Olivia Dunne and the LSU Tigers’ quest to the NCAA title continues after she tied her season-high performance in the program’s best overall performance against Arkansas.
The No 5 ranked Tigers hosted the No 7 Razorbacks in Baton Rouge and won by a score of 198.475-196.200. Dunne contributed a 9.875 performance to seal a third place finish with her floor exercise.
The social media sensation, who averages 9.863 on the floor this season, stepped in to replace KJ Johnson in the competition. Dunne trailed behind freshmen Konnor McClain (9.975) and Amari Drayton (9.900) who placed first and second, respectively.
Following the monumental win, Dunne and her teammates posted pictures of their celebrations on social media.
‘The tigz are HOT!’ Dunne captioned while sharing a team photo after the meet.
Olivia Dunne tied her season-best 9.875 floor exercise and placed third against Arkansas
Liv got it Dunne 🙌@livvydunne matches her season high with a 9.875!
📺 SECN+ pic.twitter.com/aMoBZentEJ
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) February 3, 2024
LSU had their best overall finish in program history with a 198.475-196.200 win over Arkansas
Dunne placed third in the floor exercise behind teammates Konnor McClain and Amari Drayton
Aside from breaking the program’s record, LSU’s score on the evening also ranks the highest in the nation by any team this year and ties for the 14th all-time score in NCAA history.
The result was an impressive response from Dunne and the Tigers after losing, 197.225-197.325, to Missouri on January 26. The win now brings them to a 5-2 record overall and 2-1 in the SEC.
Despite achieving a program milestone, coach Jay Clark sees the score as a secondary priority with perfect executions being of utmost importance.
‘Well, we got better,’ Clark said. ‘That’s what this week was about. The focus and the main goal was to get a good performance, a complete performance.
‘I know everyone wants to talk about the score tonight and that’s great. I do not focus on whether we get a low or high score. It’s about our performance. We did our job tonight and we can do that same performance somewhere else. For us it’s about keeping our eye on the next step ahead of us and just taking it one step at a time.’
The Tigers will travel to Georgia to face the Bulldogs on February 9 before hosting Auburn on the 16th.
