In less than one month, one NCAA gymnastics program will walk away from Fort Worth, Texas, as the 2026 national champions.
The question in Baton Rouge is if LSU still has a shot at being that team.
LSU traveled to Tulsa,Oklahoma, this past weekend for the SEC gymnastics championship, placing third with an overall score of 197.950. For the 13th time in school history, the No. 3 Florida Gators were named SEC Champions with a score of 198.175, with No. 1 Oklahoma behind with a 198.150.
Even with the loss, LSU remains the No. 2 team in the country, and hosting regionals in the PMAC from April 1-4. LSU will host Stanford, Michigan, Clemson, Auburn, Air Force, Utah State, North Carolina and Nebraska.
With Stanford at No. 7, Michigan at No. 10 and Clemson at No. 15, the meet is sure to bring a challenge to LSU gymnastics.
But the team is comfortable with challenges; they’ve been presented with them all season long. Their three regular-season losses came against top-five conference opponents: Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma, which were by less than four-tenths of a point. The conference championship loss was by less than three-tenths of a point.
Although the defeats are thin, that’s the game of gymnastics. Those tenths of a point can be the result of a small wobble on the beam or a tiny side step on a vault landing.
But they matter. Especially when they are deciding a national championship.
For the Tigers, claiming that title means not allowing mistakes to slip through routines in these high-stakes meets. Luckily, these high-stakes meets will begin at home.
LSU gymnastics has gone 5-0 this season at home. There’s a clear home-field advantage for any sport at LSU, but in the packed PMAC, it’s especially real. Every Friday night, fans come out to see the Tigers score near-perfectly across each event.
And the Tigers have delivered. Sophomore Kailin Chio has scored multiple perfect 10s on the vault throughout the season, sticking the landing with a wide smile and a slight head nod, while hearing the crowd go wild. In their last regular season meet, at home, Chio received a perfect 10 on beam, floor and vault.
But despite her making history, multiple perfect scores are impressive on their own. But it’s also necessary. Gymnasts need consistency across each event in order to break the barrier of tenths of a point that decides wins on that championship stage.
So, pretty much, LSU gymnastics needs to be consistent on every event, on the road, with the eyes of the entire nation watching them; eyes that will dismiss them for a small wobble on the beam.
Pressure doesn’t get much bigger than that.
Already, gymnastics is a tough mental game. Having to keep a soft smile while staying perfectly balanced on a 4-inch-wide beam, doing multiple turns and back flips in a row. Then, add the pressure of knowing that a mistake as tiny as lowering your chest on a landing could not only end what could be your last season, but also eliminate your team from a national championship.
Once again, LSU is comfortable with these do-or-die stakes. The past three seasons, the decorated program has finished as a semifinalist, a finalist and a champion. They have made themselves known in the postseason as a team that is consistently there and one that goes far.
The chances of them competing well into April are likely. The talent is there. The coaching is there. The consistency? Well, that’s the key. A high-scoring performance on any of the events should be celebrated, of course, but it also should be expected.
It might sound tough, but that’s how the Tigers will not only get close to a national championship but win it all.
The pieces are all there for LSU. They have the talent, the experience and the ability to compete against the best in the country. But in a sport like gymnastics, potential doesn’t win titles. Consistency does.
If the Tigers can find that consistency at the right time, their season won’t end in Fort Worth. It will be defined there.
