Hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve had a really busy start to the school year, trying to juggle grading for my very large online class along with editing for the site and putting together my gymnastics previews. Anyway… no more excuses. When I don’t have gym content, I’m going to try and get these out more often. And, as you’ll see, there’s a helluva lot of good going on in CoMo.
If you’re new here, WELCOME to “Olympic Sports Catch Up!” As the Olympic sports manager at this beautiful little
website, I lead a team of talented and passionate writers who have a special interest in non-revenue Olympic sports at Missouri (I despise the phrase “non-revenue”).
I’ve broken down each of the sports below and will be sharing fun/relevant info, social posts, any writing our talented crew has done, and links to other stories from outside of Rock M if I find ‘em.
Enjoy!
Basketball- Women’s
- Not much on the news front, but here’s a couple of social media posts. We are under 50 days from opening night, y’all. I can’t wait.
- Catch Coach Kenzie on the mic!
- Hello, new team! Only a couple of returnees —Grace Slaughter, Hannah Linthacum & Averi Kroenke— for Kellie Harper’s first season, so there’s a slew of new Tigers to get to know!
Cross Country
- Cross Country competed in its first road meet of the season on Saturday at the Nebraska Invitational, and Sophie Silvers chatted with Tiger XC coach Kyle Levermore for her preview that ran earlier this week. Several returning Tigers will be ones to watch in this one, as we will get glimpses of Drew Rogers, Natalie Barnard, Rahel Broemmel (Abigail’s personal fave) and Ryder James. 31 schools will be taking part in this meet, which also marks the Tigers’ only true road meet of the season.
Having never run at this course before, Levermore said, “The big thing for us is just to see the team running, to see if we can manage to work through the bigger field size, and give some of our younger athletes [room] to develop.”
- So, how’d the meet go? Sophie outlined the team’s performance in her new recap. Sophomore Charlotte Cullen led the way for the Tigers with a third place finish in the 5,000m while Elijah Limo surged to a second-place finish.
Golf- Men’s
- Three Tigers — junior Veikka Viskari (11th), junior Virgilio Paz (12th), and sophomore Trent Mierl (18th) — placed in the top 20 at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational and Mizzou placed third as a team (out of 11).
“It was another solid week for us,” said Mizzou head coach Glen Millican said in the MUTigers recap. “There are some areas from today that we need to clean up but overall, good playing from the guys. It is a good start for us on this two-tournament trip and we’re ready to start our prep for Blessings. MIZ”
- Next up: The Tigers will return to action on September 29 when they head to Fayetteville for the Blessings Collegiate Invitational.
Golf- Women’s
- Golf has gotten off a hot start, opening their season at the Sam Golden Invitational on September 7 and claiming the team title. Per MUTigers, Mizzou shot 40-under par, which marked a new program best, and was their first tourney victory since 2022. All five Tiger competitors finished under-par and in the top 35— senior Melanie Walker (4th), senior Addie Dobson (12th), Addie Surber (25th) and junior Fleur van Beek (35th).
- Ebbe Liljeberg was named SEC Freshman of the Week after breaking the NCAA record in relation to par when she carded an 11-under 61 in the second round. By the tourney’s end, she finished nine shots over the nearest competitor, recording a 19-under 197.
- UP NEXT: The Tigers will return home to host the Johnie Imes Invitational at The Club at Old Hawthorne September 22-23.
Gymnastics
- Have you checked out my Way Too Early Previews yet? I still have (Fab) Floor left to come, but you should check out my previews on VAULT, UNEVEN BARS, and BEAM. I go way too much into detail —is there a such thing?!— but I had a lot of information to get through (and a lot of help from friends, colleagues, staff and the team).
- Based on other SEC teams’ schedules being released, the Mizzou Gym schedule is starting to come together. Here’s what we know so far—
- Week One (Jan 9-11): likely a non-conference meet
- Week Two (Jan 6-18): likely at Georgia based on my deductive reasoning
- Week Three (Jan 23): at Alabama
- Week Four (Jan 30-Feb 1): vs. LSU (probably, only 2 SEC teams w/0 a meet that week)
- Week Five (Feb 6): vs. Florida (lauded as one of Inside Gym’s Meets to Watch)
- Week Six (Feb 13): at Kentucky
- Week Seven (Feb 20-22): vs. Arkansas, Oklahoma or non-con
- Week Eight (Feb 27-Mar 1): vs. Arkansas or non-con
- Week Nine (Mar 6-8): vs. Arkansas, Oklahoma or non-con
- Week Ten (Mar 13): at Auburn
- Here’s a look at the new team (and check out their Nike Christmas haul):
- Sophomore Kaia Tanskanen talked with KOMU’s Grace Ainger about performing Finland’s first double-double on floor, and preparing for World Championships in October. You can watch her kick-ass routine here.
