University of Missouri
#13 Alabama
Gymnastics Competes in Session II of SEC Championship for First Time
3/21/2025 5:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
The seventh-ranked Tigers join No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Florida in conference championship meet.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 7 University of Missouri gymnastics will open the postseason with the Southeastern Conference Championship in Session II on Saturday at 7 p.m. against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Oklahoma at Legacy Arena.
The meet will be televised on SEC Network. John Roethlisberger, Aly Raisman and Samantha Peszek will call the meet with Taylor Davis serving as the on-site reporter.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
-For the first time since joining the league, Mizzou has earned a spot in Session II in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
-The Tigers finished fourth in the regular season standings, their best finish in SEC history.
-Missouri has had a team score of at least 197.000 in back-to-back SEC Championship meets. 2023 and 2024 are the only time the Tigers have reached the threshold in a conference championship meet.
-Mizzou's best showing in the conference championship meet was a fourth-place finish in 2022.
-The team's score of 197.275 in the 2024 SEC Championship meet is the program's best in the event.
-Mizzou will be seeking its second conference championship in gymnastics.
-The team is also looking for its first SEC title and third in school history, with the other two being won by the volleyball program (2012, 2016).
-The Tigers will be looking to have a gymnast win an event title for the third-consecutive year, following Mara Titarsolej in 2024 and Jocelyn Moore in 2023.
HU DID THAT? SHE DID
-Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) was named SEC Specialist of the Week for the fifth time this season on Tuesday, March 18, becoming the only gymnast in conference history to earn the honor five times in a season.
-She earned another 10.000 on beam during the team's meet against Arkansas, helping lead the Tigers to their best score in program history (49.575).
-Hu became just the second gymnast in program history to score a perfect 10 twice in season history in the meet against Arkansas on March 14. She joins Schwartzman, who did so on beam in 2004.
-She is the only gymnast in the country with multiple 10s on beam this season.
-Hu first made history in the team's meet against OU, recording the first perfect 10.000 of the 2025 NCAA Division-I women's gymnastics season and her career during her routine on balance beam.
-The Chicago native made the national spotlight since then, even being featured at No. 5 on the SportsCenter Top-10 the day after the team's meet against OU.
-Following up on her first career 10 against No. 1 Oklahoma, Hu nearly achieved perfection in the following weeks, recording a pair of 9.975s.
-She stands second nationally in beam NQS at 9.965, first in the conference, and third in the country in beam scoring an average of 9.918.
-Hu's performance is the fifth time a Mizzou gymnast finished with a 10 on beam.
-Hu recorded a 9.900 for the 30th and 31st time in her career to reach or exceed the score on balance beam in her routine against No. 6 Florida and No. 13 Auburn, respectively.
-Hu previously scored at least 9.950 on 15 different occasions before her first perfect 10.
-Hu spent the past year backpacking in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy and Finland with her sister Elaine.
-In her most recent season of competition, the 2023 campaign, Hu competed in all 13 meets and posted a 9.900 or better on beam in 10. She earned second-team All-America status in the event and was on the end-of-season All-SEC team.
HISTORIC SEASON FOR THE TIGERS
-Missouri gymnastics is in the midst of one of its best seasons in program history, breaking numerous throughout the regular season.
-The team's regular season win percentage of .765 is the third best in program history.
-The Tigers' current national qualifying score (NQS) ranking of seven is its highest in the regular season. Heading into the year, the team's previous best was No. 9 during week seven of the 2022 campaign.
-Mizzou reached its best NQS ranking on floor in program history, ranking third in week ten. This tops its previous record of No. 7 in week seven in 2024.
-On the floor exercise, Mizzou posted its best team score in program history at Zou to the Lou, recording a 49.725.
-The Tigers posted 49.575 on beam against Arkansas on March 14, which ranks one in Mizzou history.
-Hu earned her first score of 10 while on balance beam at Oklahoma on Jan. 17, marking the first routine to achieve perfection in the 2025 season. She became the second gymnast in program history to record multiple 10s in the same season.
-Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) also earned a 10 during the Zou to the Lou meet on Feb. 14 on floor, making it the third season in program history to see two perfect scores in the same year.
-Between Griffin and Hu, the two combine for six Southeastern Conference Specialist of the Week awards, making it the third time in conference history that one school has earned five such honors in the same season.
-This week, Hu is ranked second in beam NQS, which is the second-highest a Mizzou gymnast has ever been ranked in an event.
-For the fourth time in last the five years, Mizzou owns two top-15 dual meet wins in a season. In fact, MU owns four - against No. 6 Kentucky, No. 14 Alabama, No. 12 Georgia and No. 13 Auburn.
-Mizzou recorded its program history high score in a win against No. 13 Auburn, posting a 198.100.
-With the win against No. 16 Arkansas, Missouri clinched its best regular season finish since joining the SEC and a spot in Session II at the SEC Championship.
-In the week nine NQS rankings, Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.) and Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) shared the No. 9 spot on bars. This is the first time since 2006 that the program has had a pair of teammates' NQS rank in the top 10 of an event in the same week.
THE BEST OF THE BEST
-Road to Nationals switched over to NQS to determine its rankings following the seventh week of meets. NQS is calculated by taking a team or individual's top six scores, three of which come from away meets, dropping the highest score and averaging the remaining five.
