University of Missouri
#2 Oklahoma
Mizzou Gymnastics Set for National Championship Meet on Saturday
4/18/2025 6:15:00 PM | Gymnastics
Missouri seeks its first team national championship in a women’s sport.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 7 University of Missouri gymnastics competes in the NCAA Championship Final on Saturday, April 19 at 3 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, against No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah and No. 5 UCLA.
The meet will be called by John Roethelisberger, Samantha Peszek, and Aly Raisman with Taylor Davis serving as the sideline reporter. The national championship meet will be nationally broadcast on ABC.
Mizzou fans are invited to show their spirt and create a championship atmosphere at Mizzou Arena on Saturday for a live watch party to watch the Tigers compete in the 2025 NCAA Gymnastics Championship Final. The event is free and open to the public.
Mizzou Arena doors will open at 2 p.m., with the NCAA Championship Preview show beginning at 2:30 p.m. and the meet starting at 3 p.m. on ABC. Fans should enter through the north doors of Mizzou Arena. All parking around the arena will be open and unrestricted.
TIGERS CONTINUE THE DRAMA IN THE SEMIFINAL
-No. 7 Mizzou advanced in dramatic fashion for the second-straight meet, where the Tigers traded sticks with No. 3 Florida.
-Once again, it came down to the final routine, where Missouri trailed by a quarter tenth when redshirt senior Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) stepped to the balance beam and scored 9.9875, surpassing the Gators by a 197.3000-197.2000 final.
-The Tigers' head-to-head win over Florida in the semifinal meet marked just the second win over the Gators in program history.
HU DID THAT? SHE DID
-After scoring 9.9875 on balance beam to clinch the team's spot in the NCAA Championship Final, Hu won the NCAA Gymnastics Balance Beam National Championship, becoming the first gymnast in program history to win an individual national title.
-Her score of 9.9875 topped runner-up Emma Malabuyo from UCLA, who scored a 9.9750.
-She is the second Mizzou student-athlete to win an individual national championship this season, joining Jonathan Seremes of the men's track and field team in the indoor triple jump.
NO SHORTAGE OF ALL-AMERICANS IN COMO
-MU tallied nine WCGA All-America honors following the NCAA Championship Semifinal.
-Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) was named a WCGA Vault First Team member, Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) on First Team Uneven Bars and national champion Hu was named to the Balance Beam First Team.
-On the WCGA Second Team, Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.) earned the nod for All-Around, Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, N.J.) received a spot on Vault, Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, N.J.) earned recognition on Uneven Bars, Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) did so on Uneven Bars and Balance Beam and Addison Lawrence (Olathe, Kan.) was honored on Balance Beam.
-Mizzou saw a total of six Regular Season All-America recognitions: Celestine (Floor and All-Around Second Team All-American), Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) (Floor Second Team All-American), Hu (Beam First Team All-American), Moore (Floor Second Team All-American) and Titarsolej (Bars First Team All-American).
THE MATCHUP
-The Tigers take on No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah and No. 5 UCLA in the NCAA Championship Final.
-Missouri will compete in Olympic order, beginning on vault followed by bars, beam and floor.
-In their semifinal meets, the squads received the following scores: Mizzou tallied 197.3000, Oklahoma earned 197.5500, Utah scored 197.7625 and UCLA advanced with a mark of 197.7375.
-Oklahoma leads the way in total number of gymnasts in the top 25 of individual events in national qualifying score (NQS) with 20, including five on bars and beam. They are followed by UCLA with 12, and Mizzou and Utah with eight.
FAMILIAR FOES
-This marks the fifth time in 2025 Mizzou and Oklahoma will compete.
-MU averages 197.2188 in the previous four meets, while OU's median in the contests is 197.9250.
THRILLER IN THE REGIONAL FINAL
-In the NCAA Seattle Regional Final, Mizzou and Auburn were neck-and-neck the entirety of the meet for second place with a spot in the semifinal on the line.
-Hu's 9.925 outscored Auburn's Sophia Groth (who scored 9.850 on floor) to send the Tigers to their third NCAA Championship Semifinal in school history.
THE ONE TRUE BEAM QUEEN
-Hu earned her first score of 10 while on balance beam at Oklahoma on Jan. 17, marking the first routine nationally to achieve perfection in the 2025 season.
-She earned another 10 on beam during the team's meet against Arkansas, helping lead the Tigers to their best score in program history (49.575).
-Hu did so for staggering a third time in the final routine of the team's NCAA Championship Second Round meet, becoming the first Mizzou gymnast to score three 10s in a season.
-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.
HISTORIC SEASON FOR THE TIGERS
-Missouri gymnastics is in the midst its best season in program history, breaking numerous records throughout 2025.
-The most notable include setting its highest team score (198.100 vs Auburn), beam score (49.575 at Arkansas) and floor score in program history (49.725 at Zou to the Lou), while also ending the year with its best NQS of 197.510.
-The team's two seed in the NCAA Seattle Regional and No. 7 national seed is its best NCAA Championship seeding ever.
-The bars and floor squads slotted in at fourth in NQS nationally to cap off the year, the best of any final event ranking in program history.
-With a 5-0 record in Columbia, Mizzou went undefeated at home for the first time in program history.
TITARSOLEJ DEFINES PERFECTION – AND CONSISTENCY
-Titarsolej captured a third-place finish on uneven bars at the NCAA Championship semifinal with a score of 9.9375.
-She earned the third perfect 10 of her career at the SEC Championship, claiming a share of the SEC Bars title in back-to-back years.
-She is the only gymnast in program history to score a 10 on bars, doing so twice (Zou to the Lou, Feb. 16, 2024, and SEC Championship, March 22, 2025).
