As a cold front of weather brewed towards Baton Rouge, No. 4 LSU. gymnastics brought nothing but heat to the PMAC for a victory over Kentucky, earned by stuck landings and a perfect 10.
“Coming back in here [the PMAC] is kind of just what the doctor ordered, I guess,” head coach Jay Clark said. “We needed to take a big step forward after a little bit of a disappointing performance the previous week.”
Given the traditional Olympic rotation order, the Tigers set off on their night of stuck landings on the vault. Once again taking the leadoff spot for LSU was sophomore Lexi Zeiss, kicking the competition off strong with a stick to earn a solid 9.900.
New to the Baton Rouge vault rotation was freshman Nina Ballou. Making her vault debut in front of the home crowd proved to be the motivation she needed for a perfect landing; however, she received a 9.750.
As LSU drifted down the lineup, scores continued to see a downward trend, but sophomore Kaliya Lincoln and all-around Kailin Chio proved just why they were anchoring the lineup.
With a pair of Yurchenko one and a halves, the sophomores earned both a 9.825 and 9.950, respectively, to put LSU in the lead with a final rotation score of 49.250 and a handful of stuck landings headed to rotation two.
Moving on to bars with a 0.275 lead over the Wildcats, the Tigers looked towards Zeiss once again to lead off the event. With her second stick of the night following a near-perfect routine, the sophomore added a 9.925 to LSU’s overall total before looking towards senior Ashley Cowan to next take the stage for a 9.875.
It seemed as though LSU was on the hunt to secure the win in just the second rotation as another three successive stuck landings from Chio, Courtney Blackson and Konnor McClain made way for all remaining scores to be 9.900 and above, ending the event with a composite score of 49.550.
The home crowd’s energy brought the Tigers to the balance beam, where junior Kylie Coen led off with a 9.850.
“Just being in the PMAC on a Friday night, nothing beats it,” McClain said. “It’s so loud, it’s so fun, and that really brings us together as a team.”
Zeiss followed suit with a 9.825, but the crowd went wild for junior Amari Drayton and Lincoln as they stuck their respective 9.925s, the first 9.900s on the event for the Tigers.
McClain made a statement, landing as she stuck a 9.950 for LSU, and then suddenly all eyes were on Chio, who brought the night’s star moment as she stuck a perfect score.
As the Tigers reveled in their teammate’s joy, fans leapt from their seats and went wild for the 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year’s second perfect 10 of her career.
“It’s just amazing, she goes up there every single week and puts up those routines,” McClain said. “That’s what we need.”
With this being Chio’s first 10 on the balance beam, LSU had a lot to celebrate as it breezed into the fourth and final rotation of the night on the floor with a 1.225 lead over the Wildcats.
As Chio led the all-around competition against Kentucky’s Delaynee Rodriguez and Cecily Rizo, Emily Innes set out on the floor, sticking a 9.925. Ballou made her return to the floor after being pulled from last week’s lineup, securing a 9.900 for her team.
From there, the 9.900s kept coming as Drayton stuck a 9.900 followed by Chio’s 9.925.
While the Tigers had a strong lead on the competition, they refused to back down as all eyes landed on Lincoln as the floor’s anchor.
In the name of the night’s stick-ridden theme, Lincoln landed a 9.950, closing the meet with the highest score on the event.
Though defined by small mistakes just a week before, the Tigers put up a lights-out performance in front of a sold-out crowd to secure a 198.050-195.725 victory over Kentucky. Chio clinched the all-around title, along with the second-highest score in the nation behind UCLA’s Jordan Chiles.
“They look forward to coming in here, and we feed off that energy,” Clark said.
Earning both its highest overall score and first perfect 10 of the season, LSU prepares to compete against Mizzou on the road next Friday at 6 p.m.
