That’s how you close out a home slate
I will admit I was an emotional wreck after this meet, but they killed it.
The reigning SEC and national champion LSU gymnastics team closed out their 2025 home campaign with a bang. The Tigers beat Georgia for the 23rd straight time 198.575-197.175, putting up a historic number in the process. 198.575 is a national high for 2025. It’s also a program record, tied for second in SEC history, tied for first in SEC regular season history and tied for ninth in NCAA history. 10 seniors took their final bows in front of the fourth largest crowd in LSU history of 13,476. With this, LSU has locked up the NCAA attendance crown for the second straight year and third time in four years.
Kailin Chio ties SEC record with eighth Freshman of the Week award
Yes, you read that correctly. Kailin Chio tied Kayla DiCello’s 2023 record with her eighth SEC Freshman of the Week award. Her 39.800 in the all-around was the best of any SEC gymnast, the second time this year she’s done this, and set a new LSU record for best all-around score by a freshman.
What happened with Georgia
Honestly, the GymDogs had a better meet than the score indicates. That was a very good road performance, especially in a raucous environment like that. Lily Smith’s 9.975 on floor came while the crowd was roaring for Aleah’s 10. Also, Jay himself said Ja’Free Scott’s 9.925 on beam was an underscore (probably a better routine than Aleah’s). They should be absolutely thrilled by this performance.
For readers who wish to follow along to my notes on each routine, this is a link to the meet in full. Deductions I would’ve taken are in parenthesis and my final score is in brackets. If I note a split in scores after a person’s score, it means the judges had a difference of at least 0.1, something I think is worth noting because it shows that they didn’t agree.
Here’s the long form of every abbreviation I’ll be using below: Yurchenko Full (YF), Yurchenko 1.5 (Y1.5), half-in half-out (HIHO), double layout (DLO), round-off (RO), back handspring (BHS), layout-step-out (LOSO), front layout (FLO), front through to double tuck (FTDT).
LSU Vault 49.600, Georgia Bars 49.275
KJ Johnson led things off with a 9.850 on her YF. She didn’t get enough distance (.05) and apparently had an issue with the shoulder angle on her block (.05). She had a very slight stutter step back, but I’d be shocked if a judge could’ve seen that in real time from their angle. Other than that, it was a good start. [9.850]
Aleah Finnegan followed with a 9.950 on her Y1.5. Her only issue was her form right before she landed (.05), but that was the best vault she’s done in over a month. [9.950]
Kaliya Lincoln then scored a 9.800 on her Y1.5. She had leg separation in the air (.05), a big hop forward (.2), a step forward (.1) and no hold of the finish (.05). It’s very powerful, but it needs better control. [9.600]
Amari Drayton drilled her Y1.5 for a 9.950. The only thing I saw was leg separation on her block (.05), but the rest was incredible. If you check the replay, you’ll see that she was surprised she stuck it. [9.950]
Kailin annihilated her Y1.5 for a 9.950. When she landed, her feet were too far apart (.05). They shouldn’t be farther apart than the width of the hips even in a stuck landing because it helps with balance. It’s odd to see her do it, but it’s a very smart move. [9.950]
Haleigh Bryant finished with her iconic front pike half and scored a 9.900. The only deduction came from hopping back (.1), everything else was as good as usual. [9.900]
Overall, this was a very good rotation, one in which LSU earned every tenth. I must give credit to everyone from the gymnasts to the judges, they put on a masterpiece. 49.600 is tied for the national high, too, and this might’ve been the best of all those 49.600s. Bars was incredible, too.
LSU Bars 49.625, Georgia Vault 49.200 (LSU leads 99.225-98.475)
Lexi Zeiss led things off with a 9.900. She was short on her first handstand (.05) and not straight in her Maloney (.05), but everything else was very good. If she’s finally hitting her stride and drilling routines like this every week, things will be much better for the following routines. [9.900]
Ashley Cowan followed with a 9.850. She went over on her first handstand (.1) and had a slight hop back on her DLO (.05), but it was fine otherwise. [9.850]
Aleah was next with a 9.900. She was short on her first handstand (.05) and took a slight step back on her full out (.05), but the rest was some of her best bars work of the season, especially on the full out. [9.900]
Kailin then scored a 9.925. She was short on her final handstand (.05) and had to swing her arms to maintain balance in her stuck HIHO (.05), but the rest was as good as usual. [9.900]
Konnor McClain hit her routine for a 9.975. All I noticed was leg separation in her Pak (.05), but this was by far the best she’s done all year finishing with a stuck landing. [9.950]
Haleigh anchored with a 9.925. She was short on her final handstand (.05) and took a step back on her double front half (.1), but the rest was very good. She’s very close to being at the level she was before the injury. [9.850]
Tori Tatum scored a 9.725 on her exhibition routine. She was short on her first handstand (.05), hit her second handstand, hit her Maloney, did a great Pak, did a short handstand (.05), hit her low bar half turn (.05 rhythm deduction for the first one failing to work), came up very short on her last handstand (.1), hopped back on her HIHO (.1) and held her finish. This was okay, but it still had some labored parts that have become hallmarks of her routines. [9.650]
Overall, this was another great bars rotation. It got the fourth best score in LSU bars history, and the quality of the work reflected that. If this becomes the norm, LSU has a very good shot at getting the hardware they really want. Beam was great as well.
