LSU Gymnastics will be one of the final “Four on the Floor” this season for the third time in four years.
The Tigers will compete for a national championship Saturday at 3 p.m. against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida and No. 13 Minnesota after placing second Thursday evening in its semifinal with a 197.4375 score at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
Only Florida (197.7875) topped LSU in the group with No. 6 Georgia (197.2625) and No. 7 Stanford (196.9375).
Kailin Chio continued her strong postseason and sophomore season overall with a 39.6125 all-around score that topped all competitors.
She won the floor exercise (9.9625) with junior teammate Amari Drayton tying for second (9.9375) and tied with sophomore teammate Kaliya Lincoln for the vault win (9.9625).
Junior Konnor McClain tied atop the balance beam scorecard with a 9.9500 and added another top-five event finish with her 9.9125 uneven bars.
But Florida dominated the uneven bars with Riley McCusker, Skye Blakely and Selena Harris-Miranda going first, second and tying for third, respectively.
And eMjae Frazier (39.5625) and Kayla DiCello (39.5375) finished second and third all-around with Harris-Miranda not far behind tied for fifth in a balanced enough overall performance to top the team scores.
Later Thursday, Oklahoma (198.300) and Minnesota (197.4625) posted the best team scores between both semifinals combined to advance past No. 4 UCLA (197.2750) and No. 9 Arkansas (196.9625) and into Saturday’s finals.
The Sooners, Tigers and Gators give the SEC three of the four finalists for the first time under the current postseason structure and represent not just the top three seeds, but three relative blue-bloods for the sport.
Oklahoma, LSU and Florida all reached the 2023 final four, but prior to the Sooners’ move to the SEC in 2025.
That trio are all among the eight programs to have claimed team national championships, including Oklahoma three of the past four years and LSU in 2024. Florida three-peated from 2013 to 2015.
Minnesota meanwhile continues a history run to its first-ever NCAA Finals appearance.