For the 13,000 fans inside the PMAC on Friday night, witnessing a perfect 10 made their night, but for the LSU gymnast behind that score, it was all about her team.
“I was just hoping for the score that we needed to get for this team, no matter if it was a 10 or not,” all-around sophomore Kailin Chio said. “I’m just super proud of myself for my hard work.”
Chio has very quickly become a staple of LSU’s lineups.
In 2025, she was named both the NCAA Vault Champion and the SEC Freshman of the Year, along with various other accolades she has earned early in her collegiate career.
As the Nevada native gracefully mounted the balance beam in the Tigers’ meet against Kentucky, the air in the arena stilled as one of the most memorable moments in Chio’s career was about to occur.
From the flawlessly performed back layout step-out and front aerial to the wobbleless switch leap, Chio looked more solid than ever as she proved just why she had an average beam score of 9.950.
Breezing through a difficult routine, Chio connected a back handspring step-out to a layout one-and-a-half for a stuck landing, tying the knot on her performance as she turned to celebrate with her team.
With Friday night’s high score, Chio has officially put two 10s on the board in her collegiate career, one on the balance beam and one on vault. In her freshman season, Chio brought her team a perfect score on the vault for LSU’s final regular-season meet against Auburn.
While the crowd was amazed by Chio’s flawless beam performance and chanting for a perfect 10, her teammates knew it was just Chio doing her “normal gymnastics,” holding faith in her just as they did one another.
“She does that every day in practice,” all-around sophomore Lexi Zeiss said. “So it’s not shocking for us to see. It’s exciting to see the 10, but it’s nothing new for us.”
And while it may be deemed as normal for Chio, it didn’t hold back the team or the home crowd from erupting at the sight of a 10.000 on the scoreboard.
“We just looked around and took it all in,” Chio said. “It’s our first home meet and seeing that many yellow pom poms waiting for fans to pick up, scream your name and everything like that. Competing in the PMAC is just an unbelievable experience, you’ll never get that anywhere else.”
Chio’s perfect score is even more impressive when looking at the masterclass that is LSU’s beam lineup. Now averaging a score of 9.874, it seems as though the Tigers are excelling at filling in the holes left behind by former stars Aleah Finnegan and Haleigh Bryant.
Part of the reason Chio earned her 10 is due to lineup shifts made for the event. Though sophomore Konnor McClain filled the anchor spot in the first two meets this season, a switch seemed to be what was necessary for the team.
“She’s amazing,” McClain said. “She took over that sixth spot because, being in that spot last week, it just wasn’t working out for me. Her being able to just adapt to that situation and go up there and hit a literal perfect beam routine is just so amazing.”
Even head coach Jay Clark highlighted the team effort that went into setting up for this record-breaking night against the Wildcats.
“I think [McClain] settled in and did maybe the best beam set I’ve ever seen her do,” Clark said. “But Chio doesn’t go 10 on the sixth routine if Konnor didn’t do what she did. Konnor really set that up so that it could become possible, and I don’t know what Konnor could have done better in that beam set.”
Looking to continue making history, the all-around gymnast and her team prepare to take on the No. 7 Tigers of Mizzou next week. Though all the buzz circulates around what’s next for Chio, the sophomore continues to stay humble as the accolades pile up.
“I think we just wanted to do our gymnastics this week,” Chio said. “There was no more, no less. We just wanted to put out who we know, who we are. We just wanted to compete free, and that’s what we talked about this week, competing free and doing your gymnastics because you’re normal is enough.”
