University of Missouri
#3 LSU
No. 9 Gymnastics Visits No. 3 LSU for Top-10 Clash on Friday Night Heights
1/30/2025 7:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
Mizzou seeks its third win in four years over defending national champion LSU.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri gymnastics is set to compete against LSU on Friday at 7:30 p.m. inside Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the SEC Network's Friday Night Heights.
The nationally televised competition between No. 9 Mizzou and the defending national champion No. 3 LSU Tigers will be called by John Roethlisberger and Anastasia Webb with Taylor Davis serving as the on-site reporter.
TIGERS VS. TIGERS
-Ninth-ranked Mizzou continues its conference slate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as it travels to the bayou to compete against the defending national champions and third-ranked LSU.
-Mizzou will seek its first-ever road win at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
-In the most recent dual meet, Missouri beat LSU, who was at the time also ranked third nationally, by a 197.325-197.225 result at Hearnes Center on January 26, 2024.
-MU will look to defeat its conference opponent for the third time in four years on Friday.
THE MATCHUP
-No. 9 University of Missouri gymnastics competes against No. 3 LSU in its third conference meet of the 2025 season and second on the road.
-Mizzou is 8-49 all-time against LSU but will be seeking its third win in four seasons over its opponent.
-15 of 22 gymnasts return from LSU's 2024 national championship team, which won the title after posting a score of 198.225 in the final round of competition to beat out California, Florida and Utah.
-Through its first four meets, LSU has defeated three top-10 teams - all of which were its opponents in the 2024 NCAA Championship meet.
-In its second conference meet of the season, LSU fell on the road to Arkansas last week, dropping the contest by a score of 196.875-196.600.
-LSU holds a slight edge over MU on floor, with LSU's 49.313 average edging just past Mizzou's 49.294 through the fourth week of competition.
-LSU features 10 gymnasts in the top 25 in scoring average among the five categories on RoadToNationals compared to Mizzou's four.
WIN IN RETRO CAT CLASSIC
-In the team's conference home opener, the Tigers defeated the sixth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in the revival of the Retro Cat Classic by a 197.200-196.800 margin on Sunday.
-Mizzou notched its best team score of the season and in series history against the Wildcats.
-Four individuals accounted for six total scores of 9.900 or better - two by Amari Celestine (Wildomar, California) on bars (9.900) and floor (9.925), two by Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, New Jersey) on vault (9.000) and floor (9.925), one by Helen Hu (Chicago, Illinois) on beam (9.975) and one by Olivia Kelly (Bronx, New York) on beam (9.900).
-With the result, Mizzou gymnastics has started 6-2 overall for the second-straight year and just the third time since 2004.
-It is also MU's third-consecutive season winning in its conference home opener.
SEC SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK - AGAIN
-Hu was named SEC Specialist of the Week for the second straight week on Tuesday.
-The redshirt senior earned the award after notching a near-perfect 9.975 against No. 6 Kentucky during the Retro Cat Classic.
-Hu took her previous honor of the season after posting the first perfect 10 of the Division I collegiate gymnastics season against No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 21.
-This marks the first time since Jann. 21 and 28, 2020 and just the second time overall that a Tiger has earned the weekly specialist honors in consecutive weeks - also done by Hu.
HU DID THAT? SHE DID
-Following up her first career 10.000 against No. 1 Oklahoma, Hu nearly achieved perfection on Sunday, scoring a 9.975 during her first meet in Hearnes Center since March 10, 2023.
-Only two Mizzou gymnasts have earned multiple 10.000 scores in a single season - Moore on vault and floor in 2024 and Lauren Schwartzman on beam in 2004. Hu will look to join that list as the third in 2025.
-Hu made history in the team's meet against OU, recording the first perfect 10.000 of the 2025 NCAA Division-I women's gymnastics season and of her career during her routine on balance beam.
-She made the national spotlight since then, even being featured at No. 5 on the SportsCenter Top-10 the next day.
-Hu's performance is the fourth time a Mizzou gymnast finished with a 10 on beam, most recently done by Sienna Schreiber on March 3, 2024, against Arkansas. \
-Before last season, the feat had not been accomplished by a Tiger since Lauren Schwartzman did so twice in the 2004 campaign.
-Five of the seven 10s in Mizzou gymnastics history have come since 2023.
-Hu previously scored at least 9.950 on 15 different occasions before her first perfect 10.
-The only other time a Mizzou gymnast recorded a 10 on beam on the road was by Schwartzman on March 12, 2004, at the Texas Women's University Invitational.
-Hu spent the past year backpacking in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy and Finland with her sister Elaine.
-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.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore, a senior, has had a fantastic start to her 2025 campaign, earning a 9.900 or better in three of the team's four meets this season.
-She holds the most event titles on the team this season with five - three on floor and two on vault.
-Moore set the best vault score of 2025 thus far against No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 17, recording a 9.975. She holds the program's lone perfect 10 on vault and two additional scores of 9.975.
-The vault score against the Sooners marked the fourth time in her career to score or exceed a 9.975. She has reached the 9.900 threshold on vault 20 times.
-Moore also notched a score of 9.925 on floor for the Tigers against Kentucky, marking her second score of 9.900 or better on the apparatus for the 2025 season and the 30 time in her collegiate career, which leads the team.
THE CELESTANDARD
-In her final season of competition, Celestine has continued to impress in each meet of the year.
-The senior posted a 9.900 on bars and a 9.925 on floor, earning the event title in both events to help lead the team to its first conference win of the year against No. 6 Kentucky.
-During the team's season opener, Celestine competed all-around for the first time, taking the event title with a score of 39.350.
-She holds four event titles in 2025, including on floor at Beauty & the Beast.
KELLY IMPRESSES IN DEBUT
-In her first time in the lineup for Mizzou, freshman Kelly looked like a seasoned vet while competing on bars and beam on national television.
-She competed third on beam for the Tigers, notching a 9.900 in her first routine on the event, which was the first time a Mizzou freshman reached the threshold this season.
-She ranks ninth nationally in average on beam following the performance.
-Kelly's first routine of her collegiate career came on the uneven bars, where she went fourth in the lineup and earned a solid 9.825.
IT JUST MEANS MORE
-The Tigers moved to ninth in the country on the week four RoadToNationals rankings with a 196.694 scoring average following its impressive win over sixth-ranked Kentucky.
-All nine of the SEC gymnastics programs are in the top 14 of the rankings, with every program holding an average of 196.400 or better.
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 (Virginia Beach, Virginia),, four-star Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Michigan) and Lisa Szeibert (Wyoming, Michigan) and five-star Railey Jackson (Forest Park, Illinois) and Kelly. 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 Tanskanen notched a 9.750 on vault.
-The nation's leading transfer class featured Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, Arizona), Abby Mueller (Rochester, Minnesota), Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Virginia) and Amy Wier (St. Louis, Missouri).
-Welker has announced the program's 2025 recruiting class of four signees 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.
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 and the development of numerous All-Americans and conference honorees.
UP NEXT
-Mizzou will be on the road for the second straight week in its penultimate non-conference meet against No. 32 Illinois.
-This marks the first of two times the Tigers and Fighting Illini will compete this season, with Illinois in the field for the Zou to the Lou on Feb. 14. Mizzou and Illinois met in a pair of quad meets in 2024, with the Black & Gold standing victorious in both meets.
-The last time the programs competed in a dual meet was the opening competition in the 2023 season, where Mizzou won in Champaign, Illinois by a score of 196.425-196.275.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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Players Mentioned
