University of Missouri
#1 Oklahoma
No. 10 Gymnastics Visit Top-Ranked Sooners to Open SEC Competition
1/16/2025 11:30:00 AM | Gymnastics
Mizzou serves as Oklahoma’s first meet as an SEC gymnastics program.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 10 University of Missouri gymnastics opens Southeastern Conference action with a road meet against rival No. 1 Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
THE MATCHUP
-No. 10 University of Missouri gymnastics travels for its first road meet of conference action, taking on the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center.
-Mizzou is 12-60-1 all-time against Oklahoma and will be seeking its highest-ranked win in program history on Friday evening.
-The Sooners return 17 of its 24 routines from the 2024 season, when they finished 36-2 overall and sixth at the NCAA Championship.
-Through its first two meets, both of which were quad meets, Oklahoma posted scores of 197.550 and 197.950 at the American Gold Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Classic and the Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad, respectively.
-The Sooners are 6-0 and own head-to-head wins against Auburn, BYU, California, LSU, Nebraska and Utah.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SHOW STOPPERS
-Three Missouri gymnasts earned event titles in their respective events at the Denver Quad Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) on bars and Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) and Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, New Jersey) on floor.
-Titarsolej's score of 9.900 is the 30th time in her career that she has reached or surpassed the mark on bars.
-Three of Mizzou's six individuals competing on floor, including Griffin and Moore's 9.925 as well as Hannah Horton's (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota) 9.900, earned scores of 9.900 or better. MU was the only team in the meet with a gymnast to reach or exceed the score.
-Mizzou took the highest floor score of the meet with 49.450. Through two weeks of competition, the Tigers' floor score at the Denver Quad ranks sixth nationally.
-Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Virginia) debuted in the Black & Gold, competing third on floor and notching a 9.875.
WELCOMING THE SOONERS
-Mizzou's Southeastern Conference opener at Oklahoma serves as the Sooners' first gymnastics meet as a member of the SEC.
-In the Tigers' 12 SEC openers, the team averages a score of 195.331, with its highest of 196.975 coming in a win at Georgia on Jan. 13, 2023.
-This also marks the first of three meets this season Missouri will be featured on the SEC Network's "Friday Night Heights." In four regular season meets on the network in 2024, MU averaged an impressive score of 197.068.
BOP TO THE TOP
-Mizzou scored a season and meet-best 49.450 on the floor exercise at the Denver Quad.
-Three different Tigers earned scores of at least 9.900 or better.
-In fact, Missouri was the only team with one individual reaching or exceeding the mark at the meet.\
-Griffin and Moore both won the event title with a 9.925, MU's first in the event this season.
-Through two meets, Missouri slots at No. 6 on floor nationally with a 49.325 average, its best in both categories of any event.
THE EARLY REVIEWS ARE IN
-Following the team's second meet at the Denver Quad on Sunday, Jan. 12, Mizzou gymnastics stands 5-1 in the early season.
-The team's record is the best start in its first six results since also opening 5-1 in the 2017 season.
-Mizzou continues to hold its place toward the top of the sport, standing at No. 10 in the country heading into its matchup against top-ranked Oklahoma.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore notched a score of 9.925 on floor for the Tigers at the Denver Quad, marking her first score of 9.900 or better on the apparatus for the 2025 season and the 29th time in her collegiate career, which leads the team.
-With the floor title, Moore became one of three SEC gymnasts to take first in an event in the first two meets of the season.
NOT OFF TO A ROCKY START
-Freshman Railey Jackson (Park Forest, Illinois) was one of two freshmen at the Denver Quad to place in the top 10 of both beam and floor.
-Her 9.825 on floor matched her first routine score during Mizzou's season-opening meet at Beauty and the Beast on Jan. 3.
IT JUST MEANS MORE
-The Tigers moved to 10th in the country on the week two RoadToNationals poll with a 196.413 scoring average.
-All nine of the SEC gymnastics programs are in the top 17 of the rankings, with every program holding an average of 195.875 or better.
