Hu Named SEC Specialist of the Week
1/21/2025 12:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
Helen Hu earns Missouri’s first SEC weekly honor for 2025 season.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri gymnast Helen Hu (Chicago, Illinois) has been named the Southeastern Conference Specialist of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Hu made history by posting the first career perfect 10.000 and the first of the 2025 NCAA Division I women's collegiate gymnastics season during her balance beam routine on Friday at No. 1 Oklahoma. She ranks 11th nationally in average beam score through three weeks.
Hu, a redshirt senior, earned her first career 10 during the third meet of the 2025 season after not competing in 2024 and instead backpacking across Asian and South American countries. Before Friday, Hu had just come short numerous times, with 15 career scores of at least 9.95 on beam.
This marks the third time Hu has won the award and the first time since the 2020 season, the same year she also was named the SEC Specialist of the Year. MU earned the SEC Specialist of the Week honors four times in 2024.
The performance by Hu marked the fourth time a Mizzou gymnast finished with a 10 on beam, most recently done by Sienna Schreiber on March 3, 2024, against Arkansas. Before last season, the feat had not been accomplished by a Tiger since Lauren Schwartzman did so twice in the 2004 campaign. Five of the seven 10s in Mizzou gymnastics history have come since 2023.
Hu scored at least 9.950 on 15 different occasions before her first perfect 10 on Friday evening. The only other time a Mizzou gymnast recorded a 10 on beam on the road was by Schwartzman on March 12, 2004, at the Texas Women's University Invitational.
Mizzou returns to Columbia for its first meet this season inside Hearnes Center, competing against No. 8 Kentucky for its conference home opener on Sunday, January 26 at 5 p.m., which will be nationally televised on the SEC Network. The Tigers are 16-21 all-time versus the Wildcats. UK most recently defeated No. 3 Alabama on Friday evening by a score of 197.300-196.100.
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