The Philippines’ top female gymnast Aleah Finnegan celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday in a grand way.
Finnegan and her teammates at Louisiana State University impressed the largest crowd in program history, as the defending national champions kicked off the 2025 US NCAA gymnastics’ season with a decisive triumph over Iowa State.
A total of 12,324 spectators watched at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the no. 2-ranked LSU Tigers prevailed over the Iowa State Cyclones.
The Tigers led with a score of 197.300 to beat the Cyclones’ 194.100.
The 21-year-old Finnegan, who saw action in the Paris Olympics, took home four golds, and first claimed the all-around honors as the Tigers competed without one of their stars, Haleigh Bryant.
With Bryant out after recently injuring her elbow and gone for an undetermined period, the Tigers made their score count as the second-highest in a season opener.
Finnegan, last year’s national NCAA floor exercise champion, stayed on course at retaining her crown with 9.95 points on that event. The St. Louis-Missouri-based Finnegan registered the same score in topping the vault exercise.
This helped her take the all-around gold with 39.725.
Freshman teammate Kailin Chio settled for second place at 39.575.
Chio emerged in a two-way tie for first place at 9.925 with Finnegan in the balance beam.
Livvy Dunne excelled in the floor exercise and balance beam rotations, with impressive averages of 9.875 and 9.825.
LSU will next see action on Saturday in Oklahoma City.
