Kailin Chio quite literally dominated this season, but her recent historic performance suggests that she was saving her best for LSU’s last regular-season meet.

The 19-year-old LSU star pushed the Tigers to a 198.075-197.100 victory over Arkansas on March 13. However, she did it while etching her name into the NCAA’s history. And ESPNW’s X post summed up her feat perfectly.

“ALL THREE of Kailin Chio’s Perfect 10s of the night”, the caption read. “Chio is the first NCAA gymnast to score a Perfect 10 in all three events in a meet when only competing in three events.”

Chio competed on the vault, beam, and floor and hit all of them with perfect 10s. While she is the 7th NCAA gymnast to score 3 or more perfect 10s in one meet, the LSU star is the first in the NCAA to hit a perfect score in all the events she took part in.

But amidst the roaring crowd, team celebrations, and a perfect individual stat, Chio had a different layup in her mind when she approached the game, closely resembling her coach’s mindset.

Kailin Chio Echoed Coach Jay Clark’s Mindset

The Tigers' coach, Jay Clark, always mentioned that a better performance can only be achieved by walking on the path paved by the seniors. And before performing, Chio looked at sophomores Victoria Roberts and Kaliya Lincoln’s scores.

“In the meeting earlier today, we just talked about honouring each other with our actions,” Chio said. “And that’s exactly what I thought about tonight, and just was free of mind. I tell the team to compete freely, it works best for me, so I’m hoping that for the rest of the team [it] clicks for them too.”

However, the coach feels that “there’s still growth to be had” heading to the postseason. Although it is not mostly physical, “It’s just about trusting what they feel themselves do every single day, when the environment changes.”

Moving forward, LSU will begin the postseason at the SEC championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 21.

How do you think Chio’s upcoming performances will look? Let us know.

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Written by

Deblina Roy

Edited by

Souvik Roy