The LSU gymnastics team advanced to the NCAA Championship Final after securing a second-place finish in Semifinal Session I on April 17. The Tigers posted a score of 197.4375 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, earning one of the top two spots and moving forward to compete for their second national title.
This achievement marks LSU’s 11th appearance in the NCAA Championship Final and its third under head coach Jay Clark. The team will face No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, and No. 14 Minnesota in the final scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m., which will be broadcast live on ABC.
LSU qualified alongside Florida by defeating Georgia and Stanford during Thursday’s semifinal session. In the evening session, Oklahoma and Minnesota advanced by overcoming UCLA and Arkansas.
Individually, LSU gymnasts excelled with four event titles out of five available in their semifinal session. Sophomore Kailin Chio led with three titles: vault (9.9625), floor (9.9625), and all-around (39.6125). Kaliya Lincoln matched Chio’s vault score, while Konnor McClain tied for top beam honors with a score of 9.9500.
Chio continued her strong season performance, accumulating a total of 43 event titles this year and reaching a career total of 66 event wins—13 of which are program-record vault victories this season alone.
Four LSU gymnasts earned recognition from the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Postseason All-America teams based on their performances at the championship semifinals: Chio received four postseason honors including First Team All-America distinctions; Lincoln earned First Team honors on vault; McClain secured First Team status on beam; Drayton was recognized as First Team All-America on floor.
In total, these athletes combined for ten postseason All-America honors this year, bringing LSU’s program total to 367 such recognitions.
