The new year ushers in an exciting new race as gymnastics teams gear up to compete for the coveted NCAA Championship title. The LSU Tigers who won the championship last year in a monumental fashion seek to defend their throne this year. The Queens in purple and gold led by visionary coach Jay Clark seek to defend their title amidst many expectations.

The team won their first NCAA championship in 2024. Star athletes Olivia Dunne and Haleigh Bryant were the frontrunners for this and gave career-best performances. The team reached the finals after dominant performances against Arkansas and California. They won with scores of 198.250 and 198.1125 respectively.

In the finals, they cruised to their maiden title against Utah. The feat nicknamed the Climb has garnered much fanfare since April 24. But for the upcoming season, the LSU official X handle shared a video on January 3rd in which the gymnastics team addresses that last year’s feat was not the end goal. The captions to the video post on X read, “It’s been 258 days since LSU made history. Now, it’s a new year, a new team, and the Tigers are gearing up to protect the crown.”

“So like when people say the climb, they’re like you reached the top. I don’t think of the climb as a one stop shop , I think of it as a new step, that it’s a new chapter” mentions Ashley Cowan. However, things are not all rosy with the Tigers as there have been a string of injuries, and a subpar performance at the athletics meet that is haunting Jay Clark.

At the preview event, it was painfully visible how out-of-form the seniors looked. With big names such as Olivia Dunne and Haleigh Bryant giving average performances, the coach was much more critical of his team. However, bad form is the least of his concerns.

LSU Tigers Embrace Pressure to Defend Their Title

As if the bad form at the meet was not bad enough, the LSU Tigers are also dealing with major injuries. Key member Haleigh Bryant was injured while doing Vault.  Despite all this, coach Clark and his team are hopeful about the pressure. Ashley mentions, “I think that winning a national championship adds pressure and adds expectations”

Much is to be expected from the youngsters, as well, who were the highlight of the show at the preview. Jay Clark had strong words of praise for the freshmen such as Lexi Zeiss and Kailin Chio. The coach had choice words to say about the freshmen who he mentioned have trained exceptionally hard. They seem to be ready for the championships.

According to Cowan, “Every year has been different and it’s just learning that we just gotta go through adversity. It’s not gonna be [a] perfect ten. If, really, the climb showed that. ” The Tigers seem to understand the pressure that comes with being the defending champions and seem ready to defend the crown.

However, if we take past experiences as an example, we can expect something good ahead of the clash against Iowa State. The team, despite the absence of big names, is brimming with talent. Fifth-year returnee Olivia Dunne seems to want to correct the mistakes at Maravich. While budding talent such as Lexi and Kailin make for good substitutes for their seniors.

Will the queens of Purple and Gold be able to defend their crown? Only time can tell. But the competition is going to be intense, that’s for sure.