LSU Beam 49.675, Georgia Floor 49.500 (LSU leads 148.900-147.975)
Sierra Ballard led off with a 9.850 (9.90/9.80). She was short on each leap (.1 total) and stepped forward on her RO back double full (.1), but the rest was very good. [9.800]
Kylie Coen followed with a 9.875. She had some leg in her front aerial (.05), was short on each leap (.1 total), lacked releve in her full turn (.05), failed to complete the full rotation of her RO back double full (.05) and hopped back slightly (.05). This was a good routine, but it had several minor issues judges aren’t always taking. [9.700]
Kailin kept her ridiculous night going with a 9.950. She was short on her split jump (.05), but the rest of the routine was very good. She usually hits that leap, but things like this happen. [9.950]
Konnor was next with a 9.900. She had some leg in the front aerial (.05) and didn’t complete the rotation of her gainer full in the air (.05). Other than that, this was extremely good. [9.900]
Haleigh hit for a 9.950. She had a slight check on her front aerial to BHS (.05) and on her standing front (.05), but the rest was fine. The check on her standing front was very minor, and hopefully that’s a sign of consistency. [9.900]
Aleah anchored with LSU’s first 10.0 of 2025. This shouldn’t have been a 10 because she had to adjust her torso to maintain her balance in her stuck gainer full (.05), but outside of that, it was the best routine she’s done all year. [9.950]
Overall, that was incredible yet again. It was one of the top five highest beam scores in LSU history for good reason. The execution on each routine was very high, continuing a trend throughout the meet. Floor kept that going.
LSU Floor 49.675, Georgia Beam 49.200 (LSU wins 198.575-197.175)
Kylie led with a 9.875. She took a step to the side on her front double full (.1), hit her back acro series, hit her FLO to front full and cheated the turn in two of her leaps (.1 total). This was a solid routine to give Kaliya rest. [9.800]
Sierra followed with a 9.900. She had a short switch half (.05) to short sissonne (.05), but the rest was very good. She did her switch ring to switch half to knee leap series better than ever before. [9.900]
Kailin capped off her incredible night with a 9.975. The only thing I noted was, as usual, the cheated turn on the tour jete half (.05). She absolutely nailed this routine. [9.950]
Amari somehow got a 9.950. She slid back a little on her DLO (.05) and stepped forward out of her FTDT (.1), but the rest was fine. Amari’s done routines worthy of a 9.950 in the past, this just wasn’t one of them. [9.850]
Aleah finished her night with a 9.875 (9.975, 0.1 ND). She went out of bounds on her back 2.5 to front tuck (.1 ND) and hopped after landing (.1), but the rest was fine. She did the same thing in warm-ups and it was the same thing that caused her to throw it out of bounds for a few weeks before the coaches worked to get it fixed. This was the sixth consecutive floor routine on which she’s gone out of bounds. [9.800]
Haleigh capped off the official meet with a 9.975. She cheated the turn on her switch full (.05) and had a slight hop back on her FLO to Rudi (.05), but the rest was as great as usual. [9.900]
Alyona Shchennikova, the last vestige of the D-D Breaux era, finished things off with a 9.850 on her exhibition routine. She slid forward on her back 1.5 to front full (.05), did a hit switch leap to low (.05) switch ring half and had a bit too much travel on her front Rudi to split (.05). I’m pleasantly surprised by how good the execution was on this routine. It’s definitely a solid thing to use for regional semis if the Tigers have already locked up their spot in the finals and want to rest people. [9.850]
Overall, this was, once again, very good. The turns on leaps are annoying, but they don’t kill routines like tumbling and splits. Aside from the aforementioned Aleah issues, those are issues they seem to have down.
Overall thoughts
(post meet press conference video)
That was one of the most complete meets I’ve seen LSU have in my four years of watching this team intently, and the best I’ve seen in the regular season. There wasn’t a bad rotation. Every single one was at the level of a serious championship contender. That was an emotional night, and they not only handled the emotions, they channeled them into their performances. I am going to miss my nights in the PMAC until they’re back again, as will all of you who live for them. As for this team, they have a trophy to fight for, as a win over Auburn in Neville Arena will guarantee them an SEC regular season championship for the first time since 2018.