By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU sophomore Kailin Chio – the nation’s top gymnast – continues to do remarkable things every time she steps on the mat. The rising star joined elite company Friday, becoming just the fifth gymnast in NCAA women’s gymnastics history to record three perfect 10s in a single meet. She is also the first gymnast in NCAA history to earn a perfect 30 across three events in one meet.
Chio now owns 10 career perfect scores, including nine this season (five on vault, two on bars, and two on floor).
Kailin Chio has scored NINE perfect 10s this season and set the LSU record for most 10s in a single season 👑
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 16, 2026
Chio is responsible for 27.3% of the total 10s scored in the NCAA this season 🤯 (📸 @LSUgym) pic.twitter.com/TGmqTI0BDE
She also holds the nation’s top all-around NQS average at 39.760 and credits her success to trusting the work she has put in over time. Having started gymnastics at just five years old, Chio says experience and repetition allow her to compete freely.
“I think at this point in my career, you’ve been doing it for so long, so you never really think about it,” Chio said after LSU’s meet against Arkansas last Friday. “Your body knows how to flip at this point. It’s just muscle memory and just going out there and being free of mind and just take each meet as a new day and opportunity.”
Friday marked the first time since March 10, 2023, that a gymnast recorded three 10s in a meet – when Chio’s former teammate and current coach, Haleigh Bryant, accomplished the feat against West Virginia in Baton Rouge.
Matching that milestone with Bryant by her side made the moment even more meaningful.
“I look up to Haleigh so much,” Chio said. “Having her as a teammate and now having her as a coach, it’s just a full circle. It’s just her being by my side through literally everything. I go to her for anything. I think we’re just in the same kind of boat that were and so she just really helps me with not trying to duplicate anything. And so just having her as a former teammate and as a coach has been really great.”
Chio is now climbing LSU’s record books alongside Bryant. Her three perfect 10s on Friday moved her into sole possession of second place in program history with 10 career perfect scores, surpassing Ashleigh Gnat and Jennifer Wood. She now trails only Bryant, who holds the LSU record with 18.
She’s also closing in on other milestones. Chio is one beam title away from tying Sarah Finnegan’s single-season program record of 11 and currently ranks fifth in LSU history with 13 career beam titles.
But Chio would be the first to tell people that individual awards are not what drive her. In fact, she believes it wouldn’t be possible to accomplish what she’s doing without her teammates, who set her up for success and make those perfect 10s possible every week.
“I think that each one I get, I kind of am just celebrating with my team,” Chio said. “You know, I can’t do it without my team. I can’t do it individually. This is such a team sport at the end of the day.”
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