Missouri
No. 6 Georgia
No. 7 Gymnastics Travels to Athens for Meet Against No. 6 Georgia
3/5/2026 9:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Mizzou seeks its third top-10 win this season and first on the road.
No. 7 Mizzou gymnastics travels to Athens, Georgia, to take on the No. 6 Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum on Friday, March 6 at 6 p.m. CT for its penultimate regular-season meet. The contest will be livestreamed on SEC Network+ with commentary provided by Kevin Copp and Cat Hires.
THE FIRST TOUCH
-Missouri's penultimate regular-season meet comes at Georgia, where MU looks to capture its third win against a top-10 team this season.
-The Tigers enter the week ranked No. 5 nationally on floor with a team NQS of 49.443, their highest-ranked event.
-Mizzou has scored 197.000 or better in 38 of its last 46 meets dating back to 2023.
-Missouri has scored 49.450 or better on floor five times this season, highlighted by a season-high 49.575 at the Mizzou Quad on Feb. 20.
-Mizzou owns a 12-1 record in their last 13 meetings with Georgia.
-The Black & Gold's 10-3 start ties for the program's best over its first 13 results, having done so six times.
-A win vs. No. 6 Georgia would give Mizzou three top-10 regular-season wins for just the second time since joining the SEC and first since 2018.
-Missouri is one of eight programs nationally with at least five different gymnasts recording 9.950+ scores across multiple events this season.
THE MATCHUP
-Mizzou is 14-22 all-time against Georgia, including a 2-5 mark in Athens.
-The Tigers and the GymDogs met four times last season - at the Denver Quad, in Columbia, at the SEC Championship and the NCAA Championship Second Round - with the Black & Gold going 4-0.
-Mizzou is 12-1 in its last 13 meetings with Georgia.
EYEING A HISTORIC THIRD TOP-10 WIN
-Mizzou owns two wins against top-10 teams this season, having beaten No. 2 Florida on Feb. 6 and No. 8 Arkansas on March 1.
-Since joining the Southeastern Conference in 2013, the Tigers have notched two or more top-10 regular-season wins three previous times - 2018, 2022 and 2023.
-During that stretch, Missouri has gathered three such wins in a single regular season just once, coming in 2018. A win against No. 6 Georgia would tie that record.
CONTINUOUSLY REWRITING HISTORY
-Mizzou opened the first 10 meets of the 2026 season with a 10-3 record, which ties the best start to a season through the team's first 13 results in program history.
-This is the sixth time the Tigers have achieved this (2004, 2009, 2010, 2023, 2025 and 2026), and it is just the second time the program has accomplished the feat in consecutive years.
-The Black & Gold has only ever moved to 11-3 or better in the following meet three times, in 2004, 2009, and 2025.
THESE TIGERS ARE ON FIRE
-Mizzou ranks top 10 in all four event rankings in week nine: eighth on vault, ninth on bars, eighth on beam and fifth on floor.
-Week five marked the first time in the Road to Nationals era (dating back to 1998) that Missouri ranks inside the top 10 nationally on all four events after every team has competed, and has now done so for the fifth-consecutive week.
AMONG THE BEST OF THE BEST
-Missouri is one of only eight programs nationally with at least five different gymnasts recording scores of 9.950 or higher across multiple events this season, joining Oklahoma, LSU, Stanford, Michigan, Florida, Utah and Georgia.
-Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) delivered a 9.975 on vault at the team's second meet of the season.
-Addison Lawrence (Olathe, Kan.) added a 9.950 on balance beam for the fifth time this season against Florida.
-Lawrence's score was matched by Railey Jackson (Park Forest, Ill.) at Alabama, earning a career high, and by Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, Ariz.) against LSU, matching her personal best.
-Kimarra Echols (Henderson, Nev.) reached the threshold at Alabama on vault and on bars at Kentucky.
FAB FLOOR LOOKING FAB
-Mizzou's highest event ranking comes on the floor exercise, where it stands fifth nationally with a team NQS of 49.443.
-The team's No. 2 floor ranking in weeks three and four tied the program's second-highest individual-event team ranking from week three onward. It previously ranked No. 1 on beam in weeks eight and nine in 2006 and No. 2 on beam in weeks three and five in 2022.
-Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) leads the team in NQS on floor with 9.915, which stands 114th in the country, while Horton joins her in the top 30, standing at 26th with 9.900.
-On Feb. 20 at the Mizzou Quad, the Tigers scored all 9.9+ for their highest floor score of the season of 49.575.
KIMARRA ECHOLS - A NAME TO WATCH
-Echols was named to the College Gym News 2026 Freshman of the Year Watchlist on Dec. 22, 2025, and has proven to be one of the best first-year gymnasts in the nation.
-The Henderson, Nev., native ranked third nationally in week seven on uneven bars with a NQS of 9.915. -She is the fourth Mizzou gymnast since 2004 to rank in the top five of the event after all teams have competed.
-She matched her career-best at Kentucky with a 9.950 on bars and a pair of 9.925s at the Ameritas Master's Classic and against LSU.
-Echols currently ranks ninth on bars and is one of three freshmen in the country to rank in the top 10 of the event and also to have five or more scores of 9.9+ on the apparatus.
HOLDING DOWN THE LEADOFF SPOT
-Redshirt senior Amy Wier (St. Louis, Mo.) has served as the leadoff for the Tigers' balance beam rotation this season, the only event that has had the same leadoff in all nine meets for Mizzou this season.
-In fact, Wier's nine-consecutive meets competing first for Missouri's beam rotation is the second time in at least the last 11 seasons and first since Sienna Schreiber did so for 10-straight contests in 2020.
