A day after her Olympic teammates Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum earned their first career 10.0 scores, Auburn’s Suni Lee said, “Hold my grips” and had a perfect routine of her own for the first time.
During Auburn’s meet on Saturday against LSU, Lee — the Olympic all-around gold medalist — reminded gymnastics fans of exactly why she remains one of the best in the world on uneven bars, with a stellar routine in the first event of the day:
SUNI LEE SCORES HER FIRST COLLEGIATE PERFECT 10 🤩@sunisalee_ | @AuburnGym pic.twitter.com/zKwQhInMWA
— ESPN (@espn) February 5, 2022
To quote Bridget Sloan, the former elite-turned-NCAA star calling the meet, “That was amazing. Truly incredible.”
Lee’s impressive day didn’t stop there. Far from it. The freshman also had the highest score of the meet on balance beam (9.975) and won the all-around title with a 39.825.
Despite her efforts, Auburn lost the meet by .225, due in part to the heroics and perfect-scoring routines of LSU stars Haleigh Bryant and Kiya Johnson.
Bryant — a sophomore and the reigning NCAA and SEC vault champion — got her team started on a high note with a flawlessly-executed vault. You’re going to want to watch this one on loop for a bit:
We gotta talk about this @haleighbryant3 vault!
🔟🔟🔟🔟🔟🔟🔟🔟 pic.twitter.com/4hreZ9Gn5h
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) February 5, 2022
(Worth noting: There are no bonus points for this, not that she needs them, but Bryant did the vault above with a torn plantar fascia. Just in case you didn’t appreciate this enough as it is.)
Johnson, a junior and the 2021 SEC Specialist of the Year, then closed out the meet with a show-stopping routine on floor — much to the delight of the 13,569(!) fans in attendance. Her high-energy performance, filled with powerful tumbling, contagious dancing and delightful facial expressions, was a whole mood, and more than good enough for a 10.0.
KIYA JOHNSON. 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 🔥@johnsonkiya27 scores a 10 on her first floor routine of the season to clinch the win for @LSUgym!! pic.twitter.com/f8UOsHNzrl
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 5, 2022
The reactions from former LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux and current women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey pretty much say it all:
We are all DD and @KimMulkey watching @johnsonkiya27 pic.twitter.com/xWo7fmp7X7
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) February 5, 2022