Olivia Dunne and LSU’s national championship-winning gymnastics team received a sweet call out Sunday from the social media juggernaut’s boyfriend, top MLB prospect Paul Skenes.
Taking to his Instagram Stories, Skenes — the first overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft who currently pitches for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians — re-shared an Instagram photo from the Lady Tigers’ championship celebrations Saturday after the team won its first national title in program history at the NCAA Championships.
Dunne, who is wrapping up her senior year at LSU, called the moment on TikTok: “Best day of my life.”
LSU took the crown with a score of 198.225, narrowly defeating California, which placed second with 197.8500.
Haleigh Bryant, a fellow LSU senior, dominated in the all-around with a score of 39.7125, while junior Aleah Finnegan earned a 9.9625 to secure a first-place finish on the floor.
“Every team was out there fighting for their lives and all four teams, it could have gone any of four ways out there today,” LSU head coach Jay Clark said following the win, according to ESPN.
“I think as much as I feel for what happened to Oklahoma in the semifinals, I think it made for a championship that became so packed with emotion because every team out there believed they could do it, and it was just tremendous.”
Leading up to Saturday’s championship, Dunne reflected on her collegiate career in a TikTok video as she readied for the “last meet ever.”
She previously opened up to Elle about taking in these final moments as her time at LSU nears its end.
“I know it’s coming to an end, so I’m trying to take in every single last memory I can, but I’m also excited to see what the future holds,” she said last summer.
As for where she could be headed next, Dunne suggested the ocean could be nearby.
“Probably I’ll end up near a beach, I’m guessing,” Dunne said in the interview, which was published in July 2023. “Then I can just honestly go back to what I started doing. I could flip around on the beach. I could. That’s how it all happened. All of this…”
Dunne’s interview with Elle arrived a few weeks before Skenes, 21, confirmed their relationship when speaking to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August 2023.
On the topic of their shared fame, Skenes — who won the 2023 College World Series with LSU — said of Dunne, “It’s nice to be able to have that conversation. She does get it.”
As a student-athlete, Dunne netted an NIL valuation of $3.7 million, according to On3 Sports, along with more than 13 million followers on social media.
