Missouri
No. 6 Georgia
No. 9 Gymnastics Travels to Tulsa for SEC Championship
3/20/2026 3:30:00 PM | Gymnastics
Mizzou is set to compete in Session I of the meet, joining Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia and Kentucky.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 9 Mizzou gymnastics opens postseason action with the SEC Championship on Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla., at BOK Center. The meet will be nationally televised on SEC Network with commentary provided by John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek, Aly Raisman and Taylor Davis.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
-Mizzou is competing in its 13th Southeastern Conference Championship in 2026.
-The Tigers' best finish at the SEC Championship was fourth place in 2022 and 2025, earning a spot in Session II in 2025.
-Missouri is looking to earn its fourth-consecutive individual conference title, following Jocelyn Moore's vault championship in 2023, Mara Titarsolej on bars in 2024 and 2025 and Helen Hu's beam title in 2025.
-The program posted its top score at the event in 2025, where MU scored 197.400.
THE MATCHUPS
-Missouri finished 4-4 in conference action, going 3-1 against its opponents in Session I.
-Two of Mizzou's three wins against Session I opponents came on the road - at Kentucky on Feb. 13 and at Auburn on March 13.
-The Tigers' highest score against a Session I opponent came against Arkansas on March 1, when they posted a 197.425.
THESE TIGERS ARE ON FIRE
-Mizzou ranks inside the top 10 nationally on all four events in Week 11: 10th on vault, 10th on bars, 10th on beam and seventh on floor.
-Week five marked the first time in the Road to Nationals era (since 1998) that Missouri ranked inside the top 10 nationally on all four events after every team had competed, and the Tigers have now done so for six consecutive weeks.
FAB FLOOR LOOKING FAB
-Mizzou's highest event ranking comes on the floor exercise, where it stands seventh nationally with a team NQS of 49.431.
-The team's No. 2 floor ranking in weeks three and four tied the program's second-highest individual-event team ranking from week three onward. It previously ranked No. 1 on beam in weeks eight and nine in 2006 and No. 2 on beam in weeks three and five in 2022.
-Hannah Horton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) leads the team in NQS on floor with 9.930, which stands 12th in the country, while Kennedy Griffin (Strongsville, Ohio) joins her in the top 20, standing at 20th with 9.925.
-On Feb. 20 at the Mizzou Quad, the Tigers scored all 9.9+ for their highest floor score of the season of 49.575.
ELITE CONSISTENCY ON FLOOR
-Mizzou ranks among the nation's best on the floor exercise thanks in part to the consistency of Horton and Griffin.
-Griffin is one of nine gymnasts nationally to record six consecutive scores of 9.900 or higher on floor this season.
-She is also one of five gymnasts in the country to score 9.875 or higher in every meet on the event.
-Horton is one of four gymnasts nationally with at least eight scores of 9.925 or higher on floor this season.
AMONG THE BEST OF THE BEST
-Missouri is one of only 12 programs nationally with at least five different gymnasts recording scores of 9.950 or higher across multiple events this season.
-Horton delivered a 9.975 on vault at the team's second meet of the season.
-Addison Lawrence (Olathe, Kan.) added a 9.950 on balance beam for the fifth time this season against Florida.
-Lawrence's score was matched by Railey Jackson (Park Forest, Ill.) at Alabama, earning a career high, and by Lauren Macpherson against LSU, matching her personal best.
-Kimarra Echols (Henderson, Nev.) reached the threshold at Alabama on vault and on bars at Kentucky.
JUST A FRESHMAN
-Echols has been a cornerstone of Mizzou's lineup throughout the 2026 season, competing in all 11 meets thus far and on pace to be the first Tiger freshman to do so since 2022 (Grace Anne Davis (Albertville, Ala.) and Jocelyn Moore).
-The Henderson, Nev., native is one of only 14 gymnasts nationally with six or more scores of 9.900 or higher on uneven bars this season and one of just three freshmen to reach that mark.
-Echols ranks 14th nationally on bars and has recorded a career-high 9.950 at Kentucky.
-She ranked third nationally in week seven on uneven bars with a NQS of 9.915, becoming the fourth Mizzou gymnast since 2004 to rank in the top five of the event after all teams have competed.
MACPHERSON NAMED SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
-Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, Ariz) was named the 2026 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the second gymnast in program history to earn the honor and the 14th Mizzou student-athlete since joining the conference in 2012.
-The Gilbert, Ariz., native earned her undergraduate degree in kinesiology and is currently pursuing a master's degree in epidemiology and public health, earning WCGA Academic All-America honors in 2024-25.
-Macpherson has been a key contributor on beam, posting six scores of 9.900 or higher this season, including a career-tying 9.950 against LSU on Jan. 30.
-She has also appeared in nine bars lineups, recording a season-high 9.900 against Arkansas on March 1.
JUST HORTON THINGS
-Following the first 11 meets of the season, Horton is among the nation's best and most consistent in the three events she's competed in.
-The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native ranks 12th on floor, 20th on bars and 32nd on vault, which was highlighted by a career-best 9.975 on the apparatus at the Ameritas Master's Classic.
