“From starting this elite journey when I was 5 years old and becoming a senior elite at the age of 16 has been nothing short of amazing experiences and memories… but as I have grown and gotten older, things have shifted and injuries have taken a huge toll on my body,” Kailin Chio shared on the Instagram. Kailin was once among the rising names in American gymnastics. In 2021, she won the American Classic title on vault, bars, and the all-around, then helped Team USA win gold at the Junior Pan American Championships. Olympic hopes? Oh, they were alive and kicking. But injuries changed that route. Today, she’s part of LSU Tigers’ NCAA squad, helping them reach the regional finals, and Kailin has something to say about the accomplishment!
The top-seeded LSU Gymnastics team just keeps rolling! On Thursday night, they put up another brilliant performance, scoring a massive 198.100 to win their NCAA Penn State Regional second round. That’s three straight trips to the Regional Finals now, talk about consistency! Freshman star Kailin Chio shared the spotlight with senior Aleah Finnegan, both taking home individual titles in the floor exercise with a 9.925 and in the all-around with a 39.625. So what’s behind LSU’s streak of 198+ scores late in the season? Chio says it’s all about staying grounded.
“In the gym every day, we’ve just kind of talked about consistency is key,” she told LSU Gymnastics after the meet. “We come in here and every time we compete we just talk about basics. We don’t need to hit home runs, we don’t need to do anything out of the extraordinary.
Adding on she said, “We just need to do what we know how to do and things will play out as they should.”
And that approach clearly works. As a result, LSU crushed it on every event, putting up only 9.900s or higher on three of the four apparatus. In particular, on beam, they were nearly flawless, tying for the second-best regional score in program history, with Finnegan anchoring a 9.950. As they look ahead to Saturday’s final, don’t expect a shake-up in mindset.
“The same thing. Nothing changes just because it’s going to a final,” Chio said with confidence. “Every single day and every single time we compete we want to get a little bit better, but we’re not striving for something that’s bigger than what it should be. We’re just trying to do our normal.”
What @kailin_chio said.
Base hits. pic.twitter.com/UgnRBpz5Dv
— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) April 4, 2025
And despite it being her first NCAA championship run, Chio didn’t look rattled at all. “I don’t think it was anything different,” she added. “I think we knew what was on the line, but this team has done so well just trying not to make it bigger than it should.”
LSU Tigers’ Kailin Chio named 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year
The numbers say it all. The presence? Even louder. Kailin Chio, LSU Tigers’ breakout star, has been named the 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year, announced by the Southeastern Conference in its annual gymnastics awards in March end and what a freshman season it’s been! From Henderson, Nevada to Baton Rouge, Chio has gone from rising talent to national force in just one season. She’s the the top freshman in the SEC, And she’s still in her very first postseason run with the Tigers!
She didn’t just walk away with one honor either. Chio was also named to the All-SEC and All-Freshman Team. With this, she became the fourth gymnast in LSU history to win Freshman of the Year. Only Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson, and April Burkholder have done it before her. Want stats? Chio’s debut has already been called historic, and for good reason. She’s competed in the all-around in every single meet this season. She owns a perfect 10 on vault, 9.950s on bars and beam, a 9.975 on floor, and a whopping 39.800 all-around score, the highest ever by an LSU freshman and the highest in the country right now.
She’s been a top-five gymnast in the nation for five straight weeks, with veteran-level numbers from meet one. With a 39.670 NQS in the all-around, Chio has spent eight of twelve weeks ranked inside the top 10 nationally. She even claimed the No. 1 spot on vault in two weeks.
But there’s more! Chio is the first freshman this season to record a 10, and her vault against Auburn? A perfect Yurchenko one and a half. Only the fourth perfect score in the country this year.
And here’s the clincher, nine SEC Freshman of the Week honors in 2025. That’s a new record, breaking the previous mark of eight set by Florida’s Kayla DiCello. She also shattered LSU’s own record held by Haleigh Bryant. Freshman year? This has been a full-on breakout. And it’s far from over.
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