STATE COLLEGE, Penn. – The top-seeded LSU Gymnastics team claimed their spot in NCAA Penn State Regional Final after scoring a 198.100 in the second round on Thursday night in Rec Hall.
LSU’s 198.100 topped the evening session, with No. 16 Arkansas coming in second with a 197.550 to join the Tigers in advancing to the next round of regionals. Michigan and Maryland were eliminated from the competition with scores of 197.050 and 196.825 respectively.
The Tigers claimed at least a share of three individual titles on the night. Senior Aleah Finnegan claimed a share of the beam title (9.950), floor (9.925) and the all around (39.625). The 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year Kailin Chio joined her teammate, also claiming a share of the floor (9.925) and all around (39.625) titles.
“We did what we needed to do. The team stayed in the right headspace with our base hit mentality like we did at SEC’s,” said head coach Jay Clark. “I talked to them about joy and intensity this week. Those seem like two different things, but it’s not an either or thing for us, it’s an ‘and’ because we need to have both. That’s our model for success.”
“They did a great job of staying in that mindset tonight. We didn’t execute everything flawlessly, but it was certainly enough and we stayed pretty even with our NQS.”
LSU opened the night on the floor, where sophomore Kylie Coen marked her NCAA postseason debut with a 9.875. Senior Sierra Ballard scored a 9.0 in the second spot, followed by a strong 9.925 from Chio in spot three. The fourth spot saw sophomore Drayton post a 9.900 ahead of a 9.925 from Finnegan to keep the high scores coming. The anchor spot saw senior Haleigh Bryant score a 9.900 to give the Tigers five counting scores at a 9.90 or above on their first rotation.
The Tigers held the top spot of the four teams after the first rotation with a 49.550. The strong score on the floor marked the fourth highest floor score at an NCAA Regional in program history.
Rotation two took the Tigers to vault, where senior KJ Johnson opened things up with a 9.900. Freshman Lexi Zeiss did not flinch in the second spot as she scored a 9.90 in her first NCAA postseason routine on vault. The third spot had Finnegan score a 9.85, followed by a 9.90 from Drayton in spot four. Chio posted a 9.90 of her own in the fifth spot before Bryant anchored the rotation for the Tigers with a 9.90. With the Tigers counting five scores of 9.90, the rotation total came out to a 49.500.
At the halfway point, LSU’s 99.050 remained on top of the four teams in the session.
The third rotation saw LSU move to the uneven bars. Zeiss set the tone for the rotation with a 9.900 in the leadoff spot, followed by a strong 9.925 from junior Ashley Cowan in spot two. Three straight 9.900s followed, with Chio, Finnegan and sophomore Konnor McClain all posting the same score in that order. Bryant anchored the rotation with a 9.875, which meant for the third straight event the Tigers counted only scores of 9.900 or higher. The team’s 49.525 score tied for the second highest in program history at an NCAA regional.
Heading into the final rotation of the night, LSU’s 148.575 was the top score of the group, with Arkansas’ 148.075 trailing in second.
The Tigers ended the night on the beam and were led off by a 9.850 from Ballard in the opening spot. The second spot saw Coen score a 9.875 before Chio added a 9.900 in spot three. McClain carried momentum from a solid floor performance to the beam, where she scored a 9.900 before Bryant posted a 9.900 of her after her in the fifth spot. The final performance of the night fell to Finnegan, who scored a 9.950 to bring the rotation score to a solid 49.525, which tied for the second highest beam score in program history at an NCAA Regional.
LSU wrapped up the night with a 198.100, the third highest score at an NCAA Regional in program history, comfortably booking their spot into the regional final round on Saturday. It marks the third consecutive season that the Tigers advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Finnegan will take a part of the Penn State Regional Beam title with her 9.950 performance on the night. She shares the title with Kentucky’s Isabella Magnelli and Maryland’s Maddie Komoroski. The individual regional title marks her second straight after taking home the floor title in the Fayetteville Regional last year.
With her three event titles in the second session, Finnegan now owns 41 titles in her career while Chio moved her total to 22.
The Tigers and Razorbacks will be joined by No. 8 Michigan State and No. 9 Kentucky in Saturday’s final after they finished in the top two in the afternoon session earlier in the day. Michigan State took home the top spot of the afternoon session with a 197.625 while Kentucky finished in second with a 197.525, eliminating Ohio State (196.400) and regional host Penn State (196.225) in the process.
LSU, Arkansas, Michigan State and Kentucky will compete in the regional final at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 5. The top two teams in the regional final will advance to the NCAA semifinal round in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 17. Action from Saturday’s regional final will be streamed on ESPN+.
What @kailin_chio said.
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) April 4, 2025
Base hits. pic.twitter.com/UgnRBpz5Dv
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