Well that’s one way to kick off a postseason run.
The #2 LSU gymnastics team broke program and NCAA records Thursday night and advanced to the Baton Rouge Regional final. The Tigers set an NCAA record for highest score in a regional semifinal and a program record for highest score in a postseason meet with a 198.375, tied for the fourth-highest score in LSU history in any kind of meet. LSU advanced alongside #15 Clemson, who posted a 196.800, to face #7 Stanford and #10 Michigan in tomorrow’s regional final. Since
this meet was never particularly close for LSU, I’ll be ignoring the other teams.
Rotation 1: LSU in 1st
LSU led things off with a 49.475 on vault. Lexi Zeiss opened the meet with a 9.850 on her Yurchenko 1.5. Konnor McClain hit her Yurchenko Full for a 9.900. Victoria Roberts hopped back on her clean front pike half for a 9.875. Kaliya Lincoln had a minor hop back on her Y1.5 and somehow got a 9.850. Amari Drayton hopped on her Y1.5 and got a 9.850. Kailin Chio got another 10. Yeah, that’s about right.
Rotation 2: LSU in 1st
LSU tied their program record for best bars rotation in an NCAA postseason meet with a 49.625. Lexi led off with a 9.900 on one of the best routines she’s done. Ashley Cowan followed with a near-perfect 9.950 on which she almost forgot to salute. Madison Ulrich got a 9.850 for what looked like a better routine than her score indicates. Kailin got a 9.950 that included the first 10 she’s gotten from a judge on the event. Courtney Blackson followed with a 9.875. Konnor finished things off with a 9.950 on the best bars routine she’s done all year.
Rotation 3: LSU in 1st
LSU put up a 49.575 on beam. Kylie Coen led things off with a 9.900. Lexi has a big balance correction in her routine which led to her 9.750. Amari and Kaliya followed with a pair of 9.950s. Konnor put up a 9.900 on a brilliant routine. Kailin took a step on her beam dismount for her first non-stick of 2026 and got a 9.875.
Rotation 4: LSU in 1st
LSU tied their regional floor record with a 49.700. Emily Innes and Nina Ballou led off with a pair of 9.900s. Kylie followed with a 9.875. Amari drilled her routine for a 9.950. Kailin got another 10 because of course she did. Kaliya finished things off with a 9.950.
Wrap-up and stats
That’s their best meet of 2026. I have no notes, I have no analysis. Do that again and things will be easy. The way each event started dictated the pace, and if they can do well again, it’ll lead to another big score.
LSU swept the individual titles. Ashley Cowan and Konnor McClain had two of the three bars titles. For Ashley, she’s up to four titles in her career, all of which have come on bars. For Konnor, it’s her 12th career cars title and her 19th career individual title. Kaliya Lincoln and Amari Drayton split the beam titles. That is Amari’s first career beam title and ninth career event title. It’s also Kaliya’s first career beam title and seventh career event title.
The Ch10 Files:
Of course Kailin Chio gets her own section because she keeps doing stuff. She won the vault, floor and all-around titles outright and got a share of the bars title. She now has 60 career individual titles, and she’s just the 11th LSU gymnast to ever do that. She now has five career bars titles, nine career floor titles, 17 career vault titles and 15 career AA titles. She has tied Kennedi Edney for 11th in LSU history in career vault titles and has now passed Myia Hambrick and Jeanie Beadle to sit alone at eighth in LSU history in career all-around titles.
Kailin needs a second paragraph to talk about her single-season records. She now has 37 titles in 2026, surpassing Haleigh Bryant’s 34 in 2024 to sit alone at fifth in LSU history. She has 11 vault titles in 2026, tied with 2007 Ashleigh Clare-Kearney for 3rd in LSU history. She needs one more to tie the single-season record. She has nine all-around titles in 2026, tied 2024 Haleigh Bryant, 2013 Rheagan Courville and 2008 Ashleigh Clare-Kearney for sixth in a season in LSU history.
Then we have to address the 10s. Kailin is up to 12 perfectos in her career, tied with Jordan Bowers for 17th in NCAA history. She surpassed the career totals of legends such as Peng Peng Lee, Katelyn Ohashi, Ragan Smith and Leanne Wong. She has 11 10s in 2026, which is closing in on the record of 14 set by Kyla Ross in 2019. Kyla Ross and Kailin Chio are the only people I can find that have had three meets with multiple 10s.
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The regional final should be a good one. Hopefully LSU has enough gas in the tank to make it over the finish line and get back to Fort Worth. Reminder that the Regional Final is tomorrow at 5 and that tickets are still available. Please come out for one last time, because it will be fantastic.
