BATON ROUGE – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (10-2, 6-1 SEC) set a new program record score on Friday night in the PMAC after taking down No. 10 Georgia (5-6, 3-4 SEC) by a score of 198.575-197.175 in their final home meet of the year.
In front of a crowd of 13,476, the fourth largest gymnastics crowd in PMAC history, the Tigers recorded their fourth consecutive sell-out to conclude their 2025 home season. Their final score of 198.575 was powered by strong showings across the board – including a new season high on beam (49.675).
The Tigers join elite company tonight after posting scores of 49.6+ on three events, which has only been done by three other teams in NCAA history (Oklahoma, Florida and Stanford). LSU is currently the only team this season to hit the 49.600 mark on every event.
No. 2 LSU took home at least a share of all five event titles on the night; Senior Aleah Finnegan, sophomore Amari Drayton and freshman Kailin Chio split vault with a 9.950, sophomore Konnor McClain claimed bars with a 9.975, senior Aleah Finnegan took home the beam title with a perfect 10.00 and floor saw senior Haleigh Bryant and Chio split the title with Georgia’s Lily Smith with a 9.975. The all around title went to Chio, with her 39.800 score marking the highest all around score by a freshman in program history.“Obviously, tremendous performance from our team across the board. I thought we started out on fire on vault and continued that on bars,” said head coach Jay Clark. “We landed well most of the night. Towards the end, their scores are what they are. You guys have heard me say that when scores are low, we can’t get striked by that, and I thought our kids did a good job of doing that tonight. They really showed up and did a great job. I am just super proud of them.”
Senior KJ Johnson led off the night with a 9.850 on vault to get things rolling. Senior Aleah Finnegan followed up in the second spot and matched her season high with a 9.950 ahead of a 9.80 from freshman Kaliya Lincoln in the third spot. Sophomore Amari Drayton posted a season-high 9.95 in the fourth spot before freshman Kailin Chio added a 9.950 of her own in spot five. The anchor spot saw senior Haleigh Bryant score a 9.900 to take LSU’s vault score to a 49.600, which matches the season-high score posted by the Tigers against Oklahoma in February.
After rotation one, LSU led by a margin of 49.600-49.275.
The second rotation took the Tigers to bars, where freshman Lexi Zeiss set the tone with a 9.900. Junior Ashley Cowan scored a 9.850 in spot two ahead of a 9.900 from Finnegan in the third spot, which matched her season-high. The fourth spot saw Chio hit a 9.925 before sophomore Konnor McClain scored a season-high 9.975 in a nearly flawless routine. In the anchor position, Bryant posted a 9.925 to round out LSU’s event score to 49.625.
At the halfway point in the meet, LSU led by 99.225-98.475.
LSU headed to the beam for the third rotation, with graduate student Sierra Ballard leading things off with a 9.85. Sophomore Kylie Coen posted a 9.875 in spot two before Chio matched her career-high on beam with a 9.950 in the third spot. McClain scored a 9.900 in the fourth spot ahead of a strong 9.950 from Bryant in the fifth spot.
The anchor spot saw Finnegan execute a flawless routine as she was awarded a perfect 10.0, the first perfect score posted by a Tiger in the 2025 season and only the third on the event in the country. Individually, Finnegan’s perfect score is the eighth in her decorated career, her second on the beam and first in the event since 2023.
The rotation score came out to a 49.675, a season-high for the Tigers and the second highest score on the event nationally in 2025. The score was also the third highest in program history. After three rotations, LSU led by a score of 148.900-147.975.
The Tigers headed to the floor to finish the night, where Coen led off with a 9.875. Spot two saw Ballard post a 9.900 before Chio scored a career high 9.975 in a near perfect routine in the third spot. The fourth spot saw Drayton match her career-high with a 9.950 ahead of a 9.875 from Finnegan in the fifth spot. In her final floor routine in the PMAC, Bryant anchored the Tigers with a 9.975 to give the Tigers a 49.675 on the floor, bringing the final score of the meet to a resounding 198.575-197.175 win for the Tigers.
LSU’s 198.575 is the highest team score in program history, beating the previous high of 198.475 set against Arkansas in 2024. The score also ties the highest regular season team score in SEC history and is the 9th highest NCAA mark of all-time.
Individually, Chio’s titles on vault, floor and the all-around takes her totals on the year to 19 in only her first season as a Tiger. Finnegan took home two titles on the night, bringing her career total to 36 with 13 on the year. Drayton earned her second title of the year, her first on vault, while McClain claimed her fifth title this year, with all five of those coming on bars. The sophomore now owns 14 titles in her career.
Bryant’s share of the floor title is her sixth event title this season and marks the 100th title in her prestigious career, the third most in LSU history. April Burkholder holds the second most career titles in LSU history with 108 while Ashleigh Clare Kearney-Thigpen holds the record with 114.
The win tonight also means that LSU will finish the regular season undefeated at home with a perfect 5-0 record. This marks the second consecutive season that the Tigers finish the home portion of the season undefeated and the first time it’s happened in back to back seasons since 2017 and 2018.
No. 2 LSU will conclude the regular season in Auburn next week on Friday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
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