Missouri
No. 9 Arkansas
No. 8 Gymnastics Opens NCAA Championship Friday
4/2/2026 1:30:00 PM | Gymnastics
Tigers return to Historic Memorial Coliseum after February 13 win over Kentucky.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 8 Mizzou gymnastics begins its NCAA Championship run in the Lexington Regional Second Round against No. 9 Arkansas, No. 21 NC State and No. 27 Maryland on Friday at noon CT at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
All NCAA Championship Second Round and Regional Final meets will be streamed on ESPN+, with commentary from Bart Conner and Bridget Sloan for the Lexington Regional.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
-Mizzou was selected to its 11th-straight NCAA Championship as the No. 2 seed for the second-straight year.
-With a top-two placement in its NCAA Championship Second Round meet, Missouri will extend its streak of advancing to the Regional Final to six in a row. It is currently one of seven to do so five-consecutive years.
-The Tigers captured three NCAA Regional Championships on individual events in 2025: Amari Celestine on vault (9.950), Hannah Horton on bars (9.950) and Helen Hu on beam (10.000), with Hu scoring the first 10 on an event in NCAA competition in program history.
-Mizzou has 16 individual regional champions in its history, with last year's marking the first since 2010.
THE MATCHUPS
-Mizzou is set to compete against No. 9 Arkansas, No. 21 NC State and No. 27 Maryland in the NCAA Championship Lexington Regional.
-Missouri is 21-17 against the Razorbacks, including 2-0 in 2026, 8-2 when taking on the Wolfpack and a perfect 5-0 versus Maryland in series history.
-This is the first time MU has seen both Maryland and NC State since March 31, 2022, when the Black & Gold won with a score of 197.150.
TIGER ALL-AMERICANS
-Hannah Horton was named SEC Specialist of the Year, marking the third-straight season a Tiger earned the award and the fifth time in the last seven years for Missouri.
-Horton secured the vault runner-up finish at the SEC Championship with a 9.950 and added a 9.900 on floor to help Mizzou post the top score on the apparatus in Session I.
-Horton leads all Tigers with 20 event titles this season.
-Following the regular season, Horton ranks 18th nationally on floor, 25th on bars and 21st on vault, becoming the first Tiger to finish ranked in the top 25 of three individual events since Sarah Shire did so in 2011.
-Her season includes a career-best 9.975 on vault at the Ameritas Master's Classic and also holds season highs of 9.950 on both bars and floor.
JUST HORTON THINGS
-Following the first 11 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 12th on floor, 20th on bars and 32nd on vault, which was 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 14, holding season highs of 9.975 on vault and 9.950 on bars and floor.
RECORD SETTING ALL-SEC SELECTIONS
-Missouri placed a conference-record 10 gymnasts on the All-SEC Team, surpassing the program's previous record of seven set in 2024.
-Honorees included Ayla Acevedo, Kimarra Echols, Makayla Green, Kennedy Griffin, Hannah Horton, Olivia Kelly, Addison Lawrence, Kaia Tanskanen, Maiya Terry and Elise Tisler.
-Echols also earned All-SEC Freshman Team recognition, the 13th selection in program history.
STRONG SHOWING AT SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
-Missouri finished second in Session I and sixth overall at the SEC Championship.
-The Tigers recorded meet-high totals on floor (49.450) and vault (49.350) in the afternoon session.
-Four Tigers scored 9.900 or better on floor: Elise Tisler, Kaia Tanskanen, Kennedy Griffin and Hannah Horton.
-Horton's 9.950 on vault secured the runner-up finish, while Kimarra Echols matched her career-best 9.900.
-Addison Lawrence led beam with a 9.925, her sixth score of 9.925 or higher this season.
JUST A FRESHMAN
-Kimarra Echols is in the midst of one of the best freshman seasons in Mizzou gymnastics history, after being named Uneven Bars Second Team All-America, becoming just the second MU freshman in program history to earn WCGA Regular Season All-America honors.
-The Henderson, Nev., native is one of only three All-Americans on bars in their freshman season.
-She ranked third nationally in week seven on uneven bars with a NQS of 9.915, becoming the fourth Mizzou gymnast since 2004 to rank in the top five of the event after all teams have competed.
