Kailin Chio and Kaliya Lincoln Win Major Awards, 8 Named All-SEC

LSU gymnasts cleaned up in the SEC awards announced by the conference office Tuesday. LSU gymnast Kailin Chio won the Gymnast of the Year award. She is the fifth gymnast to win Gymnast of the Year immediately after winning Freshman of the Year, joining Andreé Pickens, April Burkholder, Julie Dwyer and Trinity Thomas.

LSU now has nine of these awards won by seven different gymnasts. Kaliya Lincoln was also named Co-Specialist of the Year alongside Florida’s Skye Blakely, an all-arounder in the last three meets, and Mizzou’s Hannah Horton, the third consecutive Mizzou gymnast to win this award. The Specialist of the Year award wasn’t introduced until 2014, so LSU’s six awards of this type already is quite impressive.

That said, Kaliya and Kailin winning their respective awards marks the first time ever that the same team had a Gymnast of the Year and a Specialist of the Year. In the other major awards, KJ Kindler of Oklahoma took home SEC Coach of the Year for the first time. Morgan Price became the second-ever Newcomer of the Year, given to a transfer instead of a freshman.

The SEC named Alabama’s Azaraya Ra-Akbar and Oklahoma’s Mackenzie Estep Co-Freshmen of the Year. LSU also had eight gymnasts earn All-SEC honors for their performances at Saturday’s SEC Championship. These are awarded to gymnasts who earn a top four score on an event and in the all-around in their respective session of the championship.