No. 2 LSU Gymnastics Treating Showdown With No. 1 Oklahoma On Friday As Just Another Meet

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter

The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team will travel to Norman to face No. 1 Oklahoma in a dual meet on Friday night at the Lloyd Noble Center (8 p.m., ESPN2).

It will mark the first dual meet between the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams since Feb. 14, 2025, when No. 2 LSU defeated No. 1 Oklahoma, 198.050-197.675, in Baton Rouge.

Last Friday, the Tigers posted their best score of the season with a 198.325 – the second highest score recorded nationally this year. Not only did LSU record its best score this season, but it finally delivered the consistent, complete performance head coach Jay Clark had stressed for so many weeks.

“A lot went right,” Clark said on Monday. “I just think our performance was the most complete that we’ve had and it’s a good time to do it. This is the right time of year when you want to have a turning point. It’s only a turning point, though, if we continue to move forward.”

Despite Friday’s meet featuring the two best teams in the country, Clark wants his team to focus on its own performance rather than Oklahoma’s.

“There’s no defense. They can’t tackle us and we can’t tackle them,” Clark said. “It’s going to come down to each team doing what they do and so, for us, we have about 10 or 12 things that are within our control and the rest of it is not. So, we try to make sure that our heads stay wrapped around the things that are tangibly within our control and go and compete hard and see where things go.”

LSU’s gymnasts are echoing Clark’s message.

“I would say it’s just another week,” LSU junior Kylie Coen said on Monday.  “It doesn’t matter who’s on the floor with us. It’s just LSU going to compete and we train every single week. We’re not going to train harder or less for whoever is on the floor with us. It’s just going to be our normal every single day, so just excited for another week of competition.”

Clark’s team is dead set on continuing to improve each week, but the Tigers are still looking forward to sharing the floor with the Sooners this Friday.

“This meet’s going to be huge for the sport,” senior Ashley Cowan said on Monday. “I mean, you don’t get to see one and two out on the floor very often, so we’re going to do the best that we can to just be us and to use this as momentum for the postseason and further meets leading out of it.”

Legendary coach D-D Breaux also expects Friday’s meet to live up to the hype.

“It’s going to be a great meet,” Breaux told Tiger Rag on Feb. 17. “We’ve got more athletes. It’s going to be who brings their A-game and stays focused. Don’t look at the scores. Don’t look at the judging. We (LSU) throw more difficulty than Oklahoma does which means we take more chances, but when we do that and do it well, we’ll be rewarded and we’ll win.”