By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The No. 3 LSU gymnastics team is back in Baton Rouge this week as the Tigers host No. 14 Penn State on Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7:30 p.m., SEC Network +).
LSU (4-1-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) is coming off its best road meet of the season in Columbia after defeating No. 7 Missouri (4-3, 0-3 SEC), 197.675-197.500, last Friday. The Tigers are looking to keep it going against an undefeated Penn State (4-0, 3-0 Big 10 Conference) squad.
The Tigers finished last week’s meet strong, posting a 49.550 on floor and recording a 49.325 on vault. LSU head coach Jay Clark is confident his team’s ability to close meets out strong will continue to be a trend.
“We’ve grown pretty accustomed around here to having some pretty heavy hitters late in our lineups, whether it was Sarah Finnegan or Kiya Johnson or Haleigh (Bryant),” Clark said on Monday. “You can go down the list of people in the past that have played those roles and it’s a mental stabilizer when you know you have people in the back half that are going to get the job done. In some cases, we used to joke and call them mistake erasers if there’s a mistake early on. But I think everybody has done a great job this year.”
LSU’s 197.675 score in Columbia last week was the team’s highest road score of the season. Eight Tigers recorded scores of 9.90 or higher. Even though LSU’s depth has been off the charts this season, Clark said choosing the lineup each week is one of the hardest parts of the job.
“(If) you’re going to pick an issue to have, this is the one to have,” Clark said. “We can move some pieces in like a Haley Mustari on bars and have that position first time competing, go 9.90. But it also lends itself to making sure that you manage everyone’s emotions as best as you possibly can because they all want to compete and they all want to be out there all the time and that’s not possible. As a coach, I’d rather have too many than not enough, but trying to figure out what that looks like, we still have a little bit of time left and then we’ll start to settle in on what we feel are the best six on every event as we get later in the season, particularly on balance beam.”
Some of LSU’s key routines this season have come from true freshman Nina Ballou. This season, Ballou has posted two scored of 9.90 on floor for the Tigers. She also competed on vault in the season opener, logging a 9.750 in her first collegiate routine. Ballou said LSU’s all-around talent has created a competitive environment in the gym that she believes is helping the team heading into Fridays.
“I heard Kim Mulkey say this in her press conference, but she was like, ‘Your teammates are your best competition.’ And I think we kind of have a similar thing going on, especially this year,” Ballou said on Monday. “Every week, I feel like I’m fighting for my life, but in the best way and I think to be able to have this depth and this amount of healthy people and just like everyone being on the same page, fighting for the same thing, having the same goal, I think it’s such a beautiful thing. I think it’s going to take us really far this year.”
Since LSU and Penn State’s matchup will air on SEC Network +, both teams will have the opportunity to give its gymnasts exhibition routines in addition to the starting lineups.
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