Emotions ran high as LSU lost to Oklahoma in the NCAA Gymnastics Championship finals. Zoe Miller and Tori Tatum shared an emotional hug right after, while tears flowed across the team as LSU posted the second-highest team score in program history at an NCAA Championship (198.0750), but it wasn’t enough to beat the Sooners. In hindsight, certain moments made it feel as though fate had already dealt the Tigers a tough hand. The Tigers walked in as one of the favorites, only to see their rhythm hit by forces beyond their control.

The Sooners led the pack throughout the first two rotations, albeit by the slimmest margins, leading LSU 49.600 to 49.5125 after Rotation 1 and 99.0875 to 98.875 after Rotation 2. This was despite LSU putting up big performances from Amari Drayton (9.9375 and 9.8750) and Kaliya Lincoln (9.9375 and 9.8000). However, there was uncertainty in the LSU camp because Lincoln had an injury concern right before Rotation 1.

“Lot’s of pre-meet conversations going on with Jay Clark and Kaliya Lincoln with what appeared to be her Achilles or ankle,” journalist Michael Cauble wrote on X. “She got re-taped and tested it on beam and it looks like she’s going to give it a go, but something to monitor as she will anchor Floor for LSU to start things off here at the NCAA Gym Championships.”

Yet, Lincoln scored a near-perfect 9.9375, equaled only by Drayton, while Kailin Chio finished just behind with a 9.9000. But Chio more than made up for her “poor” score by registering a perfect 10 on the vault, the first time in LSU history that a gymnast has done that at the NCAA Championship.

This moved the Tigers much closer to the Sooners, and with the uneven bars up in Rotation 3, LSU took the lead for the first time. LSU finished with a rotation score of 49.6125, the highest a team has ever managed in program history at an NCAA Championship on the bars, and pushed them into the lead.

Until tragedy struck yet again, this time twice in Rotation 4.

First up for them was Kylie Coen, and she put on one heck of a show. However, LSU once again required a judges’ review, as per Cauble, after one judge gave Coen a 9.75 and another a 9.95. That complicated things, although after the review, Coen’s performance was scored at 9.9125. It marked a great start from their leadoff, but then came the moment that gave the Sooners a chance.

Second in the Tigers’ rotation, Lexi Zeiss, added a score of 9.2375, but that was after she fell off the balance beam and had to restart her routine. It meant that the pressure was on the other four gymnasts, who responded superbly. Drayton and Lincoln scored 9.8750 and 9.8735 before McClain and Chio stepped up with scores of 9.9500 and 9.9000, but it wasn’t enough.

“I don’t know, I’ve been prouder of a team because they’re gutsy,” Clark revealed, as per LSUreville.com. “They fought and fought and fought through injury and all sorts of adversity.”

The Sooners, competing on the floor, scored 49.6375 in their final rotation, beating out the Tigers’ 49.4750. It meant they would pick up their fourth title in five years, with only the LSU Tigers stopping their streak in 2024. And yet, questions were asked of Kailin Chio, although Jay Clark put a stop to that immediately.

LSU head coach Jay Clark defends Kailin Chio

The LSU sophomore came into the NCAA Championships as the number one-ranked gymnast in the country and the odds-on favorite to win the all-around title. But despite a stunning performance in the semifinals, that title went to Faith Torrez, who just about edged out Chio for the win. Despite that loss, the LSU star picked up where she left off, never scoring below 9.9000 in the final.

That included her 13th perfect score of the season, finishing just one below the all-time NCAA record held by UCLA’s Kyla Ross. It meant that Chio finished her 2026 season with five perfect 10s on vault, five on the beam, and three on the floor, a remarkable record. And yet, questions were raised about whether she could have scored one more, which would have secured the title for the Tigers.

But head coach Jay Clark immediately shut down those questions, asserting that the sophomore has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of after her performance.

“I mean, we can’t put that on that kid,” Clark said, as per Collegefootballnetwork.news. “She snatches, she’s snatched. I’ve said this before, she’s snatched us out of the fire so many times. It was a team effort, top to bottom.

“I’ve told you all from the jump, as spectacular as she is, and especially on vault, that streak and all the things, even in the midst of all you talking about it all the time, she’s been able to maintain that yakety yak yak cobble, but even in the midst of all of that, she’s been able to maintain a mindset of excellence, and she’s hard on herself.

“She wants that 10th back, of course, but everybody on the team can find a 10th where they could have done something better. So it’s that kid has nothing to be ashamed of.”

And Clark is right, because Chio’s season was so dominant that, going into her junior year, she sits within reach of Haleigh Bryant’s program record of 18 career perfect 10 scores. It means that she has her junior and senior seasons to break it, giving her plenty of chances to make history, even if this final may play on her mind.

That’s exactly what Clark is counting on next season. They’ve done it before, which means Clark knows better than anyone that the gap between dominance and defeat in NCAA gymnastics is razor thin, and next season may come down to even smaller margins than the ones LSU couldn’t quite control in this final.