Mizzou Gymnastics Advances to a Sixth Straight Sweet 16

Missouri gymnastics advanced to its Regional Final for the NCAA Championships on Friday by placing second in the Lexington Regional Semifinal. The advancement marks a sixth consecutive season for the program with a bid to the Sweet 16.

No. 8 Missouri scored a mark of 196.875, just behind No. 9 Arkansas, who scored 197.175. In order to advance, the two SEC schools outscored No. 27 Maryland (195.775) and No. 21 NC State (195.700).

Missouri will compete in the Regional Final on Sunday. The Tigers will compete again against Arkansas, along with the top two finishers of Session II on Friday night between No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 16 Kentucky, Rutgers and Ohio State.

The Tigers will need to finish in the top two of Sunday's Regional Final in order to advance to the Championship Semifinals.

Missouri took the best scores of Session I on two events — beam (48.950) and floor (49.450).

The Tigers entered the second rotation leading by just .200 over Maryland, and .275 over NC State. But the strong performance on floor in the third rotation sent the Tigers into a good position entering the final rotation, holding a lead of at least .650 over both of the trailing teams.

Missouri earned six scores of 9.900 or greater, including two on vault, two on bars and two on floor.

That included a 9.900 score from freshman Kimarra Echols on vault.

Air Echols 🤩 The freshman scores 9.900 on vault!

📊 https://t.co/saBAnWjUyY
📺 https://t.co/vWXGk8vak6 #MIZ 🐯 pic.twitter.com/l2TPvoaLjj
— Mizzou Gymnastics (@MizzouGym) April 3, 2026

Missouri's best score of the day came from junior Hannah Horton, who scored 9.925 on bars. She extended the streak to three consecutive routines of scoring 9.900+ on the apparatus.

The Regional Final will begin 5 p.m. Sunday. It will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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