BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 2-seeded LSU Gymnastics team will compete for a spot in the NCAA Championship Semifinals on Saturday night as the Tigers take the floor in the Baton Rouge Regional Final at 5 p.m. CT inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The meet marks the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAA postseason, with the top two teams advancing to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, beginning on April 16 at Dickies Arena.
No. 2 LSU will face No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 Michigan, and No. 15 Clemson in the regional final after all four teams advanced out of Thursday’s second round sessions. A top finish on Saturday would claim the Tigers 16th regional championship title.
John Roethlisberger and Sam Peszek will once again cover the action in Baton Rouge as four teams look to secure their spot in the Elite Eight.
Live results and streaming of the second round meet can be found here. More information regarding the Baton Rouge Regional is available here.
Last Time On The Floor
The Tigers enter Saturday’s final coming off a historic performance in the second round, where they posted a school record 198.375, the highest regional score in program history and the fourth-highest score ever recorded by an LSU team.
The dominant showing from the host team also included top 10 scores on every event in school history:
- 49.475 on vault, tied for the program’s eighth highest score
- 49.625 on bars, tied for the best regional bars score in program history
- 49.575 on beam, the program’s third highest regional beam score
- 49.700 on floor, matching the program’s top regional floor mark
No. 2 LSU led the meet from start to finish on Thursday night to advance to the regional final alongside Clemson.
Chio Leads the Charge
Sophomore standout Kailin Chio delivered one of the most impressive postseason performances in LSU history on Thursday, opening the postseason scoring two perfect 10’s on vault and floor.
She was only the second LSU gymnast to score two 10’s in a single meet during regionals, following Haleigh Bryant in the 2024 Fayetteville Regional.
Chio’s all-around score of 39.825 at the meet ranked the second-highest regional all-around score by any LSU gymnast. Chio added four more individual event titles in the meet as she continues to lead the nation as the No. 1 all-around gymnast.
LSU saw major contributions across multiples gymnasts who also took home event titles:
- Konnor McClain and Ashley Cowan shared the bars title (9.950)
- 19th career title for McClain, fourth for Cowan
- Amari Drayton and Kaliya Lincoln shared the beam title (9.950)
- Ninth career title for Drayton, seventh overall for Lincoln
Season Resume Among Nation’s Best
The Tigers have backed up their postseason performance with one of the strongest resumes in the country all season.
- LSU entered postseason as the No. 2 national seed with a 197.920 NQS
- The only team to rank in the top three nationally on every event
- LSU held the No. 2 spot in the country for seven straight weeks, including ranking No. 1 ranking on floor for six consecutive weeks
- Kailin Chio and Kaliya Lincoln won two of the SEC’s top individual honors, eight gymnasts claimed All-SEC honors
- The program earned nine WCGA All-America honors across four gymnasts
Path to Fort Worth
Saturday’s meet will determine which two teams punch their ticket to the upcoming NCAA Championships. The Tigers are seeking their 36th NCAA Championship appearance.
Eight teams will battle across two sessions of the NCAA Championship Semifinals on Thursday, April 16. Both Semifinals will air on ESPN2, and the National Championship on Saturday, April 18 will be broadcast live at 3 p.m. CT on ABC.
Meet Information
- Event: NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Final (Sweet 16)
- Date: Saturday, April 4
- Time: 5 p.m. CT
- Location: Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, La.)
- Advancement: Top two teams advance to NCAA Semifinals (April 16 | Fort Worth, Texas)
Stay up to date with all things LSU Gymnastics by following the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram, X and Facebook.