NCAA Gymnastics News: LSU Coach Addresses Aleah Finnegan’s ‘Sophomore Slump’ Ahead of Alabama Matchup

The LSU gymnastics team continues to achieve new milestones during the ongoing NCAA 2024 season. After securing the best-ever road score of 49.775 despite losing to Florida Gators on February, 23, in Gainesville, the LSU Tigers are now all set to battle against Alabama this coming Friday, March 1.

With the magnificent performance of the LSU gymnasts and their great support, the LSU team emerged as the strongest gymnastics team holding the No. 2 positing in the NQS rankings. LSU Sophomore Aleah Finnegan is also one among them who boosted the team by posting her second straight 10 on the floor during the showdown against Florida at the O’Connell Center.  LSU head coach Jay Clark took to applaud Aleah’s hitting stride ahead of the Alabama clash.

LSU head coach reflects on Aleah Finnegan’s performance

In a recent press conference posted by the LSU Sports YouTube channel, head coach Jay Clark reflected on major milestones toward the LSU goals, while highlighting Aleah Finnegan’s contribution to the team ahead of the Tigers meet against Alabama. LSU junior Aleah Finnegan took all the spotlight during the last meet against Florida, tallying her sixth 10 of her career. Jay Clark addressed her as “sophomore slump”.

“I’ve seen it enough to know when juniors are trying to replicate something or try to one-up themselves or be better than they were the previous year or whatever the case may be. Some people call it a sophomore slump or this is her junior year but you see that in other sports where people make a big splash early and then they begin to press,” he added.

Besides that, Jay Clark praised her for being more assertive and getting sheltered gradually. “I think early in the year that’s what it looked like to me as a coach and I think she’s just getting comfortable and confident again and trying to just settle down a little bit,” the head coach further added.

Aleah Finnegan records perfect scores

Aleah Finnegan continues dominating the NCAA season 2024 by achieving the remarkable feat. Recording her consecutive perfect score against the Gators, she executed her second 10 in a row on the floor. In the NCAA gymnastics 2023 season, Aleah earned that score against the University of Florida on the beam. Hailing from Missouri, Finnegan has achieved All-American status in bars, floor, and All-Around categories in 2023. She also won the All-SEC athlete for her performance on the floor.

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LSU Sophomore Aleah also led the team to triumph over Georgia in front of an electric crowd on February 2 by posting the season-high floor score of 49.675. In this impressive matchup, she also recorded her first career-perfect 10 on the floor this season.

Now, Finnegan with the LSU team gears up for March 1st to welcome Alabama to the PMAC. The matchup will take place at 5 p.m. CT for the second appearance on ESPN2 this year.

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