University of Missouri
#12 Georgia
Gymnastics Tops Georgia with Best Team Score of Season
2/21/2025 10:30:00 PM | Gymnastics
The Tigers move to 3-2 in SEC action, tied for third in the conference.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri gymnastics posted its best team score of the season en route to defeating Georgia for the 10th-consecutive meet, 197.425-197.350, on Friday at Hearnes Center before 3,700 spectators.
Eighth-ranked Mizzou (11-3, 3-2 SEC) posted 10 scores of at least a 9.900 to earn its best start to a season since 2009. The Tigers and 12th-ranked Bulldogs (4-5, 2-3 SEC) were tied heading into the final routine of the fourth rotation, where Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) scored 9.925 to seal the win.
Missouri's 197.425 marks the fifth-straight meet to reach an overall score of 197.000. The team accumulated 10 scores of at least 9.900, including three by Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.).
The Tigers notch their 11th win of the year, which marks the third time under head coach Shannon Welker the team has reached the number in the regular season.
SHOW STOPPERS
Celestine led the team, tying season bests on vault (9.900) and floor (9.950) and adding a 9.925 on bars. The senior has reached five-consecutive scores of at least 9.900 on bars and reached 9.925 on floor in four of the last five meets.
Redshirt senior Helen Hu (Chicago) performed another near-perfect routine on beam and earned 9.975. This marks the fourth time this season to hit the threshold, highlighted by her first perfect 10 at Oklahoma on Jan. 17.
Griffin's result on floor followed her first 10 as well, which she earned at Zou to the Lou last week. She has earned a 9.900 on the apparatus in 13 career routines.
Junior Addison Lawrence (Olathe, Kan.) set a career-best score on bars with 9.900 in her first routine on the apparatus since the Tigers took on the Sooners in Norman, Okla. Her previous best was set on Jan. 20, 2023, at LSU with a score of 9.850.
In her debut on floor, freshman Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) scored 9.900. She joins Hu and Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) as the only two freshmen in the past five seasons to earn at least 9.900 in their first career routine in an event.
Horton, a sophomore, tied her season-best vault score of 9.925, which she previously recorded at LSU on Jan. 31. She also claimed the event title on the apparatus for the second time this season, the other also coming at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Redshirt junior Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) recorded her Tiger-best score on floor of 9.925 from the lead-off spot. She has earned at least 9.875 in all but one routine on floor this season.
Graduate student Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) has continued to be one of the best on bars in the nation this season, posting 9.900 from the anchor position on Friday evening. She entered the meet ranked 10th nationally in national qualifying score (NQS) in the event.
RECAP
Vault
-Mizzou totaled 49.125 on its first rotation of the evening.
-The Tigers saw a pair of gymnasts earn 9.900 or better – Horton (9.925) and Celestine (9.900).
-Horton's score notched her second vault title in 2025.
-Celestine's result marked her second 9.900 this season. She has anchored the rotation in all but two meets this season.
-Freshmen Railey Jackson (Park Forest, Ill.) and Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) performed their first- and second-career routines on vault, respectively.
Uneven Bars
-Missouri earned 49.425, its second-best team score on bars this season. This also ties for the sixth-best score in program history.
-Both Lawrence (9.900) and Kelly (9.850) earned personal bests.
-Celestine's 9.925 ties for the second-best individual result on bars this season. Her 9.950 at Zou to the Lou ranks first in 2025 for the Tigers.
-Titarsolej's result puts her at 34-career scores of 9.900 or better on bars, the most on the team. She accounts for five of the team's top 14 individual results on the apparatus this season.
Beam
-Mizzou's 49.325 on balance beam ties for the second-best team score on the event this year.
-Hu nearly achieved perfection yet again, nailing her routine and becoming one of two gymnasts to record four scores of at least 9.975 on beam this season.
-Junior Amy Wier (St. Louis) led the rotation for the Tigers and scored 9.875, her third-straight meet reaching the score.
-Lawrence's 9.875 marked her fourth-best career performance in the event and second-best in 2025.
-Jackson is the only freshman on the team to have appeared in the lineup in a single event this year, averaging 9.809 on beam.
Floor
-Missouri capped off the night by posting 49.550 on the floor exercise to clinch the team's 11th win of the year.
-The Tigers have scored at least 49.475 on floor in three-straight meets.
-Celestine (9.950), Griffin (9.925), Tisler (9.925) and Tanskanen (9.900) all received at least 9.900 on their routines.
-With the teams tied at 197.325, Griffin stepped into the moment and clinched Mizzou's third Southeastern Conference win of the year.
UP NEXT
Missouri heads to Gainesville to compete against fifth-ranked Florida on Friday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. at Exectech Arena on SEC Network's Friday Night Heights.
The Tigers last competed against the Gators at the 2024 rendition of the Zou to the Lou Quad, where Florida won the meet with a team score of 197.925. Mizzou will be looking to earn its first win against UF since March 2, 2018, where the Tigers took down the No. 5 Gators at Hearnes Center, 196.925-196.700.
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Players Mentioned
