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On a night built for a statement, Louisiana State University delivered exactly that. In its first home meet of the 2026 season, the No. 4 LSU women’s gymnastics team roared to a 198.050–195.725 victory over Kentucky at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, setting a program record for a home opener and stamping itself as an early national title contender.
Behind a career night from sophomore all-around star Kailin Chio, LSU not only reset its own standard but also helped reset expectations across college gymnastics. The Tigers’ 198.050 was just the second 198-plus team score recorded by any NCAA program in 2026 and the second-highest total in the nation so far this season. Chio’s perfect 10.0 on balance beam was the first beam 10.0 posted by any gymnast in the country this year, turning an already dominant performance into a defining early-season moment.
The stage fit the performance. A crowd of 13,516 packed into the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the return of “Friday Night Heights,” setting a record for an LSU home opener and marking the third-largest gymnastics crowd in the building’s history. The atmosphere matched where this program now sits in the national conversation: squarely among the sport’s heavyweights.
LSU entered the meet as the defending 2024 NCAA women’s gymnastics national champion and back-to-back SEC champion, but also coming off a rare stumble. A conference loss at Georgia the week prior snapped a decade-long winning streak for LSU in that series, adding urgency to the Tigers’ home debut.
Kentucky arrived in Baton Rouge at 0–5, desperate for a reset of its own. Instead, the Wildcats ran into a team intent on reminding the sport why LSU has quickly become one of the true power programs in collegiate gymnastics.
From the opening event, LSU removed any doubt about whether it would respond from the Georgia loss. Starting on vault, the Tigers built a 49.350 total, immediately grabbing the lead over Kentucky’s 48.975 and setting the tone for the rest of the night.
Sophomore Lexi Zeiss led off with a 9.900, a high-caliber start that signaled how dialed in LSU was from the first salute. Junior Konnor McClain followed with a 9.825 in her first competitive vault as a Tiger, while freshman Nina Ballou made her vault debut with a 9.750. Junior Amari Drayton added a 9.700 and sophomore Kaliya Lincoln contributed a 9.825.
Then came the first major statement of the meet. Anchoring the vault lineup, Chio stuck her vault for a 9.950, the kind of anchor performance that can swing a meet’s momentum in the opening minutes. That nearly perfect score locked in the 49.350 team total and gave LSU both a scoring cushion and a clear energy advantage heading to bars.
The Tigers did not let up on the second event. On bars, LSU matched its season-best with a 49.550, extending its lead and moving into territory typically reserved for late-season form.
Zeiss once again provided a strong leadoff, posting a 9.925. Seniors Ashley Cowan and Madison Ulrich followed with 9.875 and 9.850, respectively, giving LSU a rock-solid scoring base through the first three routines. In the fourth spot, Chio added a 9.900, keeping the Tigers well over 9.8 pace.
Graduate student Courtney Blackson delivered one of the key routines of the rotation, tying her career high with a 9.950. McClain then anchored with a 9.900, cementing the 49.550 event total and pushing LSU to 98.800 at the halfway point. Kentucky, battling to keep pace, stood at 98.150.
At that point, LSU was on track for one of the highest team scores in the country to date. But the night’s defining moment still waited on beam.
Balance beam is often where big team scores go to die. It is a pressure event, where nerves, tiny bobbles and balance checks can turn 9.9s into 9.6s in seconds. Instead, beam became LSU’s exclamation point.
Junior Kylie Coen opened with a 9.850, giving LSU a steady start. Zeiss followed with a 9.825, maintaining the Tigers’ momentum. In the middle of the lineup, Drayton and Lincoln both nailed 9.925s, raising the baseline and putting LSU in position for a massive rotation if the final two routines hit.
McClain came through with a near-perfect 9.950 in the fifth spot, flirting with a 10.0 and setting the table for what came next. Anchoring once again, Chio delivered one of the first truly iconic routines of the 2026 NCAA season: a flawless beam set that earned a perfect 10.0 from the judges.
The 10.0 was the first perfect beam score recorded by any gymnast in the country this year, Chio’s first career 10 on beam, and the second perfect 10 of her collegiate career. It capped a 49.650 beam total, LSU’s season high on the event and one of the top beam scores nationally at that point in the season.
After three rotations, LSU led 148.450–147.225. The Tigers held a comfortable margin, but one event remained between them and a historic 198-plus team score.
To convert an impressive night into a special one, LSU needed a clean, high-scoring performance on floor. The Tigers delivered exactly that with a 49.600, finishing off the 198.050 team total and effectively shutting the door on Kentucky.
Senior Emily Innes, making her Pete Maravich Assembly Center debut, opened the rotation with a statement 9.925. Ballou backed that up with a 9.900, and Coen contributed a 9.825 in her first floor appearance of the season.
Drayton’s 9.900 kept the scoring rolling in the fourth spot. Chio, completing her all-around night, posted a 9.925. Lincoln then anchored with a career-high 9.950, putting the finishing touch on the rotation and locking in the 49.600 floor score.
Kentucky, which had already absorbed damage from counting multiple lower scores on beam, finished with a 195.725. LSU not only took the meet comfortably but swept all five event titles across vault, bars, beam, floor and all-around.
Even on a night filled with big numbers for LSU, Chio’s performance stood out. The sophomore’s four-event effort would have been headline-worthy almost anywhere; surrounded by season highs and team records, it became the centerpiece.
Her event-by-event breakdown:
The result was a 39.775 all-around total, one of the best marks of the young 2026 season. Through the first four weeks of competition, that 39.775 stood as the second-highest all-around score recorded by any NCAA gymnast and the highest posted by an LSU athlete this year.
