LSU’s KJ Johnson in her ending pose on floor during the first semifinal of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships. (© Matthew Smith)
It wasn’t a perfect meet for anyone, but the prize went to the two teams that were able to minimize deductions.
“The prize” of course being two spots in the Four on the Floor – the final of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships – and the two teams being LSU and Florida, who went 1-2 in Thursday’s first semifinal.
LSU won the session with a 197.475. Florida followed with a 197.400 – a difference of 0.075. California and Denver rounded out the team standings with scores of 196.915 and 196.500, respectively.
Ultimately, the difference maker was California and Denver having to count falls.
For Denver, the fatal mistakes came on beam, where both Bella Mabanta and Momoko Iwai came off the apparatus. Iwai’s counting score of 9.0 put the team at a 48.55 – their lowest beam score of the year and only sub-49 mark.
For Cal, bars was the nail in the coffin, where both Gabby Perea and Ella Cesario made uncharacteristic mistakes. Cesario’s counting score of 9.275 put the team at a 48.715 – their lowest bars score of the year and only sub-49 mark.
LSU and Florida weren’t without mistakes, but when Sloane Blakely led off the Gators with a fall on her Maloney on bars, the rest of the lineup was lights out. When Chase Brock sat one of her floor passes partway through the second rotation, the following three routines went 9.875 (KJ Johnson), 9.9625 (Aleah Finnegan), and 9.95 (Haleigh Bryant).
Both teams still have plenty of room for improvement heading into Saturday’s final. LSU will look to clean up the little things overall – those tenths that will make the difference when every team in the final is capable of winning a national title.
Florida had an unusually wobbly beam rotation, scoring a 49.0875 – easily their season low. Leanne Wong and Riley McCusker had uncharacteristic balance checks, and Payton Richards fell in the anchor position (the score was dropped).
The bright spot for Florida was undoubtedly the return of Trinity Thomas.
After sustaining an injury to her lower right leg during regionals, Thomas made her return on bars and vault. Both events were game-time decisions. She went 9.95 on bars and 9.9 on vault.
As they have all season, LSU was once again plagued by injury when Johnson slotted into the floor lineup just to re-aggravate a broken foot from nearly two months ago on her first pass.
With individual national champions decided at the end of semifinal competition Thursday night, the current leaders are as follows:
- Vault: Lynnzee Brown (Denver) – 9.925
- Uneven Bars: Trinity Thomas (Florida) – 9.95
- Balance Beam: Chloe Widner (Stanford) – 9.95
- Floor Exercise: Leanne Wong (Florida) – 9.9625
- All-Around: Haleigh Bryant (LSU) – 39.6875
This story will be updated following the conclusion of the second semifinal.
