It was a bit of a surprise to see assistant coach Ashleigh “Bugs” Gnat show up for LSU gymnastics’ news conference Monday instead of coach Jay Clark, who had a commitment elsewhere.
The news Gnat delivered on gymnast Kai Rivers unfortunately was expected. The senior tore her Achilles tendon in warmups on floor during Friday’s Podium Challenge meet at the Raising Cane’s River Center and is done for the remainder of the season.
“She’s going to have surgery” Tuesday, Gnat said.
A beam specialist, Rivers also was expected to replace Aleah Finnegan (out because of illness) last Friday on floor. Rivers suffered her injury before the meet even started.
Rivers is at least the fourth LSU gymnast to suffer a season-ending injury since last fall, along with senior Kiya Johnson, senior transfer Cammy Hall and freshman Annie Beard. Olivia Dunne, KJ Johnson and Bryce Wilson have all missed significant meet time this season because of injuries.
On a positive note, Gnat said Finnegan was improving along with KJ Johnson, who broke a bone in her foot after the Florida meet on Feb. 17. Clark previously said the target was to have Johnson back in time for NCAA regionals by the end of this month.
“Aleah is feeling better. We’re definitely hoping to see her this week,” said Gnat, a former LSU All-American. “KJ is also on the mend. Obviously there’s a timeline with that that she and our trainers are working on. We’re not looking to push that before she’s ready to go.”
LSU in national rankings
LSU remained No. 6 in this week’s RoadtoNationals.com rankings, despite being able to improve its NQS (national qualifying score) average by nearly a full point thanks to the Tigers’ winning score in the Podium Challenge.
LSU’s 197.700 counted as a road meet because it was not played at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. That meant the Tigers were able to use that score to replace their 197.250 from the Jan. 27 meet at Arkansas.
Individually, Haleigh Bryant now ranks No. 1 alone on vault with an NQS of 9.975 after posting that score in the Podium Challenge. It was her third straight 9.975 or better on vault and fifth this season, including a pair of perfect 10s.
Bryant also ranks fourth nationally in the all-around with an NQS of 39.705 while Finnegan is 14th with a 39.530. Finnegan is tied for fifth nationally on floor with an NQS of 9.955, and tied for sixth on balance beam with a 9.940.
LSU currently ranks behind only Florida among Southeastern Conference teams in NQS, with the Gators coming in at No. 3 nationally with a 197.920. Alabama is eighth at 197.530 and Auburn is ninth at 197.460.
If those scores hold up after the regular season concludes this weekend, those four teams would comprise the night session at the SEC championships on March 18 in Duluth, Georgia, with LSU as the No. 2 seed.
Senior night
The Tigers are back in the PMAC on Friday night to take on West Virginia in the season’s final home meet.
First vault is set for 7:30 p.m. The meet will be shown on a streaming-only basis on SECNetwork+ via WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
The meet will be the final time at home for seven seniors: Kiya Johnson, Lexi Nibbs, Maddie Rau, Rivers, Kamryn Ryan, Alyona Shchennikova and Hall, a graduate student from Utah who did not get to compete for LSU this season.
At least, it could be the Tigers’ final home meet. Because of an NCAA-mandated extra season for college athletes whose spring 2020 campaigns were cut short by the pandemic, all seven gymnasts are eligible to compete in 2024. The seven have not announced whether they will or will not return next season.
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