University of Missouri
#6 Florida
Mizzou Heads to Gainesville for Top-10 Contest Against Florida
2/27/2025 12:33:00 PM | Gymnastics
The No. 8 Tigers look to earn their sixth-consecutive win against the No. 6 Gators.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 8 University of Missouri gymnastics will compete in its sixth Southeastern Conference meet on Friday at 5 p.m. at No. 6 Florida at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The meet will be featured on SEC Network's Friday Night Heights. Alex Perlman will be calling play-by-play, while Bridget Sloan will serve as the analyst.
THE MATCHUP
-Mizzou travels to Gainesville to compete against Florida for its sixth SEC meet of the 2025 season.
-The No. 6 Gators are coming off a loss from No. 1 Oklahoma while the No. 8 Tigers are riding a five-meet win streak.
-MU ranks higher than UF in team NQS on floor and bars, while UF holds the advantage on vault and beam.
-Florida has six individuals ranked in their respective events compared to Missouri's five.
-The Tigers last faced 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, when the Tigers defeated the No. 5 Gators at Hearnes Center, 196.925-196.700.
LOCKDOWN ON BARS
-Missouri enters its upcoming meet ranking fourth on uneven bars nationally in national qualifying score (NQS), good for its highest NQS ranking since March 13, 2006.
-Three of the top-10 scores in program history have come in 2025 - 49.475 against Illinois, which ranks third, and 49.425 at Beauty and the Beast and against Georgia this past week, which ties for seventh.
-The team is led by Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.) and Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) who rank sixth and 10th in the event individually, respectively. This is the third time in program history a pair of teammates have been ranked in the top 10 of an event together at the same time.
-Five Tigers rank in the top 100 on bars.
FAB FLOOR TAKEOVER
-Mizzou's floor squad could be one of the best in program history. The team ranks fifth in NQS at 49.445.
-The Tigers notched their best score on floor ever with 49.725 at Zou to the Lou, beating its previous best of 49.700 at the Illinois Quad last season. This ranks as the third-best team score on the event this season.
-The Fab Floor has scored at least 49.400 in five of its eight meets this season.
-Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) scored 10.000 in her floor routine, becoming the fourth gymnast this season to achieve perfection in the event. She is the second Mizzou gymnast to score 10.000 on floor and ranks 28th in the country in NQS.
-The Tigers are led by Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, N.J.)_on the apparatus, who ranks 13th in the event. She has scored at least 9.900 in her previous four routines and reached 9.925 four times this season.
-Four MU gymnasts rank in the top 40 of the event in NQS - Moore (13), Celestine (23), Griffin (28) and Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) (39).
DON'T LET THE TIGERS GET HOT
-Mizzou has been on fire in 2025, with its 11-3 record marking its best start to a season since 2009.
-The Tigers rank tied for third in the Southeastern Conference standings after week eight, fourth in NQS and is one of eight in the country with at least 197 for its team NQS.
-For the fourth time in last the five years, Mizzou owns two top-15 dual meet wins in a season.
THE CELESTANDARD
-In her final season of competition, Celestine has continued to impress in each meet of the year, most recently setting a new personal-best all-around score of 39.625 at Zou to the Lou on Feb. 14, which ties the seventh-best in program history.
-With her result against Georgia on bars, Celestine became the only Tiger since 1999 to record five-straight scores of at least 9.900 in the event. Only two gymnasts have done so four times in a row - Titarsolej in 2024 and Jodie Heinicka in 2006.
-Celestine led the Tigers on bars with a career-high score of 9.950, the highest score for Missouri on bars this season, earning a share of the event title at Zou to the Lou.
-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 seven event titles in 2025.
GRIFFIN ETCHES NAME IN RECORD BOOKS
-Griffin's performance at Zou to the Lou is the second 10.000 on floor a Mizzou gymnast has received, joining teammate Moore who achieved the feat at the Illinois Quad on March 17, 2024. She is the sixth Tiger to score a 10, five of which have come since 2023.
-Mizzou is one of three schools to achieve the top mark in multiple events this season.
-Griffin became the second-youngest individual to achieve the score both this year and in program history.
-As a team, the Tigers' NQS of 49.445 ranks fifth. Griffin now ranks 28th nationally in the event.
-Griffin's SEC Specialist of the Week honors marks her second weekly conference award, earning Freshman of the Week on Jan. 30, 2024, following her previous career-best of 9.975 in the team's win over No. 3 LSU.
-Missouri has won the SEC Specialist of the Week honors five times in the past six weeks.
-Mizzou is one of three schools in the conference to ever have a Specialist of the Week five times in the same season.
-Five of the eight times Mizzou has earned a perfect routine have come in road or neutral-site meets. Five of the seven 10s in Mizzou gymnastics history have come since 2023.
-Griffin sealed the Tigers' victory against No. 12 Georgia with a 9.925 on floor after the teams were tied heading into the final routine of the fourth rotation of the meet.
HU DID THAT? SHE DID
-Hu was named SEC Specialist of the Week for the fourth time this season on Tuesday, becoming just the third individual in conference history to earn the honor four times in a season.
-The redshirt senior is one of two gymnasts nationally with three scores of 9.975 on beam this season. She posted the score again on Friday, Feb. 21 against Georgia.
-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 her career during her routine on balance beam.
