LSU Gymnasts Kailin Chio, Konor McClain and Amari Drayton spoke to the press after the team’s second round win in the NCAA Regionals Thursday night.

The team had their best performance this season, posting a score of 198.375, which broke the record for highest score in the second round of the NCAA Gymnastics Regional.

LSU gymnast Konnor McClain told the press about the team’s growing talent. “That’s still not our best and we are capable of still so much more.”

Konnor McClain was one of the team’s key pieces in their meet, competing in three different events for the Tigers, scoring a 9.950 on bars, a 9.900 on beam and a 9.900 on floor.

McClain feels like the Tigers are gaining confidence and knows they can compete with the top teams in the nation.

“It’s just really exciting knowing that there’s still more in us and we go out there and we were having the time of our lives and it’s not over yet.” She says. “So I think we are just excited to keep stacking the days and just keep going and ready for Saturday.”

LSU’s ace, sophomore Kailin Chio, competed all-around, earning her 10th and 11th perfect 10.0 on vault and floor.
Chio explained how she is able to stay consistent. “I think specifically for me, I kind of just get into my zone and just stick with what I know.”

Chio has broken multiple records this season, including becoming the first gymnast in NCAA history to score a perfect 10.0 in every event she competed in during the Tiger’s meet against Arkansas. She also broke LSU’s record for most perfect 10’s in a season.

McClain and Drayton praised Chio for her performances throughout the season.

“She stands at the end of the vault runway and she does the same thing and she puts up the same vault every single week and I do not understand I mean because we work on consistency everyday but she’s the definition of consistency.”

The Tigers faced a hard loss, placing third in the SEC Championship, falling to Oklahoma and Florida. Chio spoke about the mental and physical preparation the team made for regionals.

“I think, you know we took this last week after SEC’s and we really took that bye-week really serious. Obviously we’re not happy about the results at SEC’s and I think that kinda kicked out butt a little bit but I think that everybody is just kind of relaxed.”

The Tigers will face Michigan, Clemson and Stanford in the NCAA regional finals Saturday in the PMAC for their last home meet of the season.