Celestine and Welker Recognized with Regional Awards by WCGA
4/9/2025 12:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
Shannon Welker was named the South Central Regional Coach of the Year and Amari Celestine earned the Regional Co-Gymnast of the Year award.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri gymnastics head coach Shannon Welker was named the South Central Region Head Coach of the Year and senior Amari Celestine (Wildomar, Calif.) earned Regional Co-Gymnast of the Year, the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) announced on Wednesday.
In his 12th year at the helm of the program, Welker led the team to a score of 197.650 at the NCAA Championship Second Round meet, marking the highest postseason score in Mizzou history and the fifth-straight Regional Final appearance. With a second-place finish in the Regional Final, the Tigers advanced to their fourth NCAA Semifinal appearance ever.
Welker is currently leading Missouri to one of its most successful seasons in program history. The team tied its best-ever finish in the SEC Championship meet and capped off the regular season with its highest national qualifying score (NQS) in history of 197.510. Mizzou also reached its best-ever NQS ranking of No. 7 and had all four events ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Welker led Mizzou to its first score of 198 and its highest score on both floor (49.725) and beam (49.575). The fab floor's ranking of No. 3 nationally in weeks nine and 10 was the highest event ranking ever by Missouri. Three Tigers combined to earn five perfect 10s this year, the school's most in a single year.
Celestine delivered standout performances that have been pivotal to Missouri's success in her final season of competition. Celestine began competing in the all-around and set numerous personal bests to earn a spot on the All-SEC Team on the floor exercise after finishing No. 9 nationally and fifth in the conference NQS. She capped off the regular season with six-straight scores on floor of at least 9.900, three of which were 9.950 or better. The senior's career-best in the all-around of 39.625 set at Zou to the Lou ties the seventh-best score in program history.
At the NCAA Seattle Regional, she won the meet all-around title with 39.450 and the outright vault title with 9.950, tying her career best on the apparatus. Celestine shares the WCGA award alongside Oklahoma gymnast Faith Torrez.
Mizzou advances to the NCAA Championship Semifinal at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, where it faces No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida and No. 12 Alabama on Thursday, April 17 at 3:30 p.m. The meet will be televised on ESPN2. The top two teams from the quad meet advance to the NCAA Championship Final on Saturday, April 19 at 4 p.m.
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