By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team started its 2026 season off with a bang on Saturday after scoring an impressive 197.500 in the first session of the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad meet against No. 1 Oklahoma. The Tigers finished tied for first with Oklahoma, which won the meet after a tiebreaker.
The 197.500 was LSU’s best score in a road opener in program history. LSU (2-0-1) beat No. 5 Utah and No. 4 UCLA after the tie with the Sooners.
“I think we’re all pretty pleased,” coach Jay Clark said Monday at a press conference. “I feel good about the fact that while we wanted to win that meet outright, it did teach us that we do have some resolve and that we can keep punching when we’re down and work our way back into a good situation.”
Sophomore Kailin Chio had a great start, taking home the all-around title after compiling a score of 39.600 on Saturday. Her highest score of the day came on a strong beam routine with a 9.950.
“I think for us, we always talk about it’s just us on the floor. It’s us against us,” Chio said. “Even though you have people on the floor, it doesn’t really matter who’s on the floor. It’s our bubble and our bubble only. I think we did prove ourselves a point to know that like, ‘Wow, we did that. First meet of the season, January, it’s early.’ And I think that shows a lot of confidence in us.”
The Tigers move on to Southeastern Conference action Friday at No. 8 Georgia (6 p.m., SEC Network).
“We’re going to try to put lineup out there to win this thing and get us off to a good start,” Clark said. “Road scores need to be good, and our intention is to improve.”
LSU’s first home meet will be on Friday, Jan. 23 against Kentucky (6:30 p.m., ESPN2).
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