Chio wins ninth SEC Freshman of the Week honor
03/18/2025
BATON ROUGE – LSU Gymnastics freshman Kailin Chio won her ninth career SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Tuesday, breaking the previous single season record by any freshman in the conference since the award began in 2009.
Regularly scheduled @kailin_chio post 👑
She claims the record for the most conference awards by a freshman in a single season!#GeauxTigers | @SEC pic.twitter.com/XuHOaJqtnE
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) March 18, 2025
Chio shares the week 11 honor with Oklahoma’s Addison Fatta after both freshmen put up a 39.650 in the all-around last Friday. Chio now owns the most SEC Freshman of the Week honors in conference history, breaking the previous record of eight set by Florida’s Kayla DiCello’s in 2023. Below is the leader board of gymnasts with five or more SEC Freshman of the Week honors:
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Kailin Chio, LSU (2025) – 9
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Kayla DiCello, Florida (2023) – 8
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Trinity Thomas, Florida (2019) – 6
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Anya Pilgrim, Florida (2024) – 5
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Lily Smith, Georgia (2024) – 5
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Haleigh Bryant, LSU (2021) – 5
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Ashley Priess, Alabama (2009) – 5
Chio also holds the LSU record for the most SEC awards by a gymnast in their first season. She surpassed Haleigh Bryant’s previous record of five in 2021.
The LSU freshman out of Henderson, Nevada recorded her first career perfect 10 in the Tigers regular season finale against No. 14 Auburn last Friday. She became the first freshman in the country to earn a 10 this season after her flawless yurchenko one and a half on vault and her 10 on vault was only the third in the country so far this season.
Chio put up a strong performance to add to LSU’s season high road victory last Friday, recording scores of 9.900 on bars and 9.925 on floor on top of her perfect 10.0 on vault. She took home the vault title on the night, her 20th title this season and sixth on the event, winning at least one title in all but one competition so far this year.
In only her first year as a Tiger, Chio has earned a spot amongst the top five gymnasts in the nation for four straight weeks, currently ranking No. 5 in the all-around with her NQS of 39.670. She also sits in the top 10 nationally in the vault and beam rankings, including the No. 1 spot on vault with her NQS of 9.955 on the event.
**LSU Press Release**