The reigning gymnastics champions have hit their first bump on the NCAA road. Yes, the Arkansas Razorbacks have handed LSU their first loss of the season, by a narrow 196.600-196.875 margin. Surely, this must have hit the side like a ton of bricks. After all, the Tigers looked pretty much in the game until their fourth rotation had a rocky start. Well, this was where the gymnasts in red shone, although their team coach felt otherwise.

LSU was leading throughout the first three rotations. It was in the fourth one that they faltered, due to their incredibly low scores on the beam. Sierra Ballard started with a 9.800 on this apparatus, before the consistency dipped when Konnor McClain brought in a low 9.575 on the beam. Kailin Chio brought them back in the game with a 9.850 and Finnegan with a 9.925. Yes, Haeligh Bryuant‘s expertise won a 9.800 too. Unfortunately, their efforts as a team weren’t enough as they suffered a 0.500-point upset on the balance beam.

Yes, as heard in the Arkansas Razorbacks post-meet press conference, their head coach, Jordyn Weiber highlighted the team’s mistakes. She said, “Yeah I mean, I just, I saw a little overall tentativeness and shakiness, just kind of a few question marks on some finishes of skills.” Obviously, because LSU was leading throughout the first three rotations.

However, for the coach there was one major bother- the Arkansas Razorbacks’ beam strength not being leveraged to the maximum potential. However, she justified by saying, “You know we didn’t have a lot of training this week, and not that that’s an excuse but we’re used to having some numbers on beam and we really had to be strategic about how we used our practice energy this week.”

Were the Arkansas Razorbacks feeble on the beam this Friday in Fayetteville? Well, most wouldn’t agree. They were so good that, even though many of the Tigers, Chase Brock, Haleigh Bryant, and Livvy Dunne all performed well on the balance beam, Arkansas had an incredible night, with every participant scoring at least 9.825. And that’s what gave them the final 0.500 lead in that round, which was a game-changer.

Also, coach Jordyn Weiber has some serious plans to ensure this is the last time the Razorbacks faltered and finished under anything but perfection on the beam. She said, “The plan is to go back in the gym before we head to Oklahoma next weekend and get some good numbers in on beam and sort of rebuild that confidence just a little bit. Um, we have such a strong Beam Team, it’s just a matter of settling into the season and you know, not having any of those question marks.”

Well, what should have ideally been a flex, is something that the Arkansas Razorbacks want to work on going forward. We ask, did that play a decisive role in their win? Well, yes. But what also came to the forefront quite noticeably in that game was the judging criteria.

Judges’ scoring c0mes under question at the Arkansas Razorbacks vs LSU meet

Does everyone feel the Arkansas Razorbacks were handed a fair win? Well, there are quite a few exceptions. After the meet, some of the LSU gymnastics fans fired, “Congratulations to the judges for orchestrating this win for Arkansas – too many drastically underscored routines for LSU, unbelievable.” Others even pointed out how the LSU gurls were robbed because of the shockingly low number of perfect 10 scores this NCAA season.

Well, we all know this year that the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) has started the SCORE board system that comprises eight experts who are dedicated to smoothening out scoring variations. So when LSU did not meet the mark, fans had a clear answer. They blamed the awful scoring system. Is this fair? We’d like to know your opinion. Share it with us below!