It’s time to take to the podium.
The back-to-back SEC champion #2 LSU gymnastics team is back in action today on short rest. The Tigers knocked off #3 Alabama 197.975-197.600 Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, both teams are facing off alongside #17 North Carolina and #27 Arizona in the fourth annual Purple & Gold Podium Challenge at the Raising Cane’s River Center. The meet begins at 3:00 p.m. and, like in years past, will not be streamed or broadcast. Live stats are stuck behind a paywall,
but LSU’s social media accounts will be providing updates during the meet. I’ll be doing so as well on my Twitter page.
Note: all rankings are based on what they were at the beginning of Week 8. Live rankings may be slightly different.
LSU’s history against the other teams
LSU is 35-103-2 all-time against Alabama and 13-60 against them on neutral floors. The last time the two teams met on the same floor was on Friday night. LSU has competed against Alabama 14 more times than they have against any other opponent.
LSU is 6-0 all-time against North Carolina and is 4-0 against them on neutral floors. The last time the two teams met was on March 15, 2024, when the Tigers trounced the Tar Heels 198.250-196.075 on senior night.
LSU is 20-9 all-time against Arizona and is 14-5 against them on neutral floors. The last time the two teams met was on April 2, 2021, in a Utah Regional semifinal. The Tigers beat the Wildcats 197.025-196.025 for second place and a spot in the regional final.
About #3 Alabama (begin on bars)
Alabama finished 5th at SECs in 2025, their worst finish ever, and finished 8th overall after eking their way out of their own regional. I was at the Alabama Regional final; they got bailed out by home scoring. The Crimson Tide lost nine NQS routines from the 2025 team: Jordyn Paradise on vault, Shania Adams on bars and floor, Corinne Bunagan on vault and beam, and Lilly Hudson in the all-around. Prior to the season, they also lost key vaulter Karis German to an Achilles tear. Alabama rebuilt using their incredible freshman class headlined by five-star recruits Jasmine Cawley, the #5 recruit in this class and SEC Freshman of the Week, and Azaraya Ra-Akbar, their new stud all-arounder.
Alabama was expected to be an okay team this year that would be lucky to make nationals when using last year as a basis. That’s not who this team is. The old Alabama is back in full force with a bit more firepower from their athletes. They haven’t gone below 197.275 this season. They are consistent on all four events. They have two of the best bars swingers in the country: #1 Chloe LaCoursiere and #3 Azaraya Ra-Akbar. They look far more confident than they did last season, and that seems to come from a hunger to prove everybody wrong. Gabby Gladieux is still as big a personality as ever, and her steadiness in the all-around has been key to their success.
The Crimson Tide enter this meet 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. Their only losses are road losses to Oklahoma, Florida and LSU. As of the beginning of Week 8, the Tide ranked seventh on vault [49.300], second on bars [49.470], sixth on beam [49.310] and third on floor [49.480].
Alabama is led by head coach Ashley Johnston in her fourth year. She is assisted by associate head coach Justin Spring in his fourth year, assistant coach Amelia Hundley in her third year and assistant coach Ross Thompson in his second year.
About #17 North Carolina (begin on beam)
North Carolina finished 3rd at ACCs in 2025 and 24th overall, their first finish inside the top 29 since 2011 and their first finish in the top 25 since 2006. Kaya Forbes qualified to nationals on vault (with a Yurchenko Full, mind you), becoming their first representative at NCAAs since 2018. The Tar Heels lost eight NQS routines from 2025: Bella Miller on floor, Isabelle Schaefer on bars, Lali Dekanoidze on vault and bars, and Julia Knower in the all-around. UNC brought in a solid freshman class headlined by five-star recruit Sydney Seabrooks.
Disclaimer: I follow this team closer than almost any other. This is one of the weirdest teams in the country. They are a good team, but they can’t stop scoring mid-196s. The difference between their worst meet and their best meet is 0.425, the tightest range of any team in the country. By the standards of this program’s history, they are doing phenomenally. However, they are capable of scoring better than they have. That’s been thanks to improvements on vault and floor, both of which are averaging better by a tenth and two tenths than they were at this point in 2025.
