BATON ROUGE – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (8-2, 5-1 SEC) will travel down the road to the Raising Cane’s River Center where they will face No. 35 George Washington (16-3, 3-0 EAGL) on Friday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. CT.
“This meet is important to us as it’s always good to get on podium and get a good road score,” said head coach Jay Clark. “We want to go down there and have a great showing and build our confidence, but we also want to be smart and try to put ourselves in the best position for the home stretch of our final two SEC regular season meets.”
George Washington owns a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 195.270 heading into week nine of the regular season with a season high score of 196.550, the highest score any team in the EAGL conference has earned this season. They have finished first in their last five meets and are undefeated in their conference.
LSU is undefeated against George Washington with an overall series record of 11-0-0. This year marks the third straight year that the two teams will meet in the Podium Challenge. The Tigers have finished on top the meet since it first started in 2023.
Fans can follow the action between the Tigers and Revolutionaries on the LSU Gymnastics social media channels for live updates on the meet.
Last Time On The Floor
No. 3 defeated No. 9 Kentucky last Friday night in the Historic Memorial Coliseum by a final score of 197.200-197.075. The win marked LSU’s first in Lexington since 2017.
The Tigers started the meet on bars, which was leadoff with a strong 9.875 routine from freshman Lexi Zeiss. Junior Ashley Cowan and freshman Kailin Chio added two more 9.875 scores in the first rotation. Senior Alexis Jeffrey scored a 9.825 while sophomore Konnor McClain and fifth-year senior Haleigh Bryant both added 9.85’s. It was Bryant’s first appearance on bars of the year.
The first rotation ended in favor of the Tigers, taking the early 49.325-49.175 lead over Kentucky.
The second rotation was highlighted by a team high 9.925 from Chio, followed by Bryant, who anchored with a 9.900. Senior Aleah Finnegan scored a 9.85 while the other scores were made up by a 9.725 from senior KJ Johnson, 9.800 from freshman Kaliya Lincoln and 9.725 from sophomore Amari Drayton.
No. 3 LSU held onto the lead at the halfway point by a score of 98.525-98.325.
Freshman Kaliya Lincoln started things off on floor for the Tigers for her second appearance in the leadoff and scored a 9.875. Ballard and Chio put up strong performances in the second and third spots that went 9.825 and 9.850. It was a 9.875 for Drayton in the fourth spot followed by a 9.775 from Finnegan, who stepped out on her first pass. Bryant anchored with a team high 9.900 to close out the floor rotation.
It was a 49.325 for LSU in the third rotation to hold onto the 147.850-147.650 lead heading into the final rotation.
The final rotation saw the Tigers on beam, which was led off with a 9.850 from Ballard. Coen added a 9.775 in the second spot before Chio put up another 9.925 for the Tigers. McClain and Bryant added scores of 9.825 and 9.850 before Finnegan anchored with a 9.900. It was a 49.350 for the Tigers in the final rotation to bring back the win to Baton Rouge.
Chio claimed her fourth straight all-around title on the night with her 39.575 performance, also taking home the titles on vault and bars. The freshman has now taken home at least one event title in all but one meet this year, moving her career total to 13 tonight.
Freshman Lexi Zeiss took home the first title of her career on bars, along with Ashley Cowan, who split the four-way bars title with Chio and Kentucky’s Delaynee Rodriguez.
Bryant earned a 39.500 in her first all-around appearance this year, finishing as the second top performer on the night.
Week Eight Road To Nationals Rankings
The Tigers reclaimed the No. 2 spot in the national rankings following their win over No. 9 Kentucky last Friday. Oklahoma has been the No. 1 team in the country for all eight weeks of regular season competition and currently owns a (National Qualifying Score) NQS of 197.865. The Tigers follow in the second spot with their NQS of 197.540. No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Utah and No. 5 California round out the top five in the week eight rankings.
In the second week of NQS, LSU’s six counting scores toward their NQS are 198.050, 198.000, 197.550, 197.650, 197.300 and 197.200, dropping their season high score of 198.050 against Oklahoma and averaging the rest. The team improved one of their counting road scores following their performance at Kentucky.
LSU NQS SCORES
- 198.050 (H)
- 198.000 (H)
- 197.550 (H)
- 197.650 (A)
- 197.300 (A)
- 197.200 (A)
NQS: 197.540
No. 3 LSU remains the top vault team in the country for the fourth consecutive week with their NQS of 49.430 and own the highest vault score in the country (49.600). Michigan State is the only other school that has matched that score this year.
The Tigers moved up a spot in the beam and floor rankings this week and hold on to their top 10 placements on every event – first on vault, fourth on bars and beam and sixth on floor. LSU has ranked in the top 10 across the board during all eight weeks of competition so far.
Freshman Kailin Chio took home her fourth consecutive all-around title against Kentucky and continues to rank amongst the top gymnasts in the nation as only a freshman. She currently ranks No. 4 in the all-around with her NQS of 39.615 and sits in the top 10 nationally on every event.
Senior Aleah Finnegan also ranks amongst the top 25 performers in the nation on vault, beam and the all-around while the sophomore duo of Konnor McClain and Amari Drayton earned spots in the top 20 on bars and floor.
View the full Road To Nationals rankings here.
Chio Named SEC Freshman of the Week for Fourth Consecutive Week
Freshman Kailin Chio was named the Week Eight SEC Freshman of the Week following her performance in the Tigers last meet at No. 9 Kentucky, where she won her fourth straight all-around title to win her fourth straight conference honor, the most by any freshman this year. She is now tied with Haleigh Bryant for the most SEC Awards during their freshman season with six.
Chio posted a score of 39.575 in the all-around last Friday to help lead LSU to victory over the Wildcats, marking the program’s first win in Lexington since 2017. She posted meet-high scores of 9.925 on vault and 9.875 bars for LSU and finished amongst the top five performers in the meet on beam.
She took home three titles following her performance at Kentucky on vault, bars and the all-around, moving her career total to 13. She has now taken home at least one event title in all but one meet this year.
Chio currently ranks the No. 4 gymnast in the country with her NQS of 39.615 in the all-around and enters the ninth week of competition ranked in the top 25 nationally on every event, including top 10 placements on vault and beam.
Follow the Tigers
Stay up to date with all things LSU Gymnastics by following the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.