Fil-Am gymnasts Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo start the new year with contrasting results in their respective US NCAA season openers.
Aleah Finnegan and defending champions LSU began their 2025 NCAA season with a big win over Iowa State, 197.300-194.100 in a packed Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rogue on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
More than 12,000 fans saw Finnegan and the Tigers begin their campaign on a high, marking their second-highest outing ever on opening night, trailing only the 197.825 posted in 2017, and also the first time the Tigers scored over 197.000 to open the year since 2018.
Finnegan, who was one of three Fil-Am female gymnasts to compete for the Philippines in the Summer Games since 1964, dazzled in her first all-around appearance since March 2024 where she posted a 39.725 for the night.
It was the highest all-around score by an LSU gymnast on an opening night.
Head coach Jay Clark spoke highly about the Fil-Am’s performance.
“Aleah had a night,” Clark told
LSU Sports.
“From a performance standpoint, that may be the best four for four I have ever seen her put together. Everything was clean, everything was good. She planted her vault, drilled the bar set, it was one of the best beam sets you will see anywhere in the country all year long, and crushed it on the floor, too.”
They return on Saturday, January 11, where they will compete at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma.
Elsewhere, Emma Malabuyo and the UCLA Bruins had a tough start to their campaign, finishing third in session one of the American Gold Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Classic - Oceanside.
They fell behind California (196.275) and Oregon State (195.775) with a score of 195.250 — their lowest since January 2022.
Malabuyo struggled particularly in her uneven bars routine.
Olympic gold medalist from Canada Jordan Chiles led the Bruins in the event — competing in beam, floor exercise, and vault.
Levi Jung Ruivivar, for her part, begins her season with Stanford on Friday, January 10, at the Washington Quad Meet.