-Following up on her first career 10 against No. 1 Oklahoma, Hu nearly achieved perfection in the following weeks, recording a pair of 9.975s.
-She stands third nationally in beam NQS at 9.935 and fifth in the country in beam scoring an average of 9.904.
-Only one Mizzou gymnast has earned multiple 10.000 scores in a single season - Lauren Schwartzman on beam in 2004. Hu will look to join that list as the second in 2025.
-The Chicago native made the national spotlight since then, even being featured at No. 5 on the SportsCenter Top-10 the day after the team's meet against OU.
-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.
-After the team's meet in Baton Rouge, La., Hu became just the second gymnast in the award's history to win three-consecutive SEC Specialist of the Week awards.
-Hu previously scored at least 9.950 on 15 different occasions before her first perfect 10.
-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. She earned second-team All-America status in the event and was on the end-of-season All-SEC team.
NQS TAKES EFFECT
-Road to Nationals has switched over to NQS to determine its rankings following the seventh week of meets. NQS is calculated by taking a team or individual's top six scores, three of which come from away meets, dropping the highest score and averaging the remaining five.
-Mizzou's first NQS poll saw it positioned at No. 8 in the nation, its highest-ever first NQS ranking. The team held its spot and stayed at No. 8 in the second week of NQS with a score of 197.095.
-Missouri claims a top 10 spot in three events - fifth in the nation on floor, fourth on bars and eighth on beam.
-The Tigers' highest-ranked individual is Hu, who is third nationally on beam. Her No. 3 ranking ties for the second-highest in program history, only surpassed by Schwartzman who was ranked second on beam in 2004.
-Celestine and Titarsolej share spots in the top 10 on bars, standing sixth and 10th, respectively. This is the first time since 2006 that the program has had a pair of gymnasts rank in the top 10 of an event's NQS rankings.
-SEC programs make up the top two and six of the top 10 in the week eight poll.
-All nine of the SEC gymnastics programs are in the top 17 of the rankings, with every program holding an NQS of 196.690 or better.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore, a senior, has had a fantastic start to her 2025 campaign, setting the best vault score of 2025 thus far against No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 17, recording a 9.975. The vault score against the Sooners marked the fourth time in her career to score or exceed a 9.975.
-She notched her season-best score on floor of 9.950 at Zou to the Lou, one of three Tigers to score a 9.950 or better on floor during the meet.
-She holds the program's lone perfect 10 on vault and two additional scores of 9.975.
-Moore has earned a 9.900 or better in an event in six of the team's seven meets this season.
-Moore also notched a score of 9.925 on floor for the Tigers against Kentucky. She has scored 9.900 or better on the apparatus five times in the 2025 season and 33 times in her collegiate career, which leads the team.
-Across her 49 collegiate meets throughout her career, Moore has scored 9.900 in one of the three events she competes in all but six of them. She has scored 9.900 an impressive 21 times on vault and 33 times on floor.
STEPPING IN AND STEPPING UP
-With Moore sliding out of the lineup against Georgia due to illness, freshman Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.)stepped up and filled in her spot in the floor exercise for her first career routine and scored a 9.900 for Mizzou.
-Her score marked the third time a freshman earned at least 9.900 in their first collegiate performance in an event since 2020, joining Hu and Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.).
-Tanskanen is a four-time Finnish National Champion, a two-time World Championship Qualifier and a finalist in the 2023 European Championship.
-She got her start in the Tigers' lineup on vault, competing in the team's first five meets on the apparatus.
JUST A FRESHMAN
-In her first time in the lineup for Mizzou, freshman Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) looked like a seasoned vet while competing on bars and beam on national television against No. 6 Kentucky.
-Kelly 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.
-At Zou to the Lou, she competed on vault for the first time as a collegiate gymnast and notched a pair of 9.825s on bars and beam, respectively. Her result on bars tied her career-best result.
-Kelly followed up her performance with a 9.875 against No. 3 LSU on Jan. 31 and a 9.850 against Illinois on Feb. 9.
-She ranked 22nd nationally in average on beam before the team's meet on Feb. 14 at Zou to the Lou.
-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 on Jan. 26.
STRIVING FOR MORE
-Heading into the ninth meet of the year, Mizzou is tied for third in the SEC standings and 11-3 overall - the program's best record to start a season since 2009.
-This is the third time a team under head coach Shannon Welker reached 11 wins in the regular season.
-Mizzou's win also marked the third year in a row the program earned a win in a dual meet over a top-10 team.
-MU's win on Friday marked its 10th-straight win against UGA since 2021 and fifth-consecutive meet with a team score of at least 197.000.
-The Tigers won their conference home opener for the third-straight year and the fifth time in Welker's 12th year at the helm of the program against No. 6 Kentucky on Jan. 26.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED
-Director of Athletics Laird Veatch announced on Thursday, Jan. 2 that gymnastics Coach Welker 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 transformed the Tigers into a consistent contender on the national stage.
-He 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
-Missouri gymnastics competes in Hearnes Center one last time this season competing against No. 11 Auburn on SEC Network on March 9 at noon.
-With the win, Mizzou would clinch its first-ever undefeated home season.
-The Tigers last competed against Auburn in 2024 but fell short at Neville Arena, 197.425-197.000.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest on Mizzou gymnastics, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, X, Instagramand TikTok.
Players Mentioned