-The team's No. 7 NQS ranking is its highest in program history.
-Missouri claims a top 10 spot in three events - fourth in the nation on floor, sixth on bars and ninth on vault. The Tigers are just outside the top 10 on beam, slotting in at No. 11.
-The Tigers' highest-ranked individual is Hu, who is second nationally on beam. Her No. 2 ranking in the ties for the second-highest in program history, which is only surpassed by Schwartzman who was ranked No. 1 on beam in 2006.
-In total, Mizzou has seven gymnasts in the NQS top 25 of an event - Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) (15) and Celestine (25) on vault, Celestine (18) and Titarsolej (8) on bars, Hu (2) on beam and Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, N.J.) (11), Celestine (9) and Griffin (23) on floor.
-Mizzou's first NQS poll saw it positioned at No. 8 in the nation, its highest-ever first NQS ranking. The team held its spot and stayed at No. 8 in the second week of NQS with a score of 197.095.
-SEC programs make up the top three and six of the top 10 in the week 10 poll.
-All nine of the SEC gymnastics programs are in the top 16 of the rankings, with every program holding an NQS of 197.000 or better.
THE CELESTANDARD
-In her final season of competition, Celestine has continued to impress in each meet of the year. She set a new personal-best all-around score of 39.650 against Auburn on March 9, which is the sixth-best score in program history.
-In the all-around, Celestine holds the 15th-highest score nationally at 39.650. Her NQS in the all-around at 39.505 ranks 17th.
-With her result against Georgia on bars, Celestine became the only Tiger since 1999 to record five-straight scores of at least 9.900 in the event. The streak went through six-straight meets after a 9.900 at Florida. Only two gymnasts have done so four times in a row, being Titarsolej in 2024 and Jodie Heinicka in 2006.
-On Feb. 28 against No. 6 Florida, her 9.900 on bars marked the seventh time in nine meets this season she's reached or exceeded the score.
-Celestine led the Tigers on bars with a career-high score of 9.950, which ties for the highest score for Missouri on bars this season, earning a share of the event title at Zou to the Lou.
-Against No. 6 Kentucky, the senior posted a 9.900 on bars and a 9.925 on floor, earning the event title in both events to help lead the team to its first conference win of the year.
-During the team's season opener, Celestine competed all-around for the first time, taking the event title with a score of 39.350. She holds 12 event titles in 2025.
WANT SOME MO'(ORE)
-Moore, a senior, has had a fantastic 2025 campaign, setting the second-best vault score of 2025 thus far against No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 17, recording a 9.975. The vault score against the Sooners marked the fourth time in her career to score or exceed a 9.975.
-She has recorded a 9.950 on floor three times this season. Her most recent came against Auburn, where she clinched the team's first-ever 198.000+.
-She holds the program's lone perfect 10 on vault and two additional scores of 9.975.
-Moore has earned a 9.900 or better in an event in eight of the team's 11 meets this season.
-Moore also notched a score of 9.925 on floor for the Tigers against Kentucky. She has scored 9.900 or better on the apparatus six times in the 2025 season and 35 times in her collegiate career, which leads the team.
-Across her 52 collegiate meets throughout her career, Moore has scored 9.900 in one of the three events she competes in all but seven of them. She has scored 9.900 an impressive 21 times on vault and 35 times on floor.
GRIFFIN ETCHES NAME IN RECORD BOOKS
-Griffin's performance at Zou to the Lou is the second 10.000 on floor a Mizzou gymnast has received, joining teammate Moore who achieved the feat at the Illinois Quad on March 17, 2024. She is the sixth Tiger to score a 10, five of which have come since 2023.
-Her NQS of 9.915 now ranks 23rd nationally in the event.
-Griffin's SEC Specialist of the Week honors, which she earned on Feb. 18, marks her second weekly conference award. She also won Freshman of the Week on Jan. 30, 2024, following her previous career-best of 9.975 in the team's win over No. 3 LSU.
100 CAREER WINS
-Mizzou's win over Arkansas this past week marked head coach Shannon Welker's 100th career win.
-In his tenure, the Black & Gold have competed in nine NCAA Regionals, four NCAA Finals and one NCAA National Championship Appearance.
-Mizzou gymnastics continues to be a rising power under Welker's leadership, leading the Tigers to the highest score in program history (198.100) coming after the Black & Gold beat Auburn in March.
-Welker has spent all 12 of his seasons as a collegiate head coach at Mizzou.
-In 2022, Welker received SEC Coach of the Year for his performance and leadership of the Tigers. The team finished its season in the NCAA National Championship meet in fifth.
-During his time as a head coach, Welker has developed three NCAA All-American First Team and three NCAA All-American Second Team gymnasts, two SEC Event Specialist of the Year and an SEC Freshman of the Year.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED
-Director of Athletics Laird Veatch announced on Thursday, Jan. 2 that Coach Welker signed a contract extension to remain at the helm of the program through 2029.
-Since taking over Mizzou's program in May of 2013, Welker transformed the Tigers into a consistent contender on the national stage.
-He led the program to historic milestones, including multiple NCAA Championship appearances, record-breaking team scores, home attendance records and the development of numerous All-Americans and conference honorees.
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Players Mentioned
