{"id":183712,"date":"2026-03-09T02:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/183712\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T02:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:45:09","slug":"no-2-lsu-gymnastics-falls-198-450-198-325-to-no-4-florida-in-final-regular-season-road-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/183712\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2 LSU Gymnastics Falls 198.450-198.325 To No. 4 Florida In Final Regular-Season Road Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LSU-gymnastics-678x381.jpeg\" alt=\"Courtney Blackson, LSU\" title=\"LSU gymnastics\"\/><br \/>\nThe No. 2 LSU gymnastics team fell 198.450-198.325 to No. 4 Florida on Sunday in its final regular-season road meet. (Photo by LSU Athletics)<\/p>\n<p>By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter <\/p>\n<p>The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team fell 198.450-198.325 to No. 4 Florida on Sunday evening at the Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O\u2019Connell Center.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the loss, LSU matched its highest score of the year, posting a 198.325 on the road and boosting its NQS average once again.<\/p>\n<p>LSU (10-3-1, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) opened its meet in Gainesville Sunday on uneven bars. Sophomore Lexi Zeiss led off with a 9.70 after taking an extra step, followed by senior Ashley Cowan, who scored a 9.30 after a fall in the second spot. Junior Madison Ulrich then posted a 9.90 to stop the bleeding. Both Chio and fifth-year senior Courtney Blackson delivered impressive 9.90s in the fourth and fifth positions. Junior Konnor McClain anchored with a season-high 9.975, giving LSU a bars total of 49.375.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our bars anchor, everyone.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_KonnorMcClain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@_KonnorMcClain<\/a> closes with a 9.975!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa SEC Network <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zex3KN2Dwx\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/zex3KN2Dwx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LSUgym\/status\/2030771863056490813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 8, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>After one rotation, LSU and Florida (11-2, 5-2 SEC) were tied at 49.375 each. The Tigers moved to vault for the second rotation of the night.<\/p>\n<p>Zeiss led off the vault lineup with a 9.825 after taking a step back on her landing. McClain followed with a season-high 9.925 in the second spot, while sophomore Victoria Roberts scored 9.850 in the third. Sophomore Kaliya Lincoln dazzled in the fourth position with a career-high 9.975, followed by junior Amari Drayton, who also posted a career-high 9.975 in the fifth. Chio anchored with another strong 9.975, giving LSU a season-high vault total of 49.700.<\/p>\n<p>The Tigers\u2019 49.700 was their second-best vault score in program history.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WELL HELLO LINC <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a career high 9.975 for Kaliya! <\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa SEC Network | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KaliyaLincoln?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@KaliyaLincoln<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y5XitIZXt6\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/y5XitIZXt6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LSUgym\/status\/2030774347355378106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 8, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>LSU held a slim 99.075-99.000 lead over Florida at the halfway point. The Tigers moved to floor for the third rotation, aiming to create some breathing room.<\/p>\n<p>Senior Emily Innes led off with a steady 9.850, followed by freshman Nina Ballou, who added a 9.875 in the second spot. Junior Kylie Coen delivered a 9.925 in the third position, and Amari Drayton posted a strong 9.900 in the fourth. Chio contributed a 9.925 in the fifth spot, and Kaliya Lincoln returned to the floor lineup for the first time since the Auburn meet, anchoring with a season-high 9.975 to give LSU a floor total of 49.600.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Blocked out the noise. Our anchor delivers. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KaliyaLincoln?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@KaliyaLincoln<\/a> matches her career high and closes with a 9.975!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa SEC Network <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KqNhN3CMps\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/KqNhN3CMps<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LSUgym\/status\/2030783541559066801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 8, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Florida held a narrow 148.700-148.675 lead over LSU heading into the fourth and final event of the night. The Tigers moved to balance beam.<\/p>\n<p>Coen led off the balance beam lineup with a 9.825 in Sunday\u2019s final rotation. Zeiss scored 9.875 in the second spot, followed by Drayton, who posted a strong 9.950 in the third position. Lincoln added a season-high 9.950 in the fourth spot, and McClain continued her dominant night with a 9.900 in the fifth. Chio anchored with a very strong 9.975, giving the Tigers a beam total of 49.650, tying their highest beam score of the season.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The beam queen herself with a strong close in Gainesville<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kailin_chio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@kailin_chio<\/a> anchors with a 9.975!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa SEC Network <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NduTbOqtny\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/NduTbOqtny<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LSUgym\/status\/2030791016223998233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 8, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Up Next<\/p>\n<p>LSU will host No. 8 Arkansas (5-6-1, 2-4-1 SEC) on senior night this Friday for its regular-season finale at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7:30 p.m., SEC Network+).<\/p>\n<p>\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team fell 198.450-198.325 to No. 4 Florida on Sunday in its final regular-season&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[86468,28,30,29,86469,86470,86471,86472,62],"class_list":["post-183712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-amari-draytn","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-jay-clark","tag-kailin-chio","tag-kaliya-lincoln","tag-lsu-gymnastics","tag-sec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}