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Gymnastics: 2024 Awards


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Week 9

Haleigh Bryant  won 4/5 events for the second time this season thanks to her 14th career 10, tied for 11th most in NCAA history. Her 39.850 AA score is the second best score in LSU history, and it's LSU AA scorigami. She's up to 79 career individual titles, 14 off Sandra Smith for 5th in LSU history. She won career vault title 28, meaning she's 1 away from tying Rheagan Courville for 2nd in LSU history. Biggest of all, though, Haleigh won her 25th career AA title. That's tied with April Burkholder for 2nd in LSU history. She is 1 away from tying Rheagan Courville's school record and 2 away from breaking it. She has 3 chances to tie the record in Louisiana.

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From: https://lsusports.net/news/2024/03/22/ballard-named-to-2024-sec-community-service-team/

 

LSU Gymnastics senior Sierra Ballard was named to the 2024 SEC Community Service Team for the second year in a row, announced by the league on Friday morning.

The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 league sponsored sports. This award looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. Ballard is one of eight gymnasts recognized in this year’s team.

Giving back to her Baton Rouge community is something that is important to Ballard. This year, she has participated and led multiple events at LSU including Geaux Day, Wheel’s To Succeed, the Special Olympics bowling tournament, plus many visits to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital.

The senior has partnered with the local boys and girls club to make cards for U.S. servicemen, raised money through Shake Shack for the miracle league of Baton Rouge and planned, and prepped and put on the “Boozar” event, which is a Halloween event on campus that allows student athletes to interact with kids in the community. 

Ballard also recently participated in the MLK Day of Service, where she helped paint basketball courts for kids in the Baton Rouge community. She serves as the LSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President, where she leads and advises a council of student-athletes who put on a variety of events around campus. 

A native of Mandeville, Louisiana, Ballard is now a two-time member of the SEC Gymnastics Community Service Team as well as a three-time member of the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and an Academic All-American.

 

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FORT WORTH, Texas – LSU Gymnastics senior Haleigh Bryant was named the 2024 AAI Award Winner, recognizing her as the top senior gymnast in the nation.

The AAI Award is given annually and is voted on by NCAA women’s gymnastics head coaches throughout the nation. The award, which is sponsored by the American Athletic Inc., is often likened to the Heisman Trophy for Women’s Gymnastics and has become a symbol of excellence in the sport, something that Bryant has been nothing short of during her career with the Tigers.

Bryant was voted this year’s winner over the remaining five finalists: Luisa Blanco (Alabama), Audrey Davis (Oklahoma), Maile O’Keefe (Utah), Gabby Wilson (Michigan) and Raena Worley (Kentucky).

The senior from Cornelius, North Carolina, is the fourth AAI Award winner in program history and joins an elite group of past honorees in Sarah Finnegan (2019), Ashleigh Gnat (2017) and Susan Jackson (2010). LSU has the most AAI winners since 2010 and the most in the Southeastern Conference.

LSU now shares the top spot for most AAI winners in school history with Michigan, UCLA and Utah. Minnesota, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon State all have three.

Bryant is a true example of what it means to be a competitor, teammate, and leader. She has already proven to be one of the best gymnasts in LSU and NCAA history as she continues to lead the Tigers in the postseason.

She enters the NCAA Championships with 31 titles on the year, having won nine on vault, seven on bars, two on beam, four on floor and nine in the all-around to move her career total to 91 (sixth most in LSU history). Her current 33 career vault titles is the second most in program history while her 28 in the all-around is the most by any LSU gymnast in their career.

Just this year, Bryant’s titles on vault, bars and the all-around place in the top-10 for most in a single season by an LSU gymnast. 

Bryant has already garnered multiple awards in 2024 as she adds AAI Award Winner to her resume. She was named the SEC Gymnast of the Year for the first time in her career last month, becoming only the sixth gymnast in LSU history to earn the award. 

She was the first LSU gymnast to achieve both a gym slam (perfect 10 on every event) and season slam (a perfect 10 on every event in a single season) this year, as she owns eight perfect scores this season and 18 in her career, the most by any gymnast in LSU history and the 10th most in the NCAA.

Bryant was only the 14th gymnast in the NCAA to record a gym slam in their career and the 10th gymnast in NCAA history to achieve a season slam. 

She continues to prove why she is the top gymnast in the nation week after week. She placed at the top of the standings as the No. 1 all-arounder in the country for 10 out of 12 weeks during the regular season, finishing with an NQS of 39.810 and the highest all-around score in the nation and in school history (39.925). 

In the individual rankings, she owns an NQS of 9.900 or higher on every event and ranks first on vault, fourth on bars, eighth on beam and seventh on floor. She placed in the top-10 for four straight weeks and spent ten weeks in the top-25 on every event.

Her performance throughout the regular season earned her five first team All-America honors in 2024, moving her career total to 22 (14 regular season, eight NCAA), which is second only to Sarah Finnegan and Rheagan Courville in program history with 23.