-The St. Louis native has scored 9.825 or better on beam in all but one meet this season, including two scores of 9.900. Her NQS of 9.865 ranks 49th in the country.
JUST HORTON THINGS
-Following the first seven meets of the season, Horton is among the nation's best and most consistent in the three events she's competed in.
-The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native ranks 24th on vault, highlighted by a career-best 9.975 on the apparatus at the Ameritas Master's Classic.
-The junior holds the most event titles of any Mizzou gymnast this season with 13, holding season highs of 9.975 on vault and 9.950 on bars and floor.
GODDESS WITH GLASSES
-After not breaking into lineups as a freshman, Ayla Acevedo (Virginia Beach, Va.) trained largely on her own during the summer, consistently attending voluntary morning practices, going to class and returning later in the day for conditioning while balancing a biochemistry major.
-Acevedo earned a new floor routine after approaching the staff and being told she could get one if she became competition-ready. She received the routine roughly one month before the season during Black & Gold exhibition meet week.
-The sophomore made her collegiate debut on floor at the team's season opener against Iowa State, scoring a 9.900, and matched that score in the third meet against Oklahoma.-She posted a career-best 9.925 against Florida.
-She performs to K-pop music from KATSEYE, the first known NCAA floor routine using that group, according to program research.
TANSKANEN AMONG THE WORLD'S BEST
-Sophomore Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) represented Finland internationally throughout the offseason, highlighted by a 15th-place finish in the all-around final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship, marking the best all-around finish by a Finnish gymnast in history at the event.
-Tanskanen was the only active NCAA women's gymnast to compete in the World Championship all-around final and one of just two NCAA athletes to qualify, competing among the world's top 24 gymnasts.
-She advanced to the world final after placing 16th in qualifications, posting consistent routines across all four events and debuting upgraded difficulty on bars and floor as part of her elite development.
-Earlier in the summer, Tanskanen placed 11th all-around at the European Gymnastics Championships, recording a 50.799 total to qualify for the World Championships and finish as the top Finnish athlete in the field.
ADDI'NG UP 9.950s
-Lawrence had big shoes to fill entering her senior season in replacing the 2025 NCAA balance beam national champion Helen Hu but has proven to be one of the best in the country on the apparatus this season.
-Lawrence opened her final year of collegiate competition with five scores of 9.950 on beam in the team's first six meets, one of just three gymnasts nationally with five scores of 9.950 or higher through week six.
SETTING HISTORY IN MIZZOU ARENA
-Missouri earned its highest-ranked win in program history in its contest against No. 2 Florida on Friday, Feb. 6, winning 197.200-196.800.
-This marks the Tigers' third win and second-straight against Florida, most recently in the NCAA Championship Semifinal on April 17, 2025.
-MU's previous highest-ranked win came against No. 3 teams, which it has done three times in program history: against Florida last season, at home against LSU on Jan. 26, 2024, and in the NCAA Championship Semifinal over Michigan on April 15, 2022.
NO SHORTAGE OF ALL-AMERICANS BACK IN COMO
-Of the nation-leading nine WCGA All-America honors MU tallied following the 2025 NCAA Championship Semifinal meet, four return to Mizzou, tied for most in the country along with Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida.
-Tisler was named a WCGA Vault First Team member. On the WCGA Second Team, Horton earned recognition on uneven bars, while Kelly was recognized on uneven bars and balance beam, and Lawrence was also honored on balance beam.
TURNING HEADS IN THE PRESEASON
-Mizzou opened the 2026 season ranked No. 7 nationally in the WCGA preseason poll, marking its highest preseason ranking in program history.
-The Tigers earned multiple first-place votes, one of just five teams nationally to do so, and have appeared in the WCGA preseason top 10 in three of the last four seasons.
THE BEST SEASON IN MIZZOU WOMEN'S SPORTS HISTORY
-The 2025 Mizzou gymnastics season finished as the most successful season of any varsity women's team in school history, placing third at the NCAA Championship Final.
-It marked the first time the program advanced to the NCAA National Championship Final and the second time it had competed in the NCAA Championship Semifinals, having done so for the first time in 2022.
-Helen Hu captured the program's first individual national title after scoring 9.9875 on balance beam.
-The coaching staff was recognized for its outstanding season, as head coach Welker garnered 2025 WCGA National Coach of the Year and SEC Coach of the Year honors, while the staff was named the 2025 College Gym News Coaching Staff of the Year.
NO FLUKE
-The Tigers' best season in program history reflected sustained growth rather than a one-year breakthrough.
-Under Welker's leadership, Mizzou has consistently become one of the premier programs in the nation, finishing in the top 15 in each of the last six seasons after only doing so four times between 1998 and 2014.
-Both times the Tigers ranked among the top five to finish the season were under Welker - 2022 (fifth) and 2025 (third).
-Mizzou has scored 197.000 or better in 38 of its last 46 meets dating back to 2023.
A NEW ERA
-Mizzou gymnastics announced it has changed its primary home venue to Mizzou Arena on Oct. 21, 2025.
-The Tigers compete in five of six regular-season home meets at Mizzou Arena during the 2025-26 season.
-Mizzou Arena previously hosted select gymnastics meets, with the most recent coming at the team's 2025 season opener, the Beauty and the Beast meet.
-Hearnes Center remains part of the schedule, hosting Senior Day vs. Arkansas for the team's last meet in Columbia for the season on March 1.
-Mizzou Arena opened in 2004 and is home to Mizzou men's and women's basketball, known as one of the nation's top home-court advantages, with both programs beating a No. 1-ranked opponent in the last four seasons.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest on Mizzou gymnastics, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
Players Mentioned