-Echols has been a cornerstone of Mizzou's lineup throughout the 2026 season, competing in all 12 meets thus far and on pace to be the first Tiger freshman to do so since 2022 (Grace Anne Davis, Jocelyn Moore).
THESE TIGERS ARE ON FIRE
-Mizzou ranked inside the top 10 nationally on all four events for seven-straight weeks during the regular season.
-Week five marked the first time in the Road to Nationals era (since 1998) that Missouri ranked inside the top 10 nationally on all four events after every team had competed.
FAB FLOOR LOOKING FAB
-Mizzou's highest event ranking comes on the floor exercise, where it stands seventh nationally with a team NQS of 49.433.
-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.
-Hannah Horton leads the team in NQS on floor with 9.930, which finished the year 18th in the country, while Kennedy Griffin joins her in the top 25, standing at 25th with 9.925.
-On Feb. 20 at the Mizzou Quad, the Tigers scored all 9.9+ for their highest floor score of the season of 49.575.
MACPHERSON NAMED SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
-Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, Ariz) was named the 2026 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the second gymnast in program history to earn the honor and the 14th Mizzou student-athlete since joining the conference in 2012.
-The Gilbert, Ariz., native earned her undergraduate degree in kinesiology and is currently pursuing a master's degree in epidemiology and public health, earning WCGA Academic All-America honors in 2024-25.
-Macpherson has been a key contributor on beam, posting six scores of 9.900 or higher this season, including a career-tying 9.950 against LSU on Jan. 30.
-She has also appeared in nine bars lineups, recording a season-high 9.900 against Arkansas on March 1.
GODDESS WITH GLASSES
-After not competing as a freshman, Ayla Acevedo (Virginia Beach, Va.) earned a spot in Mizzou's floor lineup through offseason development while balancing a biochemistry major.
-The sophomore scored a 9.900 in her collegiate debut against Iowa State and matched the mark against -Oklahoma before posting a career-best 9.925 against Florida.
-She performs to K-pop music from KATSEYE, marking the first known NCAA floor routine using the group, according to program research.
TANSKANEN AMONG THE WORLD'S BEST
-Sophomore Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) brings elite international experience to Mizzou's postseason lineup, highlighted by a 15th-place finish in the all-around final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, the best in Finnish history.
-She was one of just two active NCAA gymnasts to qualify for the world final, competing among the top 24 athletes globally.
-Tanskanen also placed 11th all-around at the European Championships, finishing 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.
HOLDING DOWN THE LEADOFF SPOT
-Redshirt senior Amy Wier (St. Louis, Mo.) has served as the leadoff for the Tigers' balance beam rotation in all but two meets 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 two meets this season, including two scores of 9.900.
NO FLUKE
-The Tigers' best season in program history reflected sustained growth rather than a one-year breakthrough.
-Under Shannon 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 40 of its last 48 meets dating back to 2023.
NO SHORTAGE OF ALL-AMERICANS BACK IN COMO
-Of the nation-leading nine Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) All-America honors MU tallied following the 2025 NCAA Championship Semifinal meet, four returned to Mizzou, tied for most in the country along with Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida.
-Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) was named a WCGA Vault First Team member. On the WCGA Second Team, Horton earned recognition on uneven bars, while Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) was recognized on uneven bars and balance beam, and Lawrence was also honored on balance beam.
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.
SETTING HISTORY IN FIRST YEAR AT 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.
-Mizzou also welcomed No. 2 Oklahoma (Jan. 16) and No. 2 LSU (Jan. 30) to CoMo for its first season competing in Mizzou Arena.
2026 SIGNING CLASS AMONG BEST IN MIZZOU HISTORY
-Mizzou welcomes the No. 6 recruiting class nationally for 2026-27, according to College Gym News, marking the second top-10 signing class in the past three years and the program's second-highest ranked class ever.
-The six-member class—Addison Anderson, Ashtyn Conley, Dakota "Coco" Haynes, Raegan McCarty, Kendall Morgan and Imani White—ranks fifth in the SEC and continues Mizzou's run of three consecutive top-20 classes.
-The group features two five-star recruits and multiple national, regional and state champions, bringing proven success across all four events and depth throughout the lineup.
-White headlines the class as the highest-rated signee in program history, ranking No. 5 nationally, with a decorated résumé that includes multiple national team selections.
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Players Mentioned