Bryant owns 147 scores of 9.900 or better in her career. 73.50% of her scores are above 9.900 while 95.50% are above 9.8000. This year, she has recorded nine meets with scores of 9.9+ or higher on every event and only has two scores lower than a 9.850. She has achieved perfection eight times this season.

She made school history on March 8 as she posted a career high 39.925 in the all-around, which is the highest all-around score by any LSU gymnast, the second-best in SEC history and ties for the fourth best in the NCAA. 

In the conference, Bryant was recognized as the SEC Gymnast of the Week six times in 2024, the most by any gymnast this year. She now owns 11 SEC honors in her career and has remained the top performer in the conference through all 12 weeks of competition this year.

On top of her SEC Gymnast of the Year honors, Bryant claimed two individual titles for her performance at the 2024 SEC Championships on March 23 to mark her third fourth year as an All-SEC member. She had the highest scores on vault and the all-around at the meet and is now a three-time individual SEC Champion. 

Bryant’s performance at SEC’s helped lead the team to victory as LSU finished on top of the meet to claim their first SEC Championship title since 2019 and the fifth in program history. 

The senior has helped lead her team to back-to-back nationals appearances as the Tigers continue their journey in the postseason at the NCAA Championships this week.

So far in this postseason, Bryant finished as the top all-arounder in the Fayetteville Regional Final with her score of 39.850. Her night was highlighted with two perfect 10’s on vault and bars, marking the first time in school history that a gymnast has earned two perfect scores in the same meet at regionals and the first LSU gymnast to record a perfect 10.000 on bars in the postseason. 

Outside of the gym, she is a two-time Scholastic All-American and three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member as she pursues her degree in sport administration with an anticipated graduation date of May 2024. 

Now a four time All-SEC member, three time SEC Individual Champion, and two time Central Region Gymnast of the Year, Bryant will continue to shine in her senior year as she looks to lead her team to their first national championship. 

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Seven Gymnasts Claim Postseason All-America Honors

Seven Gymnasts Claim Postseason All-America Honors
 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Seven LSU gymnasts combined for 16 postseason All-America honors following their performances in the NCAA Semifinals on Thursday afternoon in Dickies Arena.

NCAA postseason All-America awards are based on the top eight event scores in both sessions of the semifinals. Gymnasts that place 1-4 on an event in their respective session will earn first team honors while spots 5-8 will earn second team honors. LSU competed in the first session on Thursday, where Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson, Savannah Schoenherr, Sierra Ballard, Aleah Finnegan, KJ Johnson and Konnor McClain all finished amongst the top eight performers.

LSU now owns 327 All-America honors in program history and 26 on the year (10 regular season, 16 postseason), which is the third most in a single season. The program record for most All-America honors in a single season is 28 set in 2018. The 2017 season follows with 27. 

The Tigers 16 honors at NCAA’s this year matches the most in LSU postseason history.

Bryant earned five more All-America honors after her standout performance in the NCAA semifinals that won her a national title. The senior tallied five honors on all four events and the all-around during the regular season as she once again swept the All-America honors in the postseason. She is now the first LSU gymnast to record All-America honors on every event and the all-around in both the regular season and the postseason, and just the second to claim honors on every event in the postseason.

Bryant has earned 10 All-America honors in 2024 to move her career total to 27 (14 regular season, 13 postseason), the most by any LSU gymnast in school history. Her five postseason honors in 2024 moved her to the top spot to surpass the previous record of 23, which was held by Sarah Finnegan and Rheagan Courville. 

Kiya Johnson earned three postseason honors, including first team honors on floor and the all-around to move her total to 12 in her career and placing her at eighth most in program history, alongside Susan Jackson. She posted a score of 9.9375 on floor and a 39.6125 in the all-around in the semifinals, while also earning second team honors on beam with her score of 9.900.

Finnegan, already a six time All-American, added another to her resume after finishing as the top floor performer across both sessions of semifinal competition on Thursday with her score of 9.9625.

Schoenherr had a standout night in her first postseason appearance with the Tigers, claiming All-America honors on vault and beam with her scores of 9.900 and 9.925. She is now a five time All-American in her career. 

Ballard, McClain and KJ Johnson all claimed their first career All-America honor following their performances in Thursday’s semifinals.

Ballard’s award came on beam with her score of 9.900, while Johnson posted the second highest floor score in session I with her 9.950. 

McClain took home All-America honors in her NCAA Championships debut on bars, beam and floor. She recorded a pair of 9.9125’s on bars and beam and a 9.9375 on floor.

 

 

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IMG_5116.jpeg
 

FORT WORTH, Texas – With one performance remaining, Aleah Finnegan delivered a 9.95 on beam to lift the LSU gymnastics team to the first NCAA Championship in program history Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena.

The Tigers claimed the title with a 198.225 to defeat California (197.850), Utah (197.800) and Florida (197.4375).

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