- College Gym News has been sharing their Most Anticipated Freshmen series, and finally— a Tiger! Here’s what they had to say about Kimarra Echols!
The only five-star recruit in this class known to have visited Missouri, the Tigers certainly got a star with Echols. In 2024, she took the floor title in all but one of her meets with the exception being nationals, where she was runner-up. The pattern continued into 2025 where she finished in the top three on the event at all meets and was state and regional champion. With skills such as her powerful full-twisting double tuck, this is no surprise.
- And because there is NEVER enough gymnastics content to go around, check out these training videos. This top tweet includes freshman Maiya Terry (top left, bars), freshman Kimarra Echols (top right, beam), Arkansas transfer Dakota Essenpries (bottom left, vault), and junior Rayna Light (bottom right, bars). The bottom one — VAULT DAY!! — features 10.0 start value vaults from Kaia Tanskanen (top right, her third 10.0 SV vault?!?), Hannah Horton (top right), Kennedy Griffin (bottom left), and Elise Tisler (bottom right). The Tigers’ instagram also features Railey Jackson.
- I was very disappointed to learn that one of Mizzou’s visitors from last weekend, 2027 five-star Madyson Boyd, announced her commitment to Alabama. I have to admit; I felt quite confident in the Tigers’ chances when she followed me on Instagram. Alas, it was crimson (cuz it’s Alabama, get it?) herring. There’s still hope for the other visitors from that weekend who remain uncommitted: 5-star Kendall Morgan (2026), 4-star Adelia Occhipini (2027) and 5-star Mariah Moore (2027).
Softball
- True Deck (with a research assist from me), pieced together Mizzou’s 2026 SEC slate.
The Tigers commence SEC play on the road for the second consecutive season, this time against the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida March 6-8. Last season, Mizzou was swept in its opening series against Kentucky, so let’s not shoot for a repeat. The Gators, who finished sixth in the SEC, ended up making the Women’s College World Series after a Super Regional win over Georgia at home. These two teams did not face one another in 2025, and last faced off in the SEC title game in 2024. (Karen/Editor’s note: that seems like a lifetime ago.)
- Larissa Anderson & Co. secured the commitments of two highly-rated members of the 2027 class, RHP Cyarah “CeeCee” Dotts and RHP/SS Jenna Mannon. True was on deck with the news: Mizzou Softball adds two names to its 2027 class.
Mannon, a West Jefferson, Ohio native, plays both pitcher and shortstop. She recently received a Top 10 ranking from Line Drive Media for the ‘Pitcher – plus’ position (pitchers who play other positions, too).
Dotts, a Springdale, Arkansas product, most recently competed on the 18U Fast Pitch Aces, who won the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series this summer. On July 24th, Dotts pitched 12 innings, allowing seven hits and striking out 20 batters. If that’s not a sign of domination, I don’t know what is. The Arkansas native has a serious shot at being an ace of the future for the Tigers.
- The Tigers’ fall slate kicks off on next Friday (Sept 27) at Mizzou Softball Stadium, where they will face Missouri State at 7pm.
- The Tigers’ lineup for the NFCA Division 1 Leadoff Classic, held in early February each year in Clearwater (and attended by my parents) will feature: Penn State in the season opener, WCWS team Oregon, BYU, Tennessee State and Liberty.
Soccer
- The Tigers were back in action on Thursday night to take on no. 5 Tennessee. They managed to hold off the Lady Vols pretty well early on before finally succumbing to UT. Colin Simmons had the recap.
With neither of Tennessee’s leading goal scorers participating in this match due to injuries, the stat sheet was not stuffed by either side to finish the match. The Lady Vols limited Mizzou to only five shot attempts (three on goal) and one corner kick opportunity on the night while Tennessee recorded 12 shots, nine on goal.
- While senior goalie Kate Phillips allowed two goals, she also had a season-high seven saves, some of which were very impressive.
- UP NEXT: The Tigers hit the road for their first SEC matchup of the season, taking on Kentucky Sunday at noon.
Swimming & Diving
- We FINALLY got a schedule, you guys, and while we still don’t have a social media post for it, it is showing up on MU Tigers.
