University of Missouri
#16 Arkansas
No. 7 Gymnastics Concludes Regular Season at No. 16 Arkansas
3/13/2025 5:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
Mizzou looks to follow its program-best score in its regular season finale on the road.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 7 University of Missouri gymnastics will compete in its final regular season meet on Friday at 7 p.m. at No. 16 Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena.
The meet will be featured on SEC Network+. Brett Dolan will call play-by-play, with Sydney Lemmerhirt serving as analyst.
THE MATCHUP
-Mizzou competes against No. 16 Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. for its final meet of the 2025 regular season.
-MU ranks higher than the Gymbacks in team NQS in all areas.
-Bud Walton Arena has been home to two of the biggest upsets of the season so far, where Arkansas earned wins against No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Florida. Against five opponents in Fayetteville this season, visiting teams are averaging a score of 195.860.
-Arkansas' two wins in Southeastern Conference action come against No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Florida at home.
-No. 16 Arkansas set a season high of 197.725 in their loss to Kentucky on March 7.
-Missouri has seven individuals ranked in the top 25 of NQS in their respective events compared to five from Arkansas.
-Mizzou last faced Arkansas back in 2024 at Hearnes Center where the Gymbacks scored 197.650 over the Tigers' 197.525.
-The Black & Gold is seeking its first win against Arkansas since 2023.
HISTORIC SEASON FOR THE TIGERS
-Missouri gymnastics could arguably be in the midst of its best season in program history, breaking multiple records through nine meets.
-The Tigers' current national qualifying score (NQS) ranking of seven is its highest in the regular season. Heading into the year, the team's previous best was No. 9 during week seven of the 2022 campaign.
-Mizzou also holds its best NQS ranking on floor in program history, tying for third. This tops its previous record of No. 7 in week seven in 2024.
-On the floor exercise, Mizzou posted its best team score in program history at Zou to the Lou, recording a 49.725.
-Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) earned her first score of 10 while on balance beam at Oklahoma on Jan. 17, marking the first routine to achieve perfection in the 2025 season.
-Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) also earned a 10 during the Zou to the Lou meet on Feb. 14 on floor, making it the third season in program history to see two perfect scores in the same year.
-Between Griffin and Hu, the two combine for five Southeastern Conference Specialist of the Week awards, making it the third time in conference history that one school has earned five such honors in the same season.
-Hu has been named Specialist of the Week four times thus far, just the second time in SEC history that a single gymnast reached the mark in one season.
-Last week, Hu was ranked tied for second in beam NQS, which is the second-highest a Mizzou gymnast has ever been ranked in an event.
-For the fourth time in last the five years, Mizzou owns two top-15 dual meet wins in a season. In fact, MU owns four - against No. 6 Kentucky, No. 14 Alabama, No. 12 Georgia and No. 13 Auburn.
-Mizzou recorded its program history high score in a win against No. 13 Auburn, posting a 198.100.
-With the win against No. 13 Auburn, Missouri has clinched its best regular season finish since joining the SEC and a spot in Session II at the SEC Championship.
-In the week nine NQS rankings, Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.) and Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) shared the No. 9 spot on bars. This is the first time since 2006 that the program has had a pair of teammates' NQS rank in the top 10 of an event in the same week.
THE CELESTANDARD
-In her final season of competition, Celestine has continued to impress in each meet of the year. She set a new personal-best all-around score of 39.650 against Auburn on March 9, which is the sixth-best score in program history.
-In the all-around, Celestine holds the 14th-highest score nationally at 39.650 and NQS in the all-around at 39.505 and is ranked 20th in scoring average at 39.361.
-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. The streak went through six-straight meets after a 9.900 at Florida. Only two gymnasts have done so four times in a row - Titarsolej in 2024 and Jodie Heinicka in 2006.
-On Feb. 28 against No. 6 Florida, her 9.900 on bars marked the seventh time in nine meets this season she's reached or exceeded the score.
-Celestine led the Tigers on bars with a career-high score of 9.950, which ties for the highest score for Missouri on bars this season, earning a share of the event title at Zou to the Lou.
-Against No. 6 Kentucky, 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.
-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 12 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 in program history.
-Griffin's NQS of 9.915 now ranks 19th nationally in the event.
-Griffin's SEC Specialist of the Week honors, which she earned on Feb. 18, marks her second weekly conference award. She also won 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 2025. 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.
-On Feb. 28 against No. 6 Florida, Griffin earned a 9.925 for her floor routine along with Horton, pushing Mizzou to its second-best result on the apparatus this season.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore, a senior, has had a fantastic 2025 campaign, setting the second-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 has recorded a 9.950 on floor three times this season. Her most recent came against Auburn, where she clinched the team's first-ever 198.000+.
-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 eight of the team's 10 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 six times in the 2025 season and 35 times in her collegiate career, which leads the team.
-Across her 51 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 35 times on floor.
HU DID THAT? SHE DID
-Hu was named SEC Specialist of the Week for the fourth time this season on Tuesday, March 4, becoming just the third individual in conference history to earn the honor four times in a season.
-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 9.945 and fifth in the country in beam scoring an average of 9.910.
-Hu recorded a 9.900 for the 30th and 31st time in her career to reach or exceed the score on balance beam in her routine against No. 6 Florida and No. 13 Auburn, respectively.
-Only one Mizzou gymnast has earned multiple 10.000 scores in a single season - 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.
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.
-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.
STRIVING FOR MORE
-The team's 11-3 prior to its ninth meet ties the program's best record to start a season since 2009.
-This is the third time a team under Coach Welker reached 11 wins in the regular season.
-MU's win against Georgia marked its 10th-straight win against the Bulldogs since 2021.
-Mizzou is up to seven-consecutive meets 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 head coach Shannon Welker signed a contract extension to remain at the helm of the program through 2029.
-Coach Welker enters the team's meet against Arkansas with 99 career wins as a head coach.
-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 will begin its postseason at the SEC Championship in Birmingham, Ala. at Legacy Arena on Saturday, March 22.
-MU's best finish in the conference championship since moving to the SEC was a fourth-place finish in 2022.
-The Tigers are looking to clinch their first berth into Session II of the event by finishing in the top four of the SEC in the regular season.
-Missouri is also seeking its highest finish in the regular season SEC standings. Currently, the Tigers rank third in the conference with a 4-3 record ahead of fourth-place Florida, who is 3-3-1. Mizzou gymnastics has never finished higher than fifth in the regular season since joining the conference.
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Players Mentioned