Chio’s vault, beam and all-around scores each secured event titles, bringing her to seven event wins already in 2026 and 30 total in her collegiate career, remarkably just three meets into her sophomore campaign.
The Southeastern Conference took notice almost immediately. On January 27, the league announced that Chio had been named SEC Gymnast of the Week for the second time in the 2026 season, highlighting both her perfect 10.0 on beam and the rarity of an all-around slate with 9.9 or better on every event.
The honor marked the 11th SEC weekly award of her career, a staggering number for a second-year gymnast. It continued an upward trajectory that began in 2025, when Chio won the NCAA vault title and earned SEC Freshman of the Year recognition. Her rise mirrors LSU’s own climb to the top tier of college gymnastics, giving the Tigers a true headliner for the national stage.
For recruits and families tracking the landscape of women’s college gymnastics, performances like this help clarify which programs are consistently producing top-level all-arounders who can win conference and national awards. Chio’s rapid accumulation of titles and weekly honors reflects a development environment at LSU that is both competitive and supportive of elite individual growth.
The 198.050 against Kentucky was more than just a program record home opener. It immediately reshaped LSU’s national standing.
The score surpassed the Tigers’ previous home-opener best of 197.850, set against Georgia in 2017. It also made LSU just the second NCAA team in 2026 to break the 198 barrier, a benchmark that typically separates title contenders from the broader pack of postseason qualifiers.
According to national tracking from outlets like USA Gymnastics’ collegiate recaps and Road to Nationals rankings, 198-plus totals remain relatively rare during the early weeks of the season. Hitting that plateau before February is a strong sign of depth, health and lineup stability.
Following the Kentucky meet, LSU vaulted up to No. 2 in the Road to Nationals rankings heading into a challenging road test at Missouri. Combined with the record-setting home-opener attendance and the spotlight on Chio’s perfect 10, the performance reinforced LSU’s image as both a high-performance program and a major fan draw.
For broader context on how 198-level scores and perfect 10s stack up historically across women’s college gymnastics, resources like the NCAA’s official gymnastics statistics pages and long-running databases such as RoadToNationals.com provide a useful benchmark for athletes and fans comparing programs.
Beyond the numbers, this meet told an important story about LSU’s culture and recruiting appeal.
The Tigers did not simply rely on upperclassmen. The lineup featured key contributions from sophomores like Chio and Zeiss, juniors like McClain, Coen and Drayton, a high-impact freshman in Ballou and veterans like Blackson, Cowan, Ulrich, Lincoln and Innes. That blend of classes shows a program that reloads rather than rebuilds, a crucial consideration for prospective recruits.
LSU’s ability to produce a 198.050 so early in the season also speaks to its training environment. Teams typically build toward postseason peak scores in March and April. Posting a midseason-level number in January suggests that the Tigers are not only talented but also well-prepared technically and mentally.
For high school gymnasts and club coaches evaluating college options, this kind of result highlights important questions to ask on visits and in conversations with staffs:
LSU’s answers, at least on this night, were loud and convincing.
If you are a prospective college gymnast watching from afar, a meet like LSU vs Kentucky in 2026 offers a real-world snapshot of what it looks like to compete at a top SEC and national program.
It shows that at a place like LSU, you are stepping into:
Understanding the level of competition you are targeting is a key part of building a smart recruiting plan. Tools like the Pathley Gymnastics Sport Hub can help you explore a wide range of women’s gymnastics programs, compare programs by conference or level, and discover schools that fit your skills, academics and long-term goals.
While this meet centered on LSU’s national-title trajectory, Baton Rouge itself is home to more than one significant higher education option. Southern University and A&M College offers a distinct campus culture and academic profile within the same city, providing another pathway for students and families looking at Louisiana-based colleges.
If you are comparing campus environments in Baton Rouge or weighing athletic versus academic priorities, it can help to look at multiple institutions side by side. Pathley’s tools are built to make that process easier and more data-driven.
Whether you dream of competing at a powerhouse like LSU or are exploring a broader range of options, having clear, accurate information is essential. The college search and recruiting process can feel overwhelming, especially in a sport as competitive and specialized as gymnastics.
Pathley was built to simplify that process. With the Pathley Chat assistant, you can get personalized guidance on potential college fits, suggested levels of play and how your current scores and skills might translate to different conferences.
If you are still in the early stages of exploring, the Pathley College Directory lets you browse schools across all divisions and regions, then save favorites and build a shortlist. Once you start to narrow in on specific programs like LSU, the College Fit Snapshot tool can give you a quick, visual view of how well a particular school matches your academic profile, athletic goals and campus preferences.
And if this LSU vs Kentucky showdown has you thinking seriously about top-tier NCAA gymnastics, the Gymnastics Pathley Hub is a powerful starting point to understand which programs align with your current level and long-term goals.
In a single night at the PMAC, LSU women’s gymnastics checked nearly every box a top program could hope for in January.
The Tigers set a school record for a home opener with a 198.050, delivered the second-highest team score in the country to that point in 2026, posted the nation’s first perfect 10 on beam of the season and drew the largest home-opener crowd in program history. Chio strengthened her case as one of the sport’s brightest stars with a 39.775 all-around and an SEC Gymnast of the Week honor that underscored her national profile.
For fans, it was a show. For opponents, it was a warning. For recruits and families, it was a vivid example of what life looks like inside a true championship-caliber NCAA women’s gymnastics program.
As LSU turns its attention to SEC and national title races later this spring, the 198.050 against Kentucky will stand as an early marker: the night when the Tigers reminded everyone that they are not just defending champions, but active contenders to return to the NCAA championship stage.
