Mizzou Gymnast Achieves Perfection, Tigers Finish in Top 5 at SEC Championship

Missouri gymnastics competed in the Southeastern Conference Championship Saturday night, placing fourth out of eight teams. Missouri scored a 197.400 and two Tigers shared event titles.

The Tigers had something to celebrate before the competition even began, as they competed in Session II for the first time since joining the conference. That means they were alongside the nation's best programs: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Florida. No. 8 Kentucky, No. 10 Georgia, No. 12 Auburn and No. 13 Alabama competed earlier in the day.

Missouri ended the night on bars, looking to improve its overall ranking in the meet. Out of the Session II teams, Missouri was well in the back, but it needed to work to catch Alabama.

Alabama won Session I in a surprising turn of events, as the Crimson Tide entered the meet as the bottom seed. Missouri sat behind Alabama with one rotation remaining in Session II, and the Tigers were determined to catch Alabama and end the night in fourth place.

Following graduate student Mara Titarsolej’s first perfect score of the year on bars, the Tigers passed Alabama. Missouri posted a 49.575 on bars to end the meet.

Titarsolej's 10 tied Florida’s Leanne Wong and Riley McCusker for first place in the event. Missouri senior Jocelyn Moore scored a 9.925, and graduate student Kyra Burns chipped in a 9.900.

By the end of the final rotation, Missouri remained behind the other Session II teams. The rest of the competitors shifted, with Florida slipping from first to third place following its beam performance (197.825). LSU jumped to the top of the podium after scoring a 49.525 on vault, winning the meet with a score of 198.200. Oklahoma junior Faith Torrez got a 10 on floor as the Sooners hopped back into second place (197.925).

Missouri struggled against the fierce competitors in Session II right from its initial event of beam, posting a 49.125. That score put the team in fourth place among Session II teams at the end of the first rotation, while LSU topped the leaderboard with a 49.600. The top-ranked Sooners sat in second (49.425), and Florida followed in third (49.375).

Missouri’s leadoff gymnast on beam was graduate student Abby Mueller, who posted a 9.725. Her score had to be dropped and forced Missouri to work harder to avoid counting a score below 9.800 toward the final score. Unfortunately, senior Amari Celestine logged 9.750, forcing Missouri to have to use that. No other team scored below 9.800 in the first rotation.

Missouri earned two 9.800s with Oklahoma transfer Amy Wier and junior Addison Lawrence. The final two Tigers stepped it up, with freshman Olivia Kelly logging a 9.850 and redshirt senior Helen Hu recording a 9.925 to tie for the event title with Oklahoma's Torrez and LSU’s Haleigh Bryant and Aleah Finnegan.

Despite Missouri’s strong finish on beam, the team landed at the bottom of Session II after the first rotation. Overall, Missouri ranked sixth among all eight teams in both sessions.

LSU’s Finnegan and Kailin Chio both posted 9.950s on bars to propel the Louisiana Tigers to first place. All five of LSU’s scores were 9.900 or higher in an electrifying start for the No. 2 seeded team.

Missouri found the most success on floor, posting a 49.600. Sophomore Kennedy Griffin and senior Moore led the way with 9.950s. Celestine chipped in a 9.925, while sophomore Rayna Light grabbed a 9.900.

After the second rotation, Missouri remained in fourth place among Session II teams. The competition was fierce, as Florida junior Selena Harris-Miranda earned the first perfect 10 of the night on vault.

Missouri's worst event of the night was vault, where the Tigers recorded a 49.100. Following the third rotation, Missouri sat at the bottom of the Session II pack, and its chances of improving that placement were looking slim. The Tigers were 0.900 back from first place.

The Tigers posted three scores of 9.800 or lower on the apparatus. Celestine picked things up with a 9.850, and Moore led the team with a 9.875. Missouri was the only team of the four in Session II that couldn’t hit the 9.900 mark on vault.

Florida earned its second perfect 10 of the meet when senior Leanne Wong hit the mark on bars. Wong was the first SEC gymnast to score a 10 on bars this season. Florida built off that energy as fellow Gator Riley McCusker notched the third perfect score of the meet, launching Florida from third place to first.

Missouri will look to sharpen some things up when it competes at the NCAA Regional Championship on April 2.