On Friday, LSU competed in the Denver regional semifinals. The Tigers scored a 197.375 to tie Oregon State and advance to the final on Sunday. The Tigers will also compete against Denver and Michigan and the top two will advance to the national semifinals.
It’s no question that LSU has had a difficult year. Kiya Johnson had a season-ending Achilles injury, KJ Johnson broke her foot stepping off a mat, and a handful of other gymnasts have had smaller but impactful injuries as well. Despite the adversity that they’ve struggled with, the Tigers entered the postseason as the sixth-ranked team in the country. Thanks to the depth of the team, they were able to continue competing like their usual selves.
LSU has quite an impressive roster. Gymnasts who don’t make the lineup right away still have outstanding routines that are capable of being very competitive. As Alyona Shchennikova said, “ our team is so deep. So we were so fortunate to have so many numbers. So if anything did happen, we would have backups after backup after backup.”
Sierra Ballard is one of those backups who stepped up to the plate when some of her teammates went down. Last year, Ballard was a mainstay in the floor lineup. This year, she added beam to her repertoire.
“The way that…