-The junior holds the most event titles of any Mizzou gymnast this season with 14, holding season highs of 9.975 on vault and 9.950 on bars and floor.
GODDESS WITH GLASSES
-After not competing as a freshman, Ayla Acevedo (Virginia Beach, Va.) earned a spot in Mizzou's floor lineup through offseason development while balancing a biochemistry major.
-The sophomore scored a 9.900 in her collegiate debut against Iowa State and matched the mark against -Oklahoma before posting a career-best 9.925 against Florida.
-She performs to K-pop music from KATSEYE, marking the first known NCAA floor routine using the group, according to program research.
TANSKANEN AMONG THE WORLD'S BEST
-Sophomore Kaia Tanskanen (Howell, Mich.) brings elite international experience to Mizzou's postseason lineup, highlighted by a 15th-place finish in the all-around final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, the best in Finnish history.
-She was one of just two active NCAA gymnasts to qualify for the world final, competing among the top 24 athletes globally.
-Tanskanen also placed 11th all-around at the European Championships, finishing as the top Finnish athlete in the field.
ADDI'NG UP 9.950S
-Lawrence had big shoes to fill entering her senior season in replacing the 2025 NCAA balance beam national champion Helen Hu but has proven to be one of the best in the country on the apparatus this season.
-Lawrence opened her final year of collegiate competition with five scores of 9.950 on beam in the team's first six meets, one of just three gymnasts nationally with five scores of 9.950 or higher through week six.
HOLDING DOWN THE LEADOFF SPOT
-Redshirt senior Amy Wier (St. Louis, Mo.) has served as the leadoff for the Tigers' balance beam rotation in all but two meets this season.
-In fact, Wier's nine-consecutive meets competing first for Missouri's beam rotation is the second time in at least the last 11 seasons and first since Sienna Schreiber did so for 10-straight contests in 2020.
-The St. Louis native has scored 9.825 or better on beam in all but one meet this season, including two scores of 9.900.
NO FLUKE
-The Tigers' best season in program history reflected sustained growth rather than a one-year breakthrough.
-Under Shannon Welker's leadership, Mizzou has consistently become one of the premier programs in the nation, finishing in the top 15 in each of the last six seasons after only doing so four times between 1998 and 2014.
-Both times the Tigers ranked among the top five to finish the season were under Welker - 2022 (fifth) and 2025 (third).
-Mizzou has scored 197.000 or better in 39 of its last 47 meets dating back to 2023.
CONTINUOUSLY REWRITING HISTORY
-Mizzou opened the 2026 season with a 10-3 record through 13 results, tying the best start in program history.
-The Tigers have now achieved the mark six times (2004, 2009, 2010, 2023, 2025, 2026) and for the second consecutive season.
NO SHORTAGE OF ALL-AMERICANS BACK IN COMO
-Of the nation-leading nine Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) All-America honors MU tallied following the 2025 NCAA Championship Semifinal meet, four return to Mizzou, tied for most in the country along with Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida.
-Elise Tisler (Fairfax Station, Va.) was named a WCGA Vault First Team member. On the WCGA Second Team, Horton earned recognition on uneven bars, while Olivia Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) was recognized on uneven bars and balance beam, and Lawrence was also honored on balance beam.
THE BEST SEASON IN MIZZOU WOMEN'S SPORTS HISTORY
-The 2025 Mizzou gymnastics season finished as the most successful season of any varsity women's team in school history, placing third at the NCAA Championship Final.
-It marked the first time the program advanced to the NCAA National Championship Final and the second time it had competed in the NCAA Championship Semifinals, having done so for the first time in 2022.
-Helen Hu captured the program's first individual national title after scoring 9.9875 on balance beam.
SETTING HISTORY IN FIRST YEAR AT MIZZOU ARENA
-Missouri earned its highest-ranked win in program history in its contest against No. 2 Florida on Friday, Feb. 6, winning 197.200-196.800.
-This marks the Tigers' third win and second-straight against Florida, most recently in the NCAA Championship Semifinal on April 17, 2025.
-MU's previous highest-ranked win came against No. 3 teams, which it has done three times in program history: against Florida last season, at home against LSU on Jan. 26, 2024, and in the NCAA Championship Semifinal over Michigan on April 15, 2022.
-Mizzou also welcomed No. 2 Oklahoma (Jan. 16) and No. 2 LSU (Jan. 30) to CoMo for its first season competing in Mizzou Arena.
2026 SIGNING CLASS AMONG BEST IN MIZZOU HISTORY
-Mizzou welcomes the No. 6 recruiting class nationally for 2026-27, according to College Gym News, marking the second top-10 signing class in the past three years and the program's second-highest ranked class ever.
-The six-member class—Addison Anderson, Ashtyn Conley, Dakota "Coco" Haynes, Raegan McCarty, Kendall Morgan and Imani White—ranks fifth in the SEC and continues Mizzou's run of three consecutive top-20 classes.
-The group features two five-star recruits and multiple national, regional and state champions, bringing proven success across all four events and depth throughout the lineup.
-White headlines the class as the highest-rated signee in program history, ranking No. 5 nationally, with a decorated résumé that includes multiple national team selections.
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Players Mentioned
