Mizzou Gymnast has Career Night in Quad Meet Victory

Missouri participated in the "Zou to the Lou" quad meet Friday, where the Tigers traveled to St. Charles, Missouri, to compete against No. 14 Alabama, No. 26 Illinois and No. 28 Iowa.

After opening the meet with a season-low vault score of 48.850, the top-seeded Tigers found themselves at the bottom of the pack. However, Missouri took the lead after the third rotation and won big on the heels of a fantastic performance on floor.

Missouri won with 197.150 points, while Alabama finished second (196.675), Illinois finished third (196.225) and Iowa finished fourth (195.000).

In the win, Missouri earned a season-high 49.725 on floor. Sophomore Kennedy Griffin led the way for the Tigers with the first perfect 10.000 of her career, tying with Alabama's Lilly Hudson for first place in the event.

While no other Tigers notched perfect scores, a few of Griffin's teammates came pretty close. Seniors Amari Celestine and Jocelyn Moore both recorded 9.950s on floor. Freshman Railey Jackson got in on the fun by earning a career-high 9.925 on the same event. Transfer Elise Tisler rounded out the Tigers who earned a score of at least 9.900 on floor by posting a 9.900 in the leadoff spot.

Missouri's explosive floor performance secured the Tigers' win, advancing the team to a 10-3 record.

Celestine had a strong outing, winning the all-around with a career-high 39.625. Aside from her 9.950 on floor, the senior recorded a career-best 9.950 on bars to tie for the title with Illinois freshman Chloe Cho.

Celestine tied for third on beam with a 9.875, while leading the Tigers on vault with a 9.850.

The meet was exciting for Missouri fans, who watched their team win in comeback fashion. A solid performance on beam propelled the Tigers from third to first place.

Celestine, transfer Amy Wier and redshirt senior Helen Hu posted 9.875s, while Jackson logged a 9.850. All seven of the competing Tigers earned scores of 9.825 or better on beam, leading to a total score of 49.300. That score was just 0.050 off Missouri’s season-high beam score, which was earned against Kentucky on Jan. 26.

Missouri also looked good on its second rotation, bars. The team headed there intending to shake off the struggles from the first rotation. Some lingering issues were still evident, with sophomore Hannah Horton posting a 9.250 that was dropped, but some of her teammates showed up to lift Missouri to a 49.275 on bars.

Two of those teammates were Celestine and graduate student Mara Titarsolej. The two shared the bar crown in Missouri’s last meet, and they continued to excel in the event in Friday’s quad.

Celestine earned her aforementioned career-best 9.950, while Titarsolej had the second highest score for the Tigers with a 9.875.

Due to Missouri’s improvement on the second rotation, the team slid into third place. With half of the meet remaining, the Tigers were in a decent spot, just 0.200 points off of first-place Iowa’s score (98.325-98.125).

Missouri's ability to bounce back was impressive, as it trailed early on.

The Tigers, who have struggled with vault throughout the season, continued to do so on Friday. The problems from the last meet against Illinois, where Missouri tied what was then its season-low vault score (48.975), carried over to Friday’s quad meet.

Tisler scored a 9.175 and Horton took a step forward on her landing, resulting in a 9.675.

The performance on vault put Missouri in last place with 48.850 points, a new season-low on the event. Ultimately, that did not prevent the Tigers from winning.

Missouri will next take the mat against No. 11 Georgia. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. Friday in Columbia, Missouri.