LSU Gymnastics Advances to NCAA Championship Final in 2026

FORT WORTH, Texas –  The No. 2 national seed LSU Gymnastics punched their ticket to the NCAA Championship Final after a second-place finish in the 2026 NCAA Semifinal Session I with a final score of 197.4375 on Thursday afternoon inside the Dickies Arena.

No. 2 LSU advanced in the second spot alongside No. 3 Florida, who took first place in the afternoon session with a 197.7875. The two SEC teams will be joined in Saturday’s NCAA Championship by the first and second place teams from the second semifinal session, which consists of No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Arkansas, and No. 14 Minnesota at 8 p.m. CT.

The Tigers were boosted to their second-place finish with a 49.4750 on bars and a 49.5250 on floor. Individually, LSU took home individual titles in four out of the five events in session one. Sophomore Kailin Chio took home a share of three titles – vault with a 9.9625, floor with a 9.9625, and all-around with a 39.6125. Sophomore Kaliya Lincoln matched Chio with a 9.9625 on vault while junior Konnor McClain’s 9.9500 on beam was tied for the highest score in the session alongside Stanford’s Ana Bărbosu.

The advancement to the NCAA Championship marks the program’s 11th national championship appearance in program history, and the third under head coach Jay Clark.

LSU opened the semifinal on vault, where sophomore Lexi Zeiss led off with a 9.8500. McClain scored a 9.8250 in the second spot, followed by a 9.7250 from sophomore Victoria Roberts in spot three. The fourth spot saw Lincoln score a strong 9.9625 before junior Amari Drayton tallied a 9.8750 in the fifth spot. In the anchor spot, Chio scored a 9.9625 to bring the Tigers’ rotation score to a 49.4750, the sixth highest vault score at an NCAA Championship in program history.

After the first rotation, LSU led with a 49.4750, followed by Florida (49.4625), Stanford (49.2500) and Georgia (49.1500).

The Tigers moved to bars for rotation two and were led off by a 9.8375 from Zeiss in the opening spot. Senior Ashley Cowan scored a 9.8375 of her own in the second spot before junior Madison Ulrich added a 9.7750 in spot three. The fourth spot saw Chio score a 9.8000 ahead of a 9.8000 from freshman Haley Mustari in her NCAA Championships debut in the fifth spot. McClain anchored the rotation with a 9.9125 to give her Tigers a final bar score of 49.1875.

At the halfway point, LSU’s 98.6625 placed them in second place behind Florida (98.9000) and ahead of Georgia (98.4000) and Stanford (98.1250).

The third rotation took LSU to the beam and had junior Kylie Coen lead off with a 9.7875. Zeiss followed up in the second spot with a 9.7625 ahead of a 9.8625 from Drayton in spot three. The fourth spot saw Lincoln score a 9.4250 before McClain scored a 9.95 in spot five. Chio anchored with a 9.8875 to bring LSU’s final beam score to 49.2500.

Heading into the final rotation of the meet, LSU sat in third place with a 147.9125 behind Florida (148.150) and Georgia (147.9375) and ahead of Stanford (147.4125).

The Tigers concluded the semifinal on the floor, with senior Emily Innes opening the rotation with a 9.8625. Freshman Nina Ballou scored a 9.7750 in the second spot before Coen scored a 9.8500 in spot three. Drayton scored a 9.9375 in the fourth spot ahead of a stellar 9.9625 from Chio in spot five. The final performance of the meet for LSU saw Lincoln anchor on floor with a 9.9125 to round out LSU’s floor score to a 49.5250.

LSU’s strong performance on floor helped overcome the deficit to Georgia and gave the Tigers a final finish of second place in the session with a 197.4375. Florida took first place with a 197.7875, Georgia finished third with a 197.2625, and Stanford came in fourth place with a 196.9375.

With her three event titles in session one, Chio now holds 43 event titles on the season and 66 in her young career. The vault title was her 13th on the event this season, which now sits alone as the most vault titles in a single season by an LSU gymnast.

For Lincoln, it’s her eighth event title this season and her second on vault in 2026. For McClain on beam, it’s her sixth event title of the year and her first on the beam event since 2024. She now sits at a total of 20 event titles in her collegiate career.

LSU will compete in the NCAA Championship at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 18 live on ABC alongside Florida and the top two finishers from the No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Arkansas, and No. 14 Minnesota semifinal meet. Stay up to date with all things LSU Gymnastics by following the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram, X and Facebook.