For eight straight weeks, Jordan Chiles sat comfortably at the top of the NCAA all-around rankings. Week after week, her scores held firm. Clean landings. Confident floor routines. In week nine, things changed as a 19-year-old from LSU surged past her after climbing into the top spot nationally, which ended Chiles’s reign on top of the table.

On March 4, Kailin Chio, a sophomore, performed at the fourth annual Purple and Gold Podium Challenge in Baton Rouge, and it changed the national image. LSU defied the odds and won the meet with 198.200, which was its season high, and was ahead of No. 13 Alabama, North Carolina, and Arizona. And Chio was the key to that outcome.

She scored another perfect 10.0 on balance beam, her fourth beam perfect 10 of the season and the seventh perfect 10 of her college career. It was also her third straight meet with a perfect score on beam. And on uneven bars, she posted a career high 9.950, lifting LSU’s rotation total. And now, as the NCAA rankings list is out, which is based on National Qualifying Score, it seems that in that list, she surpassed Jordan Chiles.

After the Baton Rouge meet, Chio’s all-around NQS climbed to 39.725, just ahead of Chiles’ 39.710. That slim margin was enough to move her into the No. 1 position nationally at the start of week nine. And with it, Chio now leads the country on vault and balance beam as well. However, Chiles still holds the top spot on floor exercise.

But there is another layer to this battle. Chio and Jordan Chiles are also ranked No. 1 and No. 2 nationally in perfect 10s this season. Chio has six. Chiles has five. The numbers show just how close this race has been. But at the same time, the Oklahoma Sooners remain No. 1 with a 197.943 Team NQS. LSU Tigers are right there at 197.836.

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The NQS formula involves adding the best scores of a team, dropping the highest score, and the average of the remaining scores. Consistency is as key a factor as breaking moments. And yes, Jordan Chiles may have slipped from the No. 1 spot, but she is not someone who unravels when that happens.

Jordan Chiles’ never-give-up spirit

Jordan Chiles does not fold when things get tough. If anything, her past has trained her for moments like this. Like at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Chiles stood on the podium with a bronze medal on the floor alongside Simone Biles. That moment was historic as the first time three Black women shared an Olympic gymnastics podium. However, the medal was soon withdrawn after a technical appeals court ruled on a timely counter-appeal from another team’s coach.

The bronze was rescinded, forcing her to return it, and Chiles later described the experience as devastating. Instead of walking away, Chiles leaned into the sport and her life at the UCLA Bruins. She began to find joy in competing again and used gymnastics as a way to heal after the Paris experience. Team environments, supportive teammates, and strong NCAA performances helped her rediscover love for the sport.

She has been doing well this season with UCLA. Chiles has already scored 10s, and even on new floor routines she created as a means of artistic expression following the Olympics. And all this happened due to her life mantra. Chiles has explained how she steadies herself when pressure builds. “I’m always going to look back at myself in that mirror and be like, ‘You know what? I’m that girl.’ Yes, I’ve gone through the struggles, the hard times, but I can still wake up and feel like I’m that girl,” she said.

That belief is not tied to a ranking. It is built from experience. So if Jordan Chiles has been edged out of the top spot, history suggests one thing. She will not retreat. She will respond. The next glimpse of that mindset could come on March 7, 2026, when the UCLA Bruins travel to face the Stanford Cardinals at Stanford.