BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 2 preseason ranked LSU Gymnastics team kicked off the 2026 season with the program’s annual Open Mike Night Showcase, formerly called Gym 101, on Friday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers welcomed 4,472 fans inside the PMAC for the intrasquad, the largest attendance for the event in program history. 

The showcase consisted of the team splitting into two groups with purple starting on floor and gold starting on beam. The groups followed Olympic order to help prepare the squad for upcoming competitions this season.

The night saw multiple debuts with routines from freshmen Nina Ballou, Molly Brinkman and Haley Mustari while newcomers Courtney Blackson, Emily Innes, and Madison Ulrich also made their first appearances in the Purple and Gold.

In an effort to remain in their best shape heading into season, the Tigers did not show their first passes on floor, said Head Coach Jay Clark.

Kylie Coen opened up the night on floor for purple, setting the tone for the remainder of the lineup, which was followed by sophomore Lexi Zeiss in the second spot. Ballou and Ulrich followed her by making their debuts as Tigers in back-to-back routines. Junior Amari Drayton showed out in the fourth spot and got the crowd energized before junior Konnor McClain finished strong in the anchor spot.

Senior Emily Innes made her LSU debut on beam to set the tone for gold. Kathryn Weilbacher and sophomore Victoria Roberts followed up on the beam in the second and third spots. Freshman Haley Mustari’s first beam routine in the PMAC was a strong performance. Sophomore Kaliya Lincoln competed in the fifth spot for gold and fifth-year senior Tori Tatum executed a strong routine, her first beam appearance for the Tigers. The rotation concluded with Brinkman performing her routine in the seventh slot.

In the second rotation, Zeiss led off in the opening spot for purple on vault, followed by Ulrich and Ballou in the second and third spots respectively. Blackson and Drayton stuck their landings in the fourth and fifth spot to close out purple’s vault rotation.

The gold group went to the floor for their second rotation as Innes and Brinkman debuted their floor routines for the Tigers. Weilbacher made an appearance on the floor in the third spot and Lincoln completed rotation two in the final spot. 

Zeiss started on bars in the third rotation for team purple with an impressive routine. Ballou followed in the second spot with a stuck landing ahead of a strong performance from Ulrich in the third spot. Spot four saw senior Ashley Cowan back on bars for the first time this year and Blackson followed with a stuck. The sixth and final spot went to McClain, who delivered a near-perfect performance to close out the third rotation.

The gold squad moved to the vault as Innes and Weilbacher delivered two solid routines. Roberts kept the momentum going in the third spot and Lincoln wrapped up the rotation in the fourth and final spot.

For the final rotation the purple squad closed the night on beam, while the gold squad wrapped up the night on bars. 

Coen’s leadoff was a solid tone setter for the purple team on beam. At the second and third spot, Zeiss and Drayton kept it going and Ballou had a strong beam debut in the fourth spot. The rotation saw Ulrich in the fifth spot and McClain anchored to close out team purple’s night.

Tatum delivered on bars in the opening spot to get the gold team going. Fifth-year senior Alexis Jeffery returned her veteran routine in the second spot and stuck the landing. Mustari and Roberts competed in spots three and four before sophomore 2025 NCAA Vault Champion and SEC Freshman of the Year Kailin Chio returned on bars to finish the meet.

The LSU Gymnastics 2026 season officially opens with a marquee quad meet on Saturday, January 10, as No. 2 LSU competes in the third-annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in West Valley City, Utah, alongside No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah. The meet will air live on ABC, setting the stage for a season filled with national exposure.

Stay up to date with all things LSU Gymnastics by following the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.