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Senior night can be crazy.
The back-to-back SEC champion #2 LSU gymnastics team finished the 2026 regular season with a bang. The Tigers defeated the #7 Razorbacks 198.075-197.100 and completed a third consecutive perfect home slate. LSU is now 11-3-1 and finishes SEC play 5-3.
Rotation 1: LSU 49.525-Arkansas 48.800
Arkansas had a solid rotation going through the first four routines, but falls on the final two doomed them to a 48.800. LSU had a decent vault rotation and scored a 49.525.
Lexi Zeiss led things off with a step forward on her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.825. Courtney Blackson followed with a step back on her Y1.5 for a 9.775. Victoria Roberts did a great front pike half in the air, and all the judges took was a tenth on her hop back for a 9.900. Kaliya Lincoln drilled her Y1.5 with the farthest stick I’ve ever seen, but her early twist on the table kept her to a 9.950. Amari Drayton came very close to sticking her Y1.5, but she stood up too quickly and stepped back to leave her with a 9.850. Kailin Chio did the best vault she’s ever done and the judges went 10 as quickly as possible.
Emily Innes exhibited a Y1.5 for the first time in her career and scored a 9.800.
Rotation 2: LSU 98.900-Arkansas 98.175
Arkansas went 49.375 on vault with some solid routines. It was a great bounce back from the bars rotation for sure. LSU scored a 49.375 on bars.
Lexi led things off with a 9.850 on her routine. Ashley Cowan followed with a 9.825. Madison Ulrich hit her routine for a 9.900. Alexis Jeffrey went in place of Kailin, and she hit her routine for a 9.850 (9.80/9.90). Courtney cast too hard on her first handstand and fell, bu she hit the routine afterward and got a 9.300. Konnor McClain finished things off with a 9.950 (9.90/10.0) on a routine in which she had to add a handstand after catching her Church too closely. This rotation had some uncharacteristic landing errors and saw more missed final handstands than at any other point this season.
Haley Mustari exhibited a solid bars routine for a 9.850. Tori Tatum got her senior night exhibition and scored a 9.700 (9.60/9.80).
Rotation 3: LSU 148.375-Arkansas 147.600
Arkansas scored a 49.425 on floor with a decent rotation. They have my least favorite selection of floor music in the country, but their performances were solid. LSU scored a 49.475 on beam.
Kylie Coen had a bobbly routine and scored a 9.750 (9.70/9.80). Lexi followed with a 9.825, then Amari scored a 9.825 of her own on a routine she rushed through. Kaliya drilled her routine for a 9.900 (9.95/9.85). Konnor got a 9.925 for a nearly perfect routine (leg bend in her acro series keeps it from perfection), and head coach Jay Clark was so mad after the score flashed that he threw his cup. Kailin then did a perfect beam routine and got a 10. That was as perfect as she’s ever done it.
Emily Innes and Madison Ulrich both got 9.825s on their exhibition beam routines.
Rotation 4: LSU 198.075-Arkansas 197.100
Arkansas finished their night with a season-high 49.500 on beam. Joscelyn Roberson should’ve had a 10, and I will be mad about this for far too long. LSU finished the night with a 49.700 on floor.
Emily Innes led off with a 9.850 on a routine that had great passes and extremely deductible leaps. Nina Ballou followed with a 9.900 that had perhaps her best second pass of the season. Kylie Coen nailed her routine for a 9.925. Amari did a great routine, but a step forward out of her double layout kept her from going any higher than the 9.900 she got. Kailin got a third 10. Kaliya finished things off with a 9.975 on a routine that would’ve been perfect had she finished the turn on her Gogean in the air. Haleigh Bryant flashed 10 to Jay when she hit her DLO because it was clear that this routine was going to be amazing.
Kathryn Weilbacher exhibited her first full routine in the PMAC and got a 9.900 (9.85/9.95).
Final thoughts:
That meet wasn’t the best this team could do, but when factoring in the weird time crunch of coming off a Sunday meet, it was okay. Bars and beam weren’t up to the level they’re capable of being and several routines had uncharacteristic mistakes. This team isn’t good enough to win SECs if the leg events have to carry them. The positives are obvious with things like Kailin and Konnor getting some rest and Haley and Emily getting some valuable experience just in case it’s needed.
On the individual title front, Allison Cucci of Arkansas won the all-around. Konnor McClain won the bars title with her routine. She now has 11 on bars and 18 in total for her career. Kailin gets her own section again.
The Ch10 Files:
I apologize in advance for the length of this section, but I’m being absolutely comprehensive. Let’s start with the individual titles. Kailin now has 15 career vault titles, 13 career beam titles and eight career floor titles to give her 54 for her career. She is tied for sixth in LSU history in career beam titles alongside Aleah Finnegan, Rheagan Courville and Susan Jackson. Her 54 career event titles passes Myia Hambrick for 11th in LSU history. She now has nine vault titles in 2026, tied with six others for seventh most in an LSU season. Her 10 beam titles this season is tied with 2006 April Burkholder for second in LSU history.
On the 10s front, Kailin made even more history. She became the first person to ever compete on exactly three events in a meet and score a 10 on each one of them. She is the only person outside of Karin Lichey to score 10s on vault, beam and floor in the same meet, and Lichey did so on a night in which she had a perfect 40. Kailin has nine 10s in 2026, passing 2024 Haleigh Bryant for most in an LSU season. Her 10 career 10s is second in LSU history behind Haleigh Bryant’s 18. Kailin is the 25th gymnast in NCAA history to score at least 10 career perfect 10s. She is tied with UCLA legend Peng-Peng Lee for 24th in NCAA history. The NCAA record for career 10s is 28.
Kailin’s beam NQS is 9.995, tied with 2024 Ragan Smith for the highest in NCAA history. If she gets a 10 at SECs, she will be the first gymnast to ever have a perfect beam NQS.
NQS stuff and wrap-up:
The SEC regular season has concluded, and LSU has secured the #2 seed at the 2026 SEC Gymnastics Championship. They have also secured a top 2 seed in the NCAA tournament with a chance to take the top spot if things go their way at SECs. Arkansas dropped to the #8 overall ranking thanks in large part to Stanford’s incredible meet last night. The will be the #6 seed at SECs.
With an official attendance of 12,365, LSU locked up their third consecutive national attendance crown and fourth in the last five years. The only thing left to do is to try and set records for attendance at a post-2019 regional. The postseason is here, and now it’s time to see if LSU can reclaim the trophies they work so hard to earn.
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