By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU will honor seven seniors on Friday night ahead of its final regular-season home meet against No. 8 Arkansas. The group includes Courtney Blackson, Chase Brock, Ashley Cowan, Emily Innes, Alexis Jeffrey, Tori Tatum and Kathryn Weilbacher.
The Tigers’ senior class features a variety of athletes – from transfers who found a home in Baton Rouge to gymnasts who have spent their entire collegiate careers in the purple and gold. Despite their different paths, they share a common message ahead of their final regular-season meet inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center: gratitude for the opportunity to compete for LSU.
Time flies when you’re having fun 🥹💜 show out for our seniors this Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT in the PMAC! pic.twitter.com/p3qH3jcERF
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) March 11, 2026
Jeffrey, a graduate student who transferred from UCLA in 2022, said her time in Baton Rouge is something she will always cherish.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” Jeffrey said on Tuesday. “It’s such an honor to be part of such a great team and there’s been so many amazing people and gymnasts before us that have kind of just like set the concrete for us and that’s why we have the things that we have now. And so I think it’s just a great honor to be a part of that so that the people coming in can have such a great experience as well.”
Jeffrey is one of four seniors being honored Friday who were part of LSU’s first national championship team in 2024, which is a milestone mark in program history that will always hold a special place in her heart.
“It’s just a huge honor because we were part of the first-ever national championship here at LSU and so just coming in every single day and just being grateful to be a part of that is just super cool,” Jeffrey said.
Brock will also be recognized Friday night. She is in her sixth year in Baton Rouge after suffering a season-ending torn Achilles prior to LSU’s meet against Oklahoma last February.
Brock has yet to compete this season while dealing with lingering ankle issues, but despite several setbacks, she said returning for one final year was an easy decision.
“I just wanted to enjoy this year no matter what it looked like,” Brock said Tuesday. “I knew I was coming back from an injury, but at the end of the day, I chose to come back because I love this team. I love this program.”
Chase Brock’s final vault in the PMAC…of the season because she will be getting her ten next year. pic.twitter.com/pAXDTHQgjN
— London 2012 (@justsomegymfan) March 16, 2025
Brock said watching LSU grow as a program, both competitively and culturally, has been one of the most rewarding experiences of her career.
“I mean, it’s crazy looking back on my freshman year because like I came in during COVID, so my experience was like a couple hundred thousand people in the PMAC,” Brock said. “Then sophomore year when things changed, seeing the fan base come and support us was really cool and I think that we keep leveling up each year. Like we keep getting closer and we just try to not duplicate what we do the year before, but take what we learn from that year and see where we can go from that. It’s just a family here. I have friendships with all my old teammates and all the teammates that I have now, so it’s just been cool to be a part of this whole experience.”
Head coach Jay Clark said the seniors who have spent several years in the program have been instrumental in helping LSU reach its current level of success.
“They meant the world,” Clark said. “They’ve been here for peaks and valleys. They were here in 23 when we struggled. Some of them were here in 22 when we bombed at regionals and they were also here in 24 when we won it all, so they’ve seen it all and they’ve learned a lot and they’ve been able to impart so many of those lessons to the ones who are young now.”
While not every senior made their mark in the lineup each week, all seven played a role in building the culture and depth that has helped LSU remain one of the nation’s most consistent programs.
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