BATON ROUGE - The LSU gymnastics team opened the 2025 season Friday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

This is the Tigers' first meet since winning the program's first ever national championship last April. Before the meet, LSU unveiled the Final Four and National Championship banners in the rafters of the PMAC.

The action got started with the Tigers on vault. No gymnast scored below a 9.825, but they were highlighted by senior Aleah Finnegan who scored a 9.95 in the third spot. The Tigers finished their first rotation with a score of 49.350.

On uneven bars, LSU also had a solid rotation with scores of 9.800 and above. Freshman Kailin Chio and Finnegan both led the way with scores of 9.90 on the event.

Balance beam was a little rocky for LSU as lead off gymnast, Sierra Ballard had a fall. However, LSU did not flinch and Chio and Finnegan led the way again. They each scored a 9.925 on beam.

Floor exercise was LSU's best event based on the scores. LSU boasted a 49.500 floor score and did not get a score below 9.850. It was Chio and Finnegan once again who led the way in the final two spots of the rotation. Chio scored a 9.925 and Finnegan scored a 9.950 with her routine.

LSU walked away with a win with ease with a final score of 197.300. Iowa State finished with a score of 194.100.

LSU head coach Jay Clark believes this is one of the best season opening performances he has seen.

"I think in my time here, and my memory is not great, but I think in my time here, it may be the best opening performance we had top to bottom," Clark said after the meet.

LSU will travel to Oklahoma City next week to compete in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad. They will compete against Cal, Oklahoma and Utah. Those three opponents appeared in last year's NCAA Semi Finals, and LSU competed against Cal and Utah for the national championship.