Livvy Dunne & LSU Gymnastics Look to Advance to National Championship
On Thursday afternoon, the Tigers will face off against the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans, No. 5 Utah Utes and No. 4 UCLA Bruins. The top-two teams from the meet will advance to the National Championship while the other two will be sent home just one step short of their ultimate goal.
Livvy Dunne - Instagram
This will easily be the hardest meet of the season for the Tigers. They've duked it out with No. 1 Oklahoma in the PMAC (and won) and won one of the toughest SEC Championships to date, but there's nothing like facing three top-10 teams with a trip to the National Championship on the line. Luckily, they've been there before. Quite a few times, actually.
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The LSU Tigers are looking to make their third consecutive National Championship. In 2023, they were plagued with injuries, but somehow managed to sneak in. They were only able to manage fourth place, but it was a great result considering the circumstances. However, a year later, they stayed pretty healthy and were able to make it back to Fort Worth, where they dominated, winning the program's first championship by nearly four tenths. Experience goes a long way, but there will still be plenty of nerves when the Tigers take the floor on Thursday.
Of their three opponents, the Utah Utes are going to be their biggest challenge. They're the No. 4 team in the country and have an NQS average of 197.780, which is .335 lower than the Tigers' average. UCLA is right on Utah's tail with an NQS average of 197.680. Both of these squads advanced from their section of the bracket with a 197.825 and 197.625 respectively in the Regional Final.
Michigan State is a team the Tigers are pretty familiar with now. They faced off with each other in the Penn State Regional Final, with LSU coming out on top, but not by much. The Spartans put together one of their best meets of the season, earning a 198.000 to finish just .050 behind the Tigers. If they can replicate that performance, things will get very interesting in Fort Worth.
This should be a very entertaining meet that could very well come down to the last routine. We don't know which event the Tigers will start on yet, but ending on floor or vault would be ideal. Really just anything but beam.
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