The next major meet of the 2026 USA Gymnastics elite season is here, and two Tigers will be looking for solid results heading into the national championship. The 2026 U.S. Classic began yesterday in Hartford, but today is the main event. At 6:00 p.m., the senior women take to the podium in a group that includes future Tigers Reese Esponda and Tatum Drusch. The meet will be streamed live on Peacock, and those with a YouTube TV subscription can also view the meet on NBCSN. The two will rotate with each
other starting on bars.
Both Esponda and Drusch are already qualified to the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championship set for early August, so this is more of a chance to have a warm-up for how it feels to be in a big arena. They’ll be sharing the stage with big names like current Gator Skye Blakely, former Gator Leanne Wong, former UCLA superstar Katelyn Ohashi and two-time Olympian Jade Carey.
Esponda and Drusch committed to LSU as part of a massive wave of commitments in the fall of 2025. In an interview with Inside Gymnastics Wednesday, Drusch announced she would be deferring her enrollment by a year to train for the 2028 Olympics. Drusch was born on November 25, 2008, so she will not lose any of her five years of eligibility under the NCAA’s new rules. Drusch is the first member of that class to announce that she’s deferring her enrollment to LSU.
