FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 7 University of Missouri gymnastics has earned a spot in its first NCAA Championship Final after finishing in second place in the semifinal with a score of 197.3000 on Thursday at Dickies Arena.
Mizzou (24-9, 5-3 SEC) advances in dramatic fashion for the second-straight meet, where the Tigers traded sticks with No. 3 Florida (22-7, 5-3 SEC). It came down to the final routine, where Missouri trailed by a quarter tenth when redshirt senior Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) stepped to the balance beam and score 9.9875, surpassing the Gators by a 197.3000-197.2000 final.
The Tigers join No. 1 Oklahoma (197.3000-197.5500) in the Four on the Floor meet for the national championship on Saturday afternoon.
SHOW STOPPERS
Three Mizzou gymnasts reached the 9.9000 threshold, headlined by Hu's clinching routine. Graduate student Mara Titarsolej (Zutphen, Netherlands) anchored the team's rotation on uneven bars, earning 9.9375, which tied the meet-best score on the apparatus. Going fourth on the balance beam, Addison Lawrence (Olathe, Kan.) notched a score of 9.9125 to keep the team in contention.
Hu and Titarsolej remain in contention for individual national championships, awaiting the results of the second semifinal, which begins at 8 p.m.
RECAP
Floor
Mizzou opened the meet on the floor exercise for the third-straight meet, where it scored 49.2250.
-Mizzou notched three-straight scores of 9.8250 from Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) and Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.).
-Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) and Jocelyn Moore (Hillsborough, N.J.) capped off the team's rotation with scores of 9.8750.
Vault
-Missouri's second rotation on vault saw it earn a score of 49.1250, which tied for the second-best score on the apparatus in the meet.
-Tanskanen went second for Mizzou and earned a 9.8000 for her routine.
-Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) followed Tanskanen and tied her season-best score of 9.8750 on vault.
-Moore went fifth for the Tigers, where she scored 9.8625.
-Mizzou trailed Florida by 0.3000 points, 98.3500-98.6500, heading into the third event.
Uneven Bars
-MU tallied 49.4500 on uneven bars, where it stuck five of six of its routines.
-Kyra Burns (Blue Springs, Mo.) opened the rotation with a stick and a score of 9.8375.
-Horton and Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) each posted scores of 9.8875, going second and fourth, respectively.
-Moore's routine tallied 9.8625, while Celestine notched 9.8875.
-Titarsolej's 9.9375 tied for the meet's best score and earned her a spot on the Postseason All-America team on bars.
Beam
-Mizzou clinched a spot in the national championship meet on the balance beam, where it tallied 49.5000, the top score on the event by 0.150.
-Junior Amy Wier (St. Louis, Mo.) opened the team's rotation on beam and scored 9.8625.
-The Tigers closed the meet with four-straight scores of 9.8500 or higher, started by Jackson with a 9.8500.
-She was followed by Lawrence's 9.9125.
-Kelly, a freshman, was the team's penultimate routine, notching a score of 9.8875.
-Hu's score of 9.9875 won the meet's event title.
UP NEXT
Mizzou advances to the NCAA Championship Final at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, where it faces No. 2 Oklahoma and the top two from Session II of the NCAA Championship Semifinal between No. 1 LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State. The national title meet is on Saturday, April 19 at 3 p.m. and will be televised on ABC.
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