Coming off the back of their recent performance at the gymnastics 101, LSU Coach Jay Clark appeared on the All Things Gymnastics Podcast on Dec 30th. Clark comments on how he expected the reigning NCAA women’s gymnastics champions to perform better for the annual preview meet. However, the team grossly underperformed.

In an absurd pattern, big names such as Olivia Dunne and Haleigh Bryant made mistakes uncharacteristic of them. Bryant, for example, fell off the beam during her routine. Dunne also avoided the vault. And Clark had a lot to say about this, as he said in the interview. However, despite all the shortcomings, Coach Clark also seemed hopeful for the future.

Jay Clark remained one of the biggest critics of the team that night. In the podcast shared by the official LSU sports Youtube channel, he continues on about how many seniors looked timid at the annual preview meet and mentions, “Some good, some bad. Some people looked really ready; others looked scared and timid.” The coach remains highly evaluative despite no scores being given that night.

On the other hand, the freshmen from LSU were really the highlight of the night. The coach had nothing but praise for the new additions to his team, and this was evident from the preview. Jay Clark mentions how hard the youngsters worked throughout the training. “That’s usually a good sign when you have freshmen that you wouldn’t have to pull back,” Clark said.

Jay Clark seems hopeful about the future

Despite the shortcomings from the seniors, Jay had much praise for the freshmen. This was especially true for Lexi Zeiss and Kailin Chio, who, according to him, underwent some of the toughest training in the season and also performed phenomenally on the preview night. He said, “The two who are going to get the most tension are Lexi and Chio. Just because physically they are in the best place right now.” 

The LSU Coach went on to describe how hard both of these athletes worked. “They are both incredibly gifted gymnasts, both incredible hard workers. Perfectionist in a lot of ways; they always want to do a little more.” And this praise is not unfounded at all, as both Zeiss and Chio performed exceptionally at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

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The coach continues on how hard both the youngsters have worked. He mentions, “They have trained hours and are moving into a different training situation with different hours, different living environments, and different coaches. They have handled all this very, very well.” Based on these comments, we might see more of Lexi and Kailin at the championship.

Jay, however, does not fail to mention that he prioritizes long-term success. He comments, “I am not putting any kind of crazy expectations on them because it’s their first meeting.” He acknowledges that athletes deserve some grace for their first meet, especially given the challenges of officiating. Clark understands the pressure is different when you are competing for a team.

For his approach in the upcoming meet, Clark says that his approach would be to open strong and open fast. Can the queens in purple and gold be able to defend their titles? Only time will tell.