“That Blonde Bish” rounds out the 2026 roster
On Wednesday, the LSU gymnastics team added yet another transfer to their 2026 roster when Courtney Blackson announced she was coming out of retirement and joining the two-time reigning and defending SEC champions for her final season. Courtney, a graduate of Boise State, announced she’d be retiring following the 2024 season, but she posted that working around the sport for a year made her feel like returning. For full transparency, I interviewed her in April 2024.
Courtney is one of the most legendary gymnasts in Boise State history and is a shoe-in for the school’s athletics hall of fame. She won the MRGC vault title outright in 2021 and tied for the title with Southern Utah’s Ellie Cacciola in 2023. She made nationals as an individual in 2023 and 2024 on different events. In 2023, she nailed her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 10.0 at the Los Angeles Regional semis. At nationals, she stuck her vault again and finished as national runner-up. In 2024, despite not being sure if she’d compete due to an injury, she won the Fayetteville Regional bars title with a 9.950. She finished in the top 8 at nationals that year.
Courtney has never competed on beam in her college career. Her career best on vault is the 10.0 as mentioned above while her career highs on bars and floor are each 9.950. Her floor score is good enough to be tied for the school record along with 16 other Broncos. If she is in her 2024 form, she will be a lock for LSU’s vault lineup. She is a likely depth piece on the other two events, but it’s far more likely that she sees time on bars when comparing LSU’s depth on those events.
Courtney will be the fourth oldest person on the LSU roster including coaches because she’s older than Haleigh Bryant. Missouri had a lot of luck with a delayed fifth year in the legendary Helen Hu. Hopefully LSU will be lucky to get a similar amount of success from this move.