-Titarsolej has scored 9.9250 or better on bars in six of the last seven meets.
-The graduate student has scored at least 9.900 on bars in 10 meets this season, the most in a single event by a Mizzou gymnast this season.
-She has anchored the bars lineup in every meet this season.
RECORD SETTING CONFERENCE SLATE
-The Tigers totaled five conference wins, the most single-season victories since becoming a member of the Southeastern Conference, and finished in fourth in the conference standings, their highest regular season finish since joining the SEC.
-Mizzou's 197.400 at the 2025 SEC Championship on March 22 marked its highest score in a conference championship meet.
-Between Griffin and Hu, the two combine for six SEC Specialist of the Week awards, the first time in conference history that one school has earned six such honors in the same season.
-Hu's five are the most by a single gymnast in a season in the award's history.
OWNING THE SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
-Missouri garnered some of the top WCGA South Central Regional Awards following the 2025 campaign.
-Celestine was named the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association South Central Region Co-Gymnast of the Year along with Oklahoma's Faith Torrez.
-Head coach Shannon Welker was named the WCGA South Central Regional Coach of the Year as well.
SHOWCASING THAT IT JUST MEANS MORE
-Mizzou also won several annual conference awards.
-Head coach Shannon Welker was named the 2025 SEC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career (2022) and the WCGA South Central Regional Coach of the Year. This marked the fifth time that a Mizzou gymnastics head coach has earned a conference Coach of the Year accolade.
-In addition, Welker's award is the ninth time a Missouri coach received SEC Coach of the Year and just the third coach to earn it twice in their career.
-Hu won the SEC Specialist of the Year award, marking the third time in the last four years the recognition was given to a Mizzou gymnast.
-Four Tigers earned All-SEC honors: Celestine, Hu, Moore and Titarsolej. This is now the third-straight season that Mizzou's had at least four gymnasts receive a spot on the All-SEC team.
-Hu and Titarsolej won the SEC Beam Championship and SEC Bars Championship, respectively.
CHASING PERFECTION
-Three Missouri gymnasts totaled five 10s in 2025 (Griffin, Hu three times and Titarsolej), the most in school history.
-This ranks as the third-most of any team in the 2025 regular season.
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.
-She was named the NCAA Seattle Regional Vault Champion after scoring 9.950 for her routine at the NCAA Championship Second Round.
-In the all-around, Celestine's NQS of 39.515 ranks 15th. She holds the 17th-highest score nationally at 39.650.
-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.
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.
-Her NQS of 9.920 ranks 14th nationally in the event.
-The sophomore earned SEC Specialist of the Week honors on Feb. 18, marking 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.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore, a senior, has had a fantastic 2025 campaign, highlighted by scoring 9.975 on vault at Oklahoma, holding the highest score in the nation through week five. This marked the fourth time in her career to score or exceed a 9.975.
-She has recorded a 9.950 on floor five times this season. Her most notable came against Auburn on senior day, where she clinched the team's first-ever 198.000+.
-Moore has earned a 9.900 or better in an event in 11 of the team's 15 meets this season.
-Across her 55 collegiate meets throughout her career, Moore has scored 9.900 in one of the three events she competes in all but eight meets. She has scored 9.900 an impressive 22 times on vault and 38 times on floor.
THE BEST OF THE BEST
-Road to Nationals 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.
-Missouri claims a top 11 spot in all four events - fourth in the nation on bars and floor and, 11th on vault and beam.
-The Tigers' highest-ranked individual is Hu, who is second nationally on beam. Her No. 2 ranking ties the second-highest in program history, which is only surpassed by Lauren Schwartzman, who was ranked No. 1 on beam in 2006.
-In total, Mizzou is represented in the NQS top 25 of an event eight times - Horton (18) on vault, Celestine (24) and Titarsolej (4) on bars, Hu (2) on beam, Celestine (11), Griffin (14) and Moore (10) on floor and Celestine (15) in the all-around.
100 CAREER WINS
-Welker captured his 100th career win in the team's victory over Arkansas on March 14, 2025.
-In his tenure, the Black & Gold have competed in 10 NCAA Regional, five NCAA Regional Final, two NCAA Championship Semifinal meets and now in the NCAA Championship Final.
-Director of Athletics Laird Veatch announced on Thursday, Jan. 2 that Welker signed a contract extension to remain at the helm of the program through 2029.
STEPPING IN AND STEPPING UP
-Heading into the NCAA Championship Second Round meet, freshman Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) had competed on the floor exercise just once this season - on Feb. 21 against Georgia.
-The fourth-ranked Fab Floor needed a lineup change after back tightness forced Tisler to stick to just vault for the past three meets, where Tanskanen slid in.
-She native scored 9.875 on the apparatus in the Second Round and Regional Final, helping the squad score 49.550 in the latter.
-Across her four appearances on floor, Tanskanen has earned scores of 9.900, 9.875, 9.875 and 9.8250.
HIGH IMPACT FRESHMEN
-In addition to Tanskanen, Railey Jackson (Park Forest, Ill.) and Kelly have made ample contributions to the team's successes in 2025.
-Jackson has been a consistent contributor on balance beam, scoring 9.850 or higher in her last four routines. She holds an NQS of 9.845 on the event.
-Kelly has impressed on bars and beam, scoring 9.900 or highest twice and four times, respectively.
-Three of her four 9.900s on beam have come in three of the last five meets.
-Kelly's NQS of 9.880 on beam ranks 57th nationally.
-In the NCAA Championship Semifinal, Jackson scored 9.8500 on beam while Kelly earned marks of 9.8875 on bars and beam.
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Players Mentioned
