GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (10-2-1, 4-2 SEC) will travel to Gainesville this weekend for one of the nation’s premier matchups as the Tigers face No. 4 Florida (10-2, 2-2 SEC) on Sunday, March 8 inside the Exactech Arena.
Sunday’s contest features two of the top programs in the country, with LSU entering the meet ranked No. 2 nationally and Florida sitting at No. 4 in the latest rankings. The matchup marks one of the weekend’s marquee dual meets and continues a long-standing trend of elite showdowns between the two SEC powers.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on SEC Network with John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek, Aly Raisman and Taylor Davis covering the action between the Tigers and the Gators.
Sunday’s meeting also represents the 37th consecutive time LSU and Florida face each other with both teams ranked inside the nation’s top 10, highlighting the consistent national relevance of the rivalry between the two programs.
LSU is 46-78 all-time against Florida and 8-29-0 when competing in Gainesville. The last time the two teams faced off in the regular season, the Tigers came up victorious inside the PMAC in a 197.550-197.450 victory. The last time LSU won on the road in Gainesville was 2018.
Live stats and streaming information for Sunday’s matchup between No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Florida can be found here.
Last Time On The Floor
LSU heads into this weekend with strong momentum after a standout performance in Baton Rouge last weekend, where the Tigers captured two wins against No. 3 Alabama on Friday before closing out their double weekend with a first place finish in the Podium Challenge.
The Tigers put up their second highest score of the season in their last meet, finishing the Podium Challenge with a 198.200, marking their third score of 198.000 or higher this year. No. 2 LSU finished first in Sunday’s quad meet followed by No. 13 Alabama in second (197.650), North Carolina in third (195.950) and Arizona in fourth (195.500).
Sophomore Kailin Chio posted another perfect score at the meet, marking her fourth meet with a perfect 10 and third straight on beam. Chio also earned a perfect score on beam in the Tigers previous two meets against No. 3 Alabama and No. 1 Oklahoma.
She is now at seven total perfect 10’s in her career, with six of those coming just this season and four coming on beam. Her seven career perfect 10’s share the seventh spot for most in program history. She is currently tied with Lloimincia Hall, needing one more to share the program record eight with Aleah Finnegan, Kiya Johnson and April Burkholder.
Three Tigers took home event titles from the meet as Drayton won her fourth career vault title, Coen took home her first ever career title on floor and Chio secured her 12th career beam title and ninth this season with her perfect score. She now sits at 50 titles in her career and 28 this season.
Week 9 Road To Nationals Rankings
For the fourth straight week, the Tigers remain the No. 2 team in the country through nine weeks of competition. LSU enters week 10 with an NQS of 197.836 and two more regular season meets to go. This week marks the sixth straight week that LSU ranks in the top 10 on all four events and third straight week in the top five.
No. 2 LSU currently sits second on vault, second on bars, third on beam and first on floor in the nation. They are the only team in the country to rank in the top three on all four events, including holding onto the No. 1 floor in the nation for the third straight week with their NQS of 49.514.
In the individual event rankings, sophomore Kailin Chio took over the top spot in the country and is currently the No. 1 all-around gymnast in the nation with her NQS of 39.725. She ended UCLA’s Jordan Chiles reign at the top the previous eight weeks.
Chio also marked her sixth straight week at No. 1 on beam and her second straight week at No. 1 spot on vault this week. The sophomore also ranks fifth nationally on floor.
Other Tigers to earn a spot in the top-25 individual event rankings are Ashley Cowan on bars (23), Amari Drayton on vault (14) and beam (13), Kaliya Lincoln on vault (24) and floor (10), Konnor McClain on bars (9), Madison Ulrich on bars (17) and Lexi Zeiss on vault (24).
Kailin Chio Claims Fifth Conference Award, Named Week 8 SEC Gymnast of the Week
Kailin Chio claimed her fifth SEC Gymnast of the Week award this season and 14th of her career this week after a standout 39.800 all-around performance and two perfect scores across two meets last weekend.
The sophomore added two more 10’s and five titles to her resume in the Tigers’ double weekend against No. 3 Alabama and at the fourth-annual Podium Challenge against Alabama, UNC and Arizona.
Chio has now claimed five of eight awards distributed by the league in 2026 as she continues to be not only the top performer in the conference week after week, but in the nation. The sophomore jumped to No. 1 in the all-around this week with her National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 39.725, ending UCLA’s Jordan Chiles reign at the top the previous eight weeks.
Chio also holds the top spot nationally on vault with her NQS of 9.960 and beam with a 9.990.
Last weekend, she earned her third-straight perfect score on beam, marking her fourth consecutive meet with a perfect score. She has now tallied a 10.000 on beam in the Tigers meets against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Alabama and at the Podium Challenge on Sunday.
Chio now holds seven total perfect 10’s in her career, with six of those coming just this season and four coming on beam. Her seven career perfect 10’s share the seventh spot for most in program history. She is currently tied with Lloimincia Hall, needing one more to share the program record eight with Aleah Finnegan, Kiya Johnson and April Burkholder.
She posted five scores of 9.9+ out of her seven routines over the weekend, with two of those being 10’s. She won the all-around on Friday against No. 3 Alabama with her 39.800 performance, tallying her third straight 39.8+ score in the all-around in three straight weeks.
Chio also secured the vault, beam, floor and all-around titles against Alabama on Friday and added one more on beam on Sunday at the Podium Challenge. Her beam win on Sunday marked her 12th career beam title and ninth this season. She now sits at 50 titles in her career and 28 this season. She nears the record for most individual beam titles in a single season held by Sarah Finnegan with 11 in 2019. The sophomore can match that record with two just two more beam titles this season.
Another Top-Five SEC Test
Sunday marks LSU’s sixth ranked SEC dual-meet this year and third meeting against one of the nation’s top three teams. Florida enters the meet ranked fourth nationally with a 197.517 NQS. The meet will also serve as Florida’s Senior Day.
The trip to Gainesville marks LSU’s final road meet of the regular season before hosting No. 8 Arkansas in their regular season finale inside the PMAC on Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
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