Olivia Dunne has been one of the biggest phenoms in the NCAA gymnastics realm at the moment. Valued as the highest NIL athlete, Dunne’s presence on and off the field has been impressive. However, with the NCAA championships underway, Dunne has been making plans to better her record this time around. After all, despite having a great season last year, Dunne was on the sidelines in the finals as she watched her team take the victory. Coming back for yet another NCAA championship run, Olivia Dunne wanted to feel the thrill in the finals. Unfortunately, history has once again repeated itself.

The Dickies Arena will be decked up to host the second set of semis in Fort Worth, Texas. Sadly enough, as the LSU Tigers would look to repeat last year’s heroics, they will have to do so without Livvy Dunne. With the final starting lineup being released, there was no Olivia Dunne in the first 6. Now, there is no doubt that even without Dunne, the Tigers’ lineup is looking formidable. The starting 6 consists of Lexi Zeiss, Ashley Cowan, Kailin Chio, Aleah Finnegan, Konnor McClain, and Haleigh Bryant.

Despite fielding one of the strongest sides, the Tigers will surely miss the services of Olivia Dunne. In an unfortunate turn of events, Dunne suffered a complication with her knees. The avulsion fracture in her kneecap meant that she had been out of the tournament since last month. This is a significant setback for Dunne in many ways. One of the biggest of them was that she wanted to prove her worth to her team. 

Last year, after the NCAA festivities were over, Dunne was being trolled significantly on social media. People called her out for sitting on the sidelines and having no actual contribution to her team’s triumph. Dunne was even called a ‘cheerleader’ for the LSU Tigers. Thus, this time around, the LSU heartthrob decided to turn the wheels of fortune. Sadly enough, not everything is under human control. So much so that her coach, Jay Clark, too, had an interesting take to share.

Jay Clark is still stumped by Livvy Dunne’s ‘extremely unusual’ injury as the absence drags on

LSU head coach Jay Clark is still baffled by the injury that has been keeping Livvy Dunne out of action for over a month. Describing the situation as “extremely unusual,” Clark opened up about the gymnast’s condition in a pre-game press conference held on March 10, just days before LSU’s regular-season finale.

“It’s about her pain… It’s an unusual injury — I had to look it up. I didn’t even know what the retinaculum in the knee was,” Clark admitted. Dunne has not competed since January when LSU faced Arkansas, and her absence has stretched across six consecutive meets. At the time of the update, Jay Clark revealed that the injury included a “little avulsion fracture,” adding, “That generally happens to people who have been in car accidents or some sort of blunt force trauma.” He emphasized, “…she can’t recall anything like that. It’s an extremely unusual situation she is dealing with, and it just hurts.”

Now, weeks after that statement, the reality remains unchanged — Olivia Dunne is still unable to return. “We shut her down and immobilized it, trying to let it calm down. I think there’s been some progress,” Clark said then, acknowledging that while Dunne can function, it remains “very painful.”

Sitting out of the current NCAA championships must be incredibly tough the 22-year-old big time. But then again, that’s life—we can’t always have our way. We hope that she is making a steady recovery as we write this.