PARIS Olympics’ veteran and Filipino-American standout Aleah Finnegan scored high in two events to help carry the no. 2-ranked Louisiana State University gymnastics’ team to its highest score on Saturday in the second-annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet in Oklahoma City.
According to the University’s official website, the LSU Tigers went on to post the highest output in the program’s history.
The Tigers finished in second with their score of 197.650 when action ended inside the Paycom Center.
Top seed Oklahoma finished on top with a 197.950, while no. 6 California landed third with a 197.275 and fourth-ranked Utah remained at the same spot with a 196.800.
Finnegan, now in her senior year and the 2024 US NCAA national floor exercise champion, performed a near-flawless routine to score a 9.975 during her turn in the floor exercises.
Later, Finnegan anchored the team’s rotation with another high 9.925 in the beam.
The 22-year-old Finnegan and freshman Kailin Chio then placed second in the all-around with the team’s highest score of 39.625.
Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers eventually took the event all-around title with a 39.675.
In the end, Finnegan took home the floor title, her second on the event for her sixth this year, while Chio beat her all-around score in the Tigers season opener last week.
“I thought we got one step better today. Certainly, we have things that we need to improve on, but we didn’t let those things affect us,” said coach Jay Clark in a statement in the Tiger’s social media page.
The Tigers opened strong in the vault with a total of 49.450, the highest score amongst all four teams in the quad meet.
Freshman Lexi Zeiss started with a 9.85 in the opening spot in the first vault routine of her collegiate career.
After that, Finnegan followed in second spot with a 9.90, before senior teammate Chase Brock came up with a higher score of 9.925 in third spot.
Finnegan’s high score had the Tigers finishing the floor with a season-high 49.525, which was better than the 49.500 they posted in last week’s season opener against Iowa State.
Last week, the Tigers, who are the defending national NCAA champions, opened the 2025 season with a strong 197.300-194.100 triumph over the Iowa State Cyclones.