Encompassing a collegiate athlete, Olivia Dunne entered the new season as the spearhead of the Louisiana State University (LSU) gymnastics team. As the most followed collegiate athlete globally and the TikTok millionaire, Dunne has broken the barriers of traditional sports celebrity. At the 2024 season opener, her team defeated No. 14 Ohio State by a slim margin of 0.2, drawing 12,023 spectators, the second-highest attendance for a home opener in LSU history.

The Tigers’ early impression led to more spectators visiting the Maverik Center for yesterday’s SEC meet. Among the athletes, Dunne, famously known as Livvy, had many fans rooting for her gob smacking performance at the Utah Quad meet. Going by her exemplary performances and star wattage, a particular fan inundated adulation over Dunne.

Olivia Dunne grapples with fanfare and hysteria in sleepy little Utah

Livvy led LSU Gymnastics to a strong performance at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet in Utah. With a stunning score of 197.150, the team finished in second place. An attendee Kyra Cooper shared a video of Dunne’s amazing floor performance from the Maverik Center on her Instagram story tagging Livvy, which Dunne reshared. The video was simply captioned, “love you.”

At the West Valley City Maverik Center, history was scripted as LSU gave a solid fight to No 2 ranked Utah and No.12 UCLA in their impeccable routines across beam, Olympic style rotation, bars, etc. As many more fans were visibly and raucously permeating the Maverik Center, our gymnastic wunderkinds scored on the last rotation an unprecedented 49.650.

“I’m just proud of the way we fought back and finished second to beat two very strong teams,” opined the head coach Jay Clark. “We learned how to fight our way out of holes, but we have to stop digging them in the first place.”, he further states. With the hard to maneuver beam the first routine of the meet, Alexis Jeffrey had a whopping 9.775, Annie Beard with a 9.225 and many more posting impressive timings closing it with a 48.750. With their successive runs, this definite win hearkens back to their first season opener against Ohio State, squandering any chance for the latter to retaliate.

LSU’s 2024 was off to a wonderful start

The LSU Tigers’ strong start to the year marked a change from their ascend from fourth place finish last year. The squad put in their all in the seasonal opener, making the losses from the previous season seem like a distant memory. With a 49.375 total on vault, the Tigers took the lead over Ohio State right away. When they switched to the uneven bars, LSU kept up their robust performance, scoring 49.375 to increase their advantage to 0.325 points.

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With a final score of 196.975-196.775, the Tigers prevailed over fierce opposition and secured a bright start to their campaign. The squad demonstrated both their physical ability and their shared will to win a national championship in its inaugural outing. Keep your eyes peeled for their next high-octane performance slated on Jan 19th against Kentucky.

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