By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team will compete against No. 4 Florida in its last road meet of the regular season on Sunday at the Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville (5 p.m., SEC Network).
LSU is coming off an incredible weekend, defeating No. 2 Alabama at home, 197.92-197.600, last Friday before taking first place and posting a season-high 198.200 road score at the Podium Challenge at the Raising Cane’s River Center on Sunday.
Head coach Jay Clark is pleased with how his team continues to find ways to improve each week.
“Great weekend. Not always survived it, but did a great job handling it. Pretty much all we could have asked for from a Friday to a Sunday,” Clark said on Monday. “We’re getting healthier and really able to grow a little bit of our depth and put some opportunities out there and see what we’re dealing with, in case we run into something unforeseen. We’ve gotten some people some experience and set ourselves up to be in a pretty good position right now today.”
After another outstanding weekend, sophomore Kailin Chio has emerged as the top gymnast in the country, surpassing UCLA’s Jordan Chiles’ eight-week run at the No. 1 spot with an NQS all-around average of 39.725.
There’s a new No. 1 in town 👑
— Gymnastics Now (@Gymnastics_Now) March 2, 2026
Kailin Chio is now the No. 1 all-arounder in the nation with a 39.725 NQS, ending Jordan Chiles’ eight-week run at the top. Chio also leads the nation on vault and beam, while Chiles remains No. 1 on floor. pic.twitter.com/nHspz56dUu
Chio claimed her seventh all-around title this season in the Tigers’ dual meet with No. 2 Alabama, posting a 39.800. Over the weekend, Chio earned two more perfect scores – both on beam. She now holds seven perfect 10s in her career, including six this season.
Clark said Chio’s growth from her freshman to sophomore season has helped elevate her performance.
“She’s had a much more mature and gracious approach to everything this year and has been great as a teammate and not just as a competitor,” Clark said. “They understand the relationship piece of being a teammate greater and greater as they go through their career and she’s just done a really good job of that while maintaining a really high standard for herself that she is pretty uncompromising on.”
Heading into Sunday’s meet, Chio will have a chance to make program history.
“She has achieved three tens in a row on balance beam. This has only done one other time at LSU,” LSU gymnastics public address announcer Mike Smith said on Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday. “You got to go back to 1994-95 with Jennifer Wood on vault and she is one of the greatest ever on that event. But no one’s ever done it four times on balance beam at LSU and only one time in NCAA history has it actually happened. It’s almost an impossible task and she’s up for that.”
Even though Chio is receiving most of the national attention, Clark emphasized that the team’s overall execution has played a big role in her success.
“I mean, I think it sets up tremendously, especially when we have everybody clicking on all cylinders,” Clark said. “It doesn’t happen without that and so, if those kinds of things are happening more often, it generally means it’s not just about Chio. It’s obviously about her and her performance is unbelievable, but it’s about the routines that go ahead of her and set them up to where it can happen. That’s an indicator that the entirety of the lineup is doing a really good job.”
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