This meet puts the night into Friday Night Heights.
The back-to-back SEC champion #2 LSU gymnastics team is back home for the biggest meet of the home slate. The Tigers are coming off a 198.125-197.925 loss at #1 Oklahoma in which they showed tremendous fight. Now, they have to face a surging #3 Alabama team looking to keep pace with the rest of the top teams and secure a spot in the night session of SECs. The meet begins at 8:30 p.m., perhaps the latest start time LSU’s ever had at home. Doors open
at 7:00 with the first 1,000 fans getting a souvenir cup. LSU is also giving everyone LED wristbands like they did for the OU meet in 2025. For those unable to make the meet, it will be broadcast on SECN with John Roethlisberger and Bridget Sloan on the call and Taylor Davis reporting from the floor. Live stats can be found here.
LSU’s match-up history with Alabama
LSU is 35-102-2 all-time against Alabama and 15-17-2 against them at home. The last time the two teams met on the same floor was on February 7, 2025, in which the Tigers beat the Tide 197.300-197.075 in Tuscaloosa. LSU has competed against Alabama 14 more times than they have against any other opponent.
About #3 Alabama
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 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. Their only losses are road losses to Oklahoma and Florida. In their most recent meet, Alabama went to Auburn for the Iron Bowl of Gymnastics and won 197.950-197.250. 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 #2 LSU
Once again, Kailin Chio is the SEC Gymnast of the Week. Kailin’s 39.850 AA score at Oklahoma was the best by any gymnast this past week. This is the fourth time she’s won the award in 2026.
LSU is ranked second on vault [49.390], third on bars [49.455], fourth on beam [49.420] and first on floor [49.490].
Last week, Konnor McClain didn’t compete and Kaliya Lincoln didn’t do floor. Konnor’s injury to one of her shoulders is a day-by-day thing, but head coach Jay Clark didn’t believe it was going to prevent her from going on something this week. As for Kaliya, she got pulled because of slight Achilles tightness. Based on what he said, it seems unlikely that she would compete floor this weekend because they need her for postseason. Vault is a toss-up since that also requires punching into the floor hard, but she will do beam. As usual, other changes will happen when they happen.
NQS movement is hard to pinpoint because LSU and Alabama are competing twice this weekend. As of this meet, LSU can max out their NQS at 197.833 with a 198.325 or better. A meet of 196.850 or worse will put them at 197.588. Alabama is in a weird spot. Their last two meets have both been season-high 197.950s. A 197.950 will give them an NQS of 197.633, but a higher score would give them a chance to max it out even higher on Sunday. Alabama’s minimum NQS, done with a 197.275 or worse, is 197.521. Neither team can surpass #1 Oklahoma, whose NQS can range from 197.864-198.007, tonight. I will update this on Sunday’s meet preview.
LSU vs Alabama is a classic SEC gymnastics rivalry that dates back to when these programs first started. This is Alabama’s highest ranking entering a dual meet vs LSU since they entered the 2016 meet ranked #3 (LSU was #4). It should be a great night with a great crowd.
