LSU's Aleah Finnegan unveils sparkly black and purple leotard at NCAA Championships

The Lady Tigers are set to defend their crown on Thursday in the Elite Eight, and will certainly stand out while doing so.

LSU Tigers Aleah Finnegan on the floor exercise during the meet against the Georgia Bulldogs at Maravich Center. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

LSU Gymnastics is back at the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, starting tonight with the Elite Eight where the Lady Tigers begin their national championship defense. They’ll be doing so in some sweet black and purple leotards.

The team defended its SEC crown where it had an epic celebration, followed by taking care of business and winning the regionals at Penn State two weeks ago.

From there, it was off to Texas where viral gymnastics Livvy Dunne rocked a cowboy hat on the plane, and then went “howdy” to Fort Worth while dancing to the “nattys baby.” The squad had some downtime and headed to the zoo where they fed the giraffes.

RELATED: Livvy Dunne, Haleigh Bryant have bittersweet moment before NCAA Championships

As they have in the past with amazing leotards like their white “Halo” ones and “fire” sparkly black unis, LSU Gymnastics released Thursday’s look in mostly black with the tiger claw in purple across it. They captioned it, “It’s in our DNA” and had star Aleah Finnegan model it (scroll through).

RELATED: Livvy Dunne sports non-LSU cotton candy-pink leotard before NCAA Championships

Finnegan is the perfect choice to model it as she anchored the beam last season with a 9.95 to deliver LSU its first-ever national title.

Besides LSU, the other teams competing to be in the Final Four on Saturday are Michigan State, Utah, UCLA, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, and Florida. 

The competition will be fierce, but the defending champs certainly will be looking good on the mat as they always do.

Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images