Paul Skenes can't hide his nerves while 2024 NL ROY's girlfriend Olivia Dunne scores impressive 9.825 in debut beam routine

NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes had a nervous look on his face as he watched Olivia Dunne make her balance beam debut during the LSU Tigers' season opener against Iowa State on Friday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

A video from the LSU Gymnastics page on X (formerly Twitter) during the competition shows Skenes watching her perform artistic moves on a beam 5 meters long, 10 cm wide and 125 cm in height from the floor.

To his delight, Dunne scored an impressive average of 9.825 (9.80 and 9.85 in two attempts), which was counted toward the team’s total score of 197.3, enough to beat Iowa State’s score of 194.1.

Paul Skenes' girlfriend Olivia Dunne contributes as Tigers win over Iowa State in season opener

In her fifth and final season in college, Dunne helped the Tigers secure a win against Iowa State.

With more than 12,000 fans in attendance, the defending national champions retained home advantage to begin the season. The 197.3 score marked the first time since 2018 that LSU started the season with a score over 197.0.

LSU displayed consistent superiority across all four events — vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise — securing higher scores in each category.

In addition to the balance beam, Dunne also performed in the floor exercise, where she scored 9.90 and 9.85 in two attempts, leading to an average score of 9.875. That was tied for the third-highest on the team, only trailing Aleah Finnegan and Kailin Chio.

Finnegan delivered an exceptional all-around performance, earning top scores in multiple events, including a stellar 9.950 on both vault and floor exercise.

The following is the list of top performers from the game:

Vault:

• Highest score for LSU: Aleah Finnegan (9.950)
• Highest score for Iowa State: Haylee Hardin (9.750)

Uneven Bars:

• Highest score for LSU: Aleah Finnegan (9.900)
• Highest score for Iowa State: Lauren Thomas and Frederique Sgarbossa (9.800)

Balance Beam:

• Highest score for LSU: Aleah Finnegan (9.925)
• Highest score for Iowa State: Josie Bergstrom (9.750)

Floor Exercise:

• Highest score for LSU: Aleah Finnegan (9.950)
• Highest score for Iowa State: Madelyn Manternach (9.675)

Olivia Dunne's next event is scheduled for Jan. 11 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma, where her team will compete alongside Cal, Oklahoma and Utah.