Gwen Fink is their solid all-arounder who brings a steady presence to vault and floor while flourishing on bars and beam. You will fall in love with her acro series on beam. Sydney Seabrooks, whom I mentioned earlier, is already killing it. Her specialty is floor, an event on which she has just two scores below 9.900. JoJo Valahovic has a fantastic Yurchenko 1.5 that gets a 9.900 even when it looks perfect. Obviously, I can’t forget Kaya Forbes, the 2025 NCAA qualifier from Gonzales who is solid on all four events, especially vault and floor. I cannot stress enough how much I love this team.
UNC is 6-6 overall and finished ACC play 1-5. Their most recent meet was a tight 196.800-196.750 loss at Cal that came down to the final routine and saw the team go 49.025+ on all four events for the first time in history. They’re ranked 11th on vault [49.183], 23rd on bars [49.013], 18th on beam [49.088] and 19th on floor [49.204]. The Tar Heels are led by head coach Danna Durante in her fifth year. She is assisted by associate head coach Marie Denick in her ninth year, assistant coach Matt DeGrandpre in his second year, and LSU alumna Sami Durante-Money in her fourth year.
About #27 Arizona (begin on floor)
Arizona finished 2nd in their first appearance at Big 12s and finished 16th overall after barely upsetting Georgia to reach their first regional final. It was Arizona’s first finish in the top 20 since 2015 and their highest finish since 2007. The Wildcats lost 10 NQS routines from 2025: Elena Deets on bars and beam, and Alysen Fears and Emily Mueller in the all-around. Zona brought in sophomore transfer Sadie Smith from Arkansas alongside five freshmen, the most notable of which is Hillary Puleo.
This season has not gone as well as 2025, a season in which Arizona was one of the more underrated teams in the country. Losing a program legend like Fears can do that to a team, and now they’re trying to keep themselves off the regional bubble. Their problem is one that plagues a lot of teams: consistency. They’ve strung together two 196s in which they’ve been solid, but the difference between their second and third best scores is 0.550.
Elizabeth LaRusso decided to take her fifth year and is strong on vault and floor. Junior Sophie Derr is the team’s best all-arounder with solid performances on each event. Arizona is built with a lot of experienced routines. Juniors and seniors make up most lineups, but it remains to be seen if that experience can push the Wildcats to the heights of last season.
Arizona is 4-7 overall and 1-3 in meets against Big 12 opponents (officially 2-3 since Iowa State forfeited their remaining meets). Their most recent meet was a 196.625-194.650 home win over West Virginia, a meet in which the Cats put up their second-best score of 2026. They are ranked 28th on vault [48.954], 26th on bars [48.942], 37th on beam [48.704] and 24th on floor [49.138]. Arizona was originally scheduled to be at Iowa State this week, but the Cyclones canceled the rest of their season on February 9.
The Wildcats are led by head coach John Court in his eighth year at the helm. He is assisted by associate head coach Kylie Kratchwell in her fourth year and assistant coach Shelby Martinez in her second year.
About #2 LSU (begin on vault)
LSU is ranked second on vault [49.390], third on bars [49.455], fourth on beam [49.420] and first on floor [49.490].
In his post-meet press conference, head coach Jay Clark made note that there will be some lineup changes in this meet, but they’ll likely come in the middle of the order. I won’t try to make any predictions here beyond that one of Nina Ballou or Haley Mustari are almost certain to go on bars.
NQS-wise, both LSU and Alabama are locked in at their respective rankings entering next week, so this is mostly a chance to keep pushing that number up. For UNC, they need to keep pushing their NQS up if they want to get back in the seeded spots. A bad meet can drop them lower in the rankings. For Arizona, they also need a good meet to remain off the bubble and keep out of the first round spots (29-36).
This meet is a great chance for LSU to get a feel of what things will be like in the postseason. If they can put together another solid performance, they’ll be in a great spot entering the Florida meet next week.
