A program record-breaking performance on the uneven bars surged LSU into the lead entering Saturday’s — and the season’s — final rotation.
But the Tigers (198.0750) couldn’t close the door on the balance beam (49.4750), and defending national champion Oklahoma (198.1625) finished strongly enough on the floor (49.6375) to nip them late and claim their second straight title and fourth in five years.
“We’re disappointed, but we’re not defeated,” LSU coach Jay Clark told reporters following the meet. “And there’s a difference, and that’s what these kids have got to understand. They’ve got a lot to be proud of. They fought their you-know-what’s off to put themselves in a position to even be in the running. And they got there, and sometimes at the end the stars have got to line up. That’s an 800-pound gorilla dynasty that we’re trying to climb over, and we’re just gonna keep knocking on the door.”
The Tigers’ 198.0750 overall team score marked the program’s second-highest overall in an NCAA Finals, highlighted by a 49.6125 total on bars that tops the program record books in an NCAA Championship and a 10.000 score on the vault by sophomore Kailin Chio, the first perfect score in the event in the Finals since 2023 and first-ever for an LSU gymnast at that stage.
Chio capped her prolific season with the No. 2 overall finish (39.700) in the Saturday’s all-around standings.
And a gutsy effort by a banged-up junior Konnor McClain with 9.9500 scores in the bars and beam, both tied for first, helped lead the Tigers’ wins in those events.
“That’s a special kid,” Clark said. “She’s been through some stuff, some of it physical and some of it otherwise. And I’ve said from the beginning, internally a lot of times, every team sort of has a lynchpin person that as they go, you go sometimes. And Konnor’s one of those for us. There’s others, but she’s a special competitor, and when she sets her jaw that she’s gonna do something, it’s hard to talk her out of it. So we’ve gotta get her healthy now. We get one more ride with her, and we’ve gotta get her healthy.”
But Oklahoma, led by Lily Pederson (39.7250) and Faith Torrez (39.6750) as two of the top three all-around performers, had enough to continue its dynastic run.
The Sooners’ 49.6375 floor score was the best by any team in any event, and their 49.600 wasn’t far behind, tied for third in that regard.
“There’s nothing for these kids to hang their heads about,” Clark said. “They just did everything a coach could ask them to do… I think Chio got us going on vault. We started out strong. Vault was doing really well, but not setting the world on fire and then she lit the match and things began to take off for us. And so we rode that wave, and that’s what you hope for as a catch. You capture that momentum as a coach, you’ve got to be able to hold it. And we did a good job of that until the very end.”
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Oklahoma — 198.1625
2. LSU — 198.0750
3. Florida — 197.6875
4. Minnesota — 197.3750
LSU SCORES
Vault
1. Lexi Zeiss — 9.8375
2. Konnor McClain — 9.8875
3. Victoria Roberts — 9.8750
4. Kaliya Lincoln — 9.8000
5. Amari Drayton — 9.8750
6. Kailin Chio — 10.000
Uneven Bars
1. Lexi Zeiss — 9.9250
2. Ashley Cowan — 9.9250
3. Madison Ulrich — 9.8875
4. Kailin Chio — 9.9000
5. Courtney Blackson — 9.9125
6. Konnor McClain — 9.9500
Balance Beam
1. Kylie Coen — 9.9125
2. Lexi Zeiss — 9.2375
3. Amari Drayton — 9.8750
4. Kaliya Lincoln — 9.8375
5. Konnor McClain — 9.9500
6. Kailin Chio — 9.9000
Floor Exercise
1. Emily Innes — 9.8250
2. Nina Ballou — 9.8750
3. Kylie Coen — 9.8625
4. Amari Drayton — 9.9375
5. Kailin Chio — 9.900
6. Kaliya Lincoln — 9.9375
