The LSU Gymnastics team finished as the 2026 NCAA National Runner-Up with a team score of 198.0750 at the NCAA Championship Final on April 18 inside Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Tigers narrowly missed the top spot, falling to No. 1 Oklahoma’s score of 198.1625.
This result marks LSU’s fourth second-place finish in program history and their best season outcome since winning the national championship in 2024. The Tigers’ performance included their second-highest team score ever at an NCAA final and set a program record for bars with a rotation score of 49.6125.
Sophomore Kailin Chio made history by scoring a perfect 10.000 on vault, becoming the first LSU gymnast to achieve this at an NCAA Championship and marking only the fourteenth perfect vault score in championship history. Chio’s achievement was one of several standout performances during the meet, including strong routines from Emily Innes, Nina Ballou, Kylie Coen, Amari Drayton, Kaliya Lincoln, Lexi Zeiss, Konnor McClain, Victoria Roberts, Ashley Cowan, Madison Ulrich and Courtney Blackson.
At various points during the competition, LSU led or held close positions against Oklahoma and other finalists Florida and Minnesota through consistent scores across all rotations: floor (49.5125), vault (49.4750), bars (49.6125), and beam (49.4750). The contest came down to the final rotation on beam for LSU and floor for Oklahoma; ultimately Oklahoma overtook LSU with a strong closing performance.
Individually, McClain secured shares of both bars and beam titles with scores of 9.9500 each—bringing her season total to eight individual titles—while Chio’s perfect vault marked her thirteenth perfect score this year alone out of fourteen career-perfect routines.
LSU has previously finished as national runner-up in three other years: 2016, 2017 and 2019.
