competed fearlessly. The growth we showed today was measurable, and that’s encouraging.”
In the first rotation, LSU maintained four 10.0 start values on vault as junior Chase Brock replaced Johnson’s Yurchenko double full with a Yurchenko one and a half. The Sooners opened their bar rotation with three straight 9.850s from Danielle Sievers, Danae Fletcher and Faith Torrez, posting a 49.400 to LSU’s 49.325 on vauly, a season high for the Tigers. Haleigh Bryant vaulted her way to a share of the event title with a 9.925 while senior Ragan Smith won the bars title outright with a 9.950.
On bars, sophomore Alexis Jeffrey moved to the leadoff role with a routine that Clark says has similar composition to Johnson’s. Sophomore Tori Tatum also made her highly anticipated…
