For LSU, the opening night of the 2025 season was full of emotions.
The 2024 national championship banner rose to the top of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, with Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” playing in the background. Tears were shed among the athletes on the floor, lights flashed as the smoke began to billow, and the popping of purple and gold streamers could be heard amongst the screams of the crowds.
Then, head coach Jay Clark had to quickly turn his team’s attention to the present.
“Once that banner went up, I pulled them together and said ‘okay, let’s go’,” Clark recalled. “It’s about the business at hand, and that’s the five minutes in front of our face.”
Focusing on the five minutes in front of the Tigers led the team to a victory over No. 32 Iowa State, 197.300 to 194.100, in front of a program-record season-opening crowd in Baton Rouge.
In the absence of fifth-year senior Haleigh Bryant due to a UCL strain, senior Aleah Finnegan and freshman Kailin Chio competed in the all-around, the former not having done so consistently since 2023. While Finnegan won the all-around with a 39.725, Chio made her presence known early with a nearly-stuck Yurchenko one-and-a-half vault to anchor the Tigers lineup. She then scored 9.900 or better on the…
