In a weekend of back-to-back competitions, LSU gymnastics showed what it truly means to be a “Fighting Tiger” of LSU.
After clinching the win over Alabama on Friday night, 197.975-197.600, the Tigers took to the Raising Cane’s River Center on Sunday afternoon, adding both a series of season highs and another perfect 10 to their record.
“Our team is so deep this year, it’s just a blessing to be able to put in whoever and just get the same score that we can get every single day,” all-around junior Kylie Coen said. “It’s like that in practice, and we still have a lot more people that are training as hard as they can every single day. And so I’m just super proud of this team.”
The depth Coen commented on was evident in some of the standout routines that a limited number of fans witnessed on Sunday — routines that are among the best performances from the 2025-26 LSU season thus far.
For all-around junior Konnor McClain, that started on Friday night, after she delivered an emotional performance with a high score of 9.975. McClain’s heart for her sport found its way to the River Center, where she vaulted a season-high 9.925.
McClain credits the enthusiasm she has for competition to her teammates, saying that they not only push her to do her best, but to do it with a smile.
“I just want to be serious the whole time, but my teammates really bring the joy out of me,” McClain said. “And so that’s where I get my joy from, is for my teammates.”
As McClain’s smile sang throughout the rest of the first rotation, LSU saw its next set of season-high scores on the uneven bars from top all-arounder in the nation Kailin Chio and all-around graduate student Alexis Jeffrey.
While bars happen to be the only event Chio has yet to see a perfect 10 on, the gymnast is climbing towards that score, starting with the 9.950 she stuck on Sunday.
Yet, before she reached that season-high milestone, head coach Jay Clark said that the “old angry Chio” broke through the gymnast following her 9.850 on the vault.
“It was just kind of [me] not really saying too much, and my face was just really expressive,” Chio said. “And I tried my best to kind of let it go. And I did once we got to bars, and I think it was just not saying too many words to him, and kind of just brushing it off.”
Because Chio was able to “brush off” her disappointment from the first rotation and carry confidence on the uneven bars, she set the stage for Jeffery, who competed on the event for the third time this season, setting a personal high of 9.875.
Jeffery has been a consistent part of LSU’s team for the last five years but has struggled with a persistent back injury in recent seasons, which has prevented her from competing.
As she celebrated her season-high performance with her teammates, LSU moved onto the balance beam, where Chio earned yet another perfect 10 on the event, making her the most decorated gymnast in the NCAA in terms of perfect scores.
After anchoring the event with her perfect performance, Chio sat out of the floor exercise, where, instead of worrying about competing, she was able to revel in the exuberance of Coen’s career-high score on floor with the rest of her teammates.
Coen’s routine was awarded a 9.975, and she said that her performance was just an example of her normal gymnastics.
“I feel like it was just something I do every single day, and I’m just really grateful that that was the score that came out tonight,” Coen said. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without my team cheering me on and the fans here tonight. So it was just a blast, and I’m glad that score came out tonight.”
If you’ve noticed a pattern amongst each of the Tigers’ season-highs, it’s that they are fueled by their teammates to do their very best when they compete.
As long as LSU keeps preserving the fire that it harnesses amongst its team just as it did on Sunday afternoon, there’s very little standing between the purple and gold and another series of victories throughout the postseason.