-Mizzou's No. 9 preseason ranking by the WCGA ties the program's highest in the last 10 years and is the second time in the last three years the Tigers have cracked the top 10, also starting the year ninth in the nation in 2023.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED
-Director of Athletics Laird Veatch announced on Thursday, Jan. 2 that gymnastics head coach Shannon Welker has signed a contract extension to remain at the helm of the program through 2029.
-Since taking over Mizzou's program in May of 2013, Welker has transformed the Tigers into a consistent contender on the national stage.
-He has led the program to historic milestones, including multiple NCAA Championship appearances, record-breaking team scores, home attendance records along and the development of numerous All-Americans and conference honorees.
GUESS HU'S BACK?
-Helen Hu (Chicago, Illinois), a two-time NCAA All-American and three-time All-SEC gymnast, has returned to University of Missouri gymnastics and will use her final year of eligibility to compete in the 2025 campaign. Hu spent the past year backpacking in European, South American and Asian countries.
-Her best performance of the early season came at the Denver Quad, where she earned a 9.875 on beam.
-The redshirt senior holds career highs of 9.975 three times on the balance beam and 9.950 twice on bars, placing her tied for third and second in the program's record books for the respective competitions.
-Between beam and bars, Hu has earned a 9.900 or better 36 times between the two events.
-In her most recent season of competition, the 2023 campaign, Hu competed in all 13 meets and posted a 9.900 or better on beam in 10 of them.
-She earned second team All-America status in the event and was on the end-of-season All-SEC team.
-Notably, Hu reached a 9.975 on beam for the third time in her collegiate career during the team's quad meet on March 10.
2024 WRAPPED – A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR
-The Mizzou gymnastics program broke more than 25 records in the 2024 season, most notably setting the team-high score on all four events.
-Seven Tigers earned All-SEC selections, the most of any team in the conference, and three were named WCGA All-Americans.
-Missouri set a new dual meet attendance record during its Jan. 26, 2024 win over No. 3 LSU with 7,336 spectators as the program earned its highest-ranked win in history.
-The Tigers had their best season ever on vault, earning a score of at least 49.000 in every meet for the first time ever.
-Titarsolej, Sienna Schreiber and Moore all earned perfect 10s during the year – Titarsolej on bars, Schreiber on beam and Moore on floor.
-The team also set its highest-ever NQS score of 197.420. In addition, Missouri also broke its best NQS score on floor (49.575), bars (49.420) and vault (49.340). Its ranking of eighth on floor and 11th on bars is its highest end-of-year ranking.
STAR-STUDDED TIGERS JOIN THE AMBUSH
-After a historic 2024 season, Welker signed the sixth-ranked freshman class and top-ranked transfer class, according to CollegeGymNews.com.
-The freshman class was comprised of three-star Ayla Acevedo, four-stars Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Michigan) and Lisa Szeibert (Wyoming, Michigan) and five-stars Jackson and Olivia Kelly (Bronx, New York). Jackson and Tanskanen were the lone two first-year student-athletes to compete in the first week, with Jackson earning scores of 9.800 on beam and 9.825 on floor while Taskanen notched a 9.750 on vault.
-The nation's leading transfer class featured Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, Arizona) Abby Mueller (Rochester, Ilinois), Tisler and Amy Wier (St. Louis, Missouri).
-Welker has announced the program's 2025 recruiting class of four signees on Nov. 11, 2024, consisting of CollegeGymNews.com five-star Kimarra Echols, Bryce Kupbens, three-star Maiya Terry and four-star Hayli Westerlind.
-The Tigers' class ranks 11th nationally and fifth in the SEC, according to CollegeGymNews.com. This marks the third time since 2021 that MU has welcomed a top-11 class nationally.
UP NEXT
-Mizzou will be on the road again for its next meet as they travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on second-ranked LSU.
-Missouri scored its highest-ranked win in program history in 2024 when it hosted eventual national champion LSU, who was the No. 3 team in the country at the time. MU is seeking its third regular-season win over LSU in four years.
SEASON TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Season ticket renewals for the 2025 Mizzou gymnastics season are on sale now at MUTigers.com/Tickets. In addition to hosting "Beauty and the Beast" for the team's regular-season opener, the Tigers will host SEC home duals against Kentucky, Georgia and Auburn.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest on Mizzou gymnastics, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
Players Mentioned
