By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The No. 2-seeded LSU gymnastics team is just days away from taking the floor in the NCAA Semifinals for the fourth straight year. The Tigers will have a chance to earn a spot in the national championship for the second time in three years on Thursday when they face No. 3 seed Florida, No. 6 seed Georgia and No. 7 seed Stanford (3:30 p.m., ESPN2).
For LSU to make a legitimate national title run, it will need Konnor McClain in the lineup – most importantly, performing at her best to deliver a big score. McClain suffered an arm injury in the Baton Rouge Regional Final after losing her grip and falling on the bars, landing awkwardly on her arm.
Head coach Jay Clark provided an update on her progress two days ahead of the meet.
“It’s been day-to-day since the regional meet,” Clark said on Monday. “We’ve made some progress. Had one day last week where we had to kind of shut it down a little bit again, but we’re managing. So it’s day-to-day. I would stop short of guaranteeing anything at this point because around here, things change like the wind sometimes with stuff like that, but she was in a good spot Saturday and did a nice job in our intersquad on Saturday.”
Here's what @LSUgym head coach Jay Clark had to say about Konnor McClain and her status for the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth. #LSU https://t.co/pdpk0KjRdF pic.twitter.com/HRyXpcTn6I
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) April 13, 2026
Clark said that if McClain is able to compete Thursday, he anticipates she could compete on vault, bars and beam.
“I think we’d like to see her doing all three of the events that she’s contributed in,” Clark said. “Whether or not we can do that on Thursday, I don’t know, but I think if we’re forced to make choices, what would that look like? But I’ll wait until we’re forced to make those choices before I make them. So, if I had to eliminate an event in order to preserve her on others, I could do that. It’s really just going to come down to where she is physically and mentally. Right now, I feel good. I’m cautiously optimistic that she’ll be in a good place.”
McClain has dealt with an extensive list of injuries during her time in Baton Rouge. With that in mind, Clark is emphasizing caution to avoid any setbacks before the team heads to Fort Worth.
“I believe that when she’s in a good rhythm and that can mean as little as one routine a day, just as long as she’s able to stay in that cadence, then she generally is in a good spot,” Clark said. “It’s when we have to pull her out of practice for two or three days and then she’s back in the day before and that kind of stuff, so if we can avoid any disruption in the pattern between now and then, I feel good about where she is.”
Only time will tell, as Clark noted, but if McClain is able to return Thursday after her injury scare in the regional final, it would be a major boost for the Tigers heading into the semifinal round.
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