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That’s how you finish a 7-0 day in Baton Rouge.
The back-to-back SEC champion #2 LSU gymnastics team roared to another win with a 197.975-197.600 win over #3 Alabama. A crowd of 13,292, the eighth-largest crowd in program history, saw a spirited late-night fight between two fantastic teams. This was also alumni night, and there were more alumni than I’ve ever seen before. With the win, LSU moves to 7-2-1 and 4-2 in the SEC.
Rotation 1: LSU 49.450-Alabama 49.375
Alabama had a solid start on bars highlighted by Chloe LaCoursiere’s 9.950. LSU had a decent vault rotation.
Lexi Zeiss led things off with a 9.875 after hopping forward on her Yurchenko 1.5. Konnor McClain drilled her Yurchenko Full for a near-perfect 9.900. Victoria Roberts fell on her front pike half and scored a 9.350 (9.50/9.20, meaning judge 1 only took for the fall). Kaliya Lincoln hit her Y1.5 for a 9.875. Amari Drayton flew forward on her Y1.5 and scored a 9.825. Kailin Chio stuck her Y1.5 again and got a 9.975.
Rotation 2: LSU 98.850-Alabama 98.675
Alabama scored a 49.300 on vault after struggling to be clean on their vaults as well. LSU put up a solid 49.400.
Lexi led things off with a 9.825. Ashley Cowan was back in her bag and scored a 9.925 on a great routine. Madison Ulrich hit her routine and earned a 9.900. Kailin had an okay routine and scored a 9.850. Courtney Blackson got a 9.825 on her routine. Konnor drilled her routine for a 9.900 (9.95/9.85) to finish things off.
Rotation 3: LSU 148.375-Alabama 148.175
Alabama went 49.500 on floor with a series of solid routines. They also decided to be obnoxious during LSU’s beam for some reason. That didn’t stop LSU from putting up a 49.525, and it didn’t contribute to any issues.
Lexi led things off with a 9.800. Emily Innes followed with a good 9.875. Amari fell on her routine and got a 9.175. Kaliya Lincoln followed with a 9.875 before the two hammers smashed things. Konnor did a completely reworked beam routine that only kept the dismount and destroyed it for a 9.975. Kailin went out there and did a better routine to force the judges to throw a 10. She now has six 10s in her career, tied with Sarah Finnegan for eighth in LSU history, and has scored three 10s on beam this season, more than any LSU gymnast ever scored in their career. It’s insane.
Rotation 4: LSU 197.975-Alabama 197.600
Alabama wrapped things up with a 49.425 on beam to finish a 24/24 meet. The most consistent Alabama team in a long time kept that going. Unfortunately, LSU had themselves a floor party and went 49.600.
Emily Innes, Nina Ballou and Kylie Coen started by getting 9.900s. Emily’s routine, a 9.85/9.95 judge split, was fine except for the bad leaps, and Nina’s routine had a low chest on the double layout. Kylie’s score is weird because her routine was better than the 9.925 routines she’s done this year. Amari bounced back from her beam routine and scored a 9.925 on her floor routine. Kailin capped off another great night with a 9.975 to finish with a 39.800 in the all-around. Lexi finished her first all-around performance with a 9.900 to finish with a 39.400.
Final thoughts/wrap-up
The two falls were the worst part of this meet. The way this team fought back from those falls and showed mental toughness was the best part of this meet. LSU proved that one bad routine isn’t going to throw them off. Beam could’ve gone better and vault could’ve been more consistent. This wasn’t as good as LSU can be, but it’s more than enough for now.
The individual titles portion of this recap is all about Kailin Chio because she won four of the five titles. Chloe LaCoursiere won the individual bars title, but Kailin won the rest of them. She now has six floor titles, 11 beam titles, 13 vault titles and 13 all-around titles for a career total of 49. She is now tied with Lisa Rennie for 10th in LSU history in career beam titles. She also sits alone in 12th place all-time in career titles having passed Angie Topham and Kiya Johnson. She needs three more to tie Myia Hambrick for 11th all-time. Kailin is also in striking distance on some single-season records. She’s won eight beam titles this year, tied with 2015 Jessie Jordan and 1977 Jeanie Beadle for 3rd in a season. The program record is 11 by Sarah Finnegan in 2019. Kailin ties that record if she sweeps the rest of the regular season beam titles.
The next meet is Sunday afternoon for the good ole Purple & Gold Podium Challenge. I’ll be there to watch it and recap it.