- Oct 18: at Purdue (10am)
- Nov 1: Vanderbilt & McKendree College (10am)
- Nov 13-15: Georgia Tech Invitational (Diving)
- Nov 20-22: Mizzou Invite (9:30am P / 5:30pm F)
- Jan 9: at Louisville (2pm)
- Jan 10: at Kentucky (10am)
- Jan 31: Southern Illinois (10am)
- Feb 16-21: SEC Championships, Knoxville
- Get to know sophomores Maeve DeYoung and Avery Stein!
Tennis
- Tiger Tennis’ fall schedule is set to begin September 26-28 in Lincoln, NE at the Husker Invitational. They will then head to Norman, OK for the ITA Fall Regional October 16-20, before closing out the season at San Diego State November 7-9.
- Get to know some new Tigers!
Track & Field
- Massive congrats and good luck to 2025 NCAA National Champion Valentina Barrios, who advanced to the women’s javelin final at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday AM in Tokyo.
“I’m really proud of Valentina,” head coach Brett Halter said in the MUTigers release. “She bounced back after a slow start, managed her emotions and delivered the second-longest throw of her career to advance to the World Championship final. To reach this stage as a collegiate athlete is a massive accomplishment, and today she proved she can compete with the best on any given day.”
Volleyball
- Dylan will have more on this later this weekend, but in the meantime, you can read his weekend preview, where he talked to head coach Dawn Sullivan about all sorts of things and identified a player to watch— Regan Haith.
“I think it’s more we’re a little too high error in situations,” Sullivan said. “We handle it, but after a while, we have to still continue to put that ball in bounds….when you make over five errors a set, you’re going to lose, is what I’ll say…yes, it was our opponent, but for me it’s more us.”
- On Friday, the No. 22 volleying Tigers began play in the Leatherneck Invitational in Macomb, Illinois, where they knocked off Chicago State (0-9 NEC) 3-0 (25-9, 25-8, 25-15) and Valparaiso (7-4 MVC) 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-23, 25-16).
- Per MUTigers, in the Chicago State match, Tyrah Ariail was the star, recording a career-high four service aces to go with four kills and a 1.000 hitting percentage. The freshmen trio of Paige Felder (8 kills & 3 aces), Asia Harvey (7 kills & 2 blocks) and Nina Mandovic (17 assists, 1 ace) got major reps.
- Per MUTigers, against Valpo, three Tigers recorded season highs— senior Regan Haith with 10 blocks; senior Janet deMarrais with 20 kills (and a .295 hitting percentage) and RS-Jr Marina Crownover with her sixth double-double of the season on 40 assists and 12 digs. She also had five block assists. Maya Sands was one shy of hitting her career high in digs with 29.
- On Saturday, they wrapped up the tourney with a match against host team Western Illinois with a 3-0 sweep, their fifth sweep of the season, per MUTigers. The Tigers posted a .289 hitting percentage and held Western Illinois to a 0.034 hitting percentage (wow). Top performers included Janet deMarrais, who led the team with 10 kills on a .409 hitting percentage, Nina Mandovic, who earned her first start and had 19 assists and four service aces, and Maya Sands, who posted a game-high 20 digs.
- Also on the volleyball friend, G.O.A.T. creative director Katie White’s long-awaited video series, “Set for Greatness,” debuted with its first episode.
Wrestling
- We have a schedule! And it will kick off with the Missouri Duals on November 2 where Tiger Style will wrestle Drury, Maryville and Central Methodist.
- The Tigers are also home the following weekend, where they will host the annual Tiger Style Invite (returning back to CoMo after three years at KC’s Staley High School). They will face Little Rock, Oklahoma, Purdue and South Dakota State.
- Other meets include:
- Nov 15-16: National Duals Invitational (Tulsa, OK)— features top teams in the NCAA competing for a $200K grand prize
- Nov 25: Illinois
- Dec 5: Journeymen Duals (St. Charles, MO) vs. Nebraska & LIU
- Dec 14: at Northern Iowa (conference opener)
- Jan 3-4: Soldier Salute (Iowa)
- Jan 15: at Arizona State
- Jan 17: at Utah Valley
- Jan 23: vs. Oklahoma State
- Jan 25: vs. Northern Colorado
- Jan 31: at Little Rock
- Feb 6: at West Virginia
- Feb 13: Oklahoma
- Feb 22: at Iowa State
- Mar 6-7: Big 12 Championships (Tulsa)
