For eight teams— no. 1 Oklahoma, no. 2 LSU, no. 3 Florida, no. 4 UCLA, no. 6 Georgia, no. 7 Stanford, no. 9 Arkansas, and no. 13 Minnesota — dreams of a national championship are still alive. Everyone else? In the same boat as our favorite team, the no. 8 Missouri Tigers. The seasons of no. 5 Alabama, who many thought would advance on the performances of such athletes as Chloe LaCoursiere and SEC Freshman of the Year Aza Ra-Akbar, the nation’s no. 1 & 2 bars workers, no. 11 Michigan State (sad face,
I really like them), a most improved no. 15 Clemson squad who missed out by the slimmest of margins (just 0.075), and no. 12 Utah who missed their first national championships EVER (in 49 years!!!). [JK, I don’t care they didn’t make it.]
Mizzou was there last year and would become one of the last four teams standing. And mark my words, they WILL get there again. It simply wasn’t in the cards for them this year for any number of reasons, but it doesn’t take away from the strides this team has made. The Tigers truly are a national force to be reckoned with, whether or not the gymternet or (cough-cough) judges see it that way.
“I think we’ve set a certain standard so that when we fall a little short on something that’s really hard to do, it feels like disappointment, but it actually is just a new standard, quite honestly,” head coach Shannon Welker said to the small group of Mizzou media on hand after Sunday’s Regional Final.
“I did think they left their best out there today. You know, we needed to stick a little bit better from the first event on there. But overall, [I’m] really proud of them. After losing so many impressive people from last year and to be that close to our goal of a repeat trip to Dallas-Fort Worth. Really proud of them.”
Proud indeed.
Listen, we all know Friday’s semis were not peak Tigers, but they left it out all out there on the floor on Sunday. “Our goal was to get better on every event, and I thought we did that,” Shannon said. That much is true; we saw two season best scores (Kennedy on FX & VLT)
Just 0.225 separated second and third place, and had the Tigers gotten a couple more sticks —Arkansas was a bit more dialed in on the landings (and perhaps received some more lenient scoring) — we’d be talking about Mizzou’s second consecutive trip to Fort Worth and not dissecting how we got here.
This sport is so incredibly hard, both physically and mentally, and the time these athletes spend in the gym perfecting their craft is astounding. So many missed moments in childhood and high school, altered schedules, injuries, homeschooling and money spent to allow for more training and meet travel. It has to take a lot out of you; it’s not for the weak.
I was a mediocre gymnast— the coaches at Olympiad Gymnastics in Florissant, Mo. basically told my mom I’d never really be very good as my back wasn’t flexible enough. Don’t worry; it didn’t destroy my dreams. I focused my energies on other sports— softball through eighth grade and swimming through the summer after senior year though I could have continued my career collegiately. I quit then as I didn’t want it to encompass my life any longer. It would become my life later when I started coaching, of course, and now it’s all very much part of my life as a part-time sportswriter who covers the same sports I once was a part of.
And now, for Mizzou’s seniors— Grace Anne Davis, Makayla Green*, Addison Lawrence*, Lauren Macpherson, Elise Tisler, and Sara Wabi — have reached a similar junction in their lives. It’s off to the next great adventure where I’m certain they’ll do really awesome things in their respective careers like Mizzou grads before them; some may end up in coaching themselves like Addi, who’s openly talked about her aspirations. Regardless, I’m sad for them that it ended this way, especially given some judging stuff that we’ll get into later. They deserved better, and we should all be so thankful to them for donning the black & gold, even it was for a single season or all four years. *technically, both Mak & Addi have a year left they could take
Let’s get to how it shook out, shall we?
Rotation 1: OU- VLT | MIZ- BARS | OSU-BB | ARK-FX
Missouri started off on bars, looking for a stronger start to the meet than Friday, and succeeded in that regard, earning a 49.300 (1/10 higher than semis). Would they get more sticks? Yes… one more. The scoring was pretty tight it felt like, but the media was also the furthest away from bars so it’s possible I missed some stuff.
Makayla led off with a solid routine with great handstands and no leg separation. I really thought she was going to get the stick, but ultimately ended up with a small step back on the landing, earning what seemed to me like a lower scoring 9.775 (9.85, 9.8, 2x 9.75). Did I miss something? I must have.
“Makayla has done a nice job,” Shannon said after the meet. “You know, we needed somebody on bars. We lost four out of our starting six last year. So we needed somebody to come in and help us that had some experience, and she did a nice job of that.”
Lauren, in what would be her last bars routine (booooooo) got a stick, the first of three in the rotation, earning a 9.85 (9.9, 3x 9.85). This score was higher than the semis and should have been higher, I think. Olivia also went above her semis score, earning a wide range of scores from the judges to arrive at her 9.825 (9.9, 9.85, 2x 9.8). She leaned on the landing a bit, but it was a stick, something the Tigers needed to accumulate!
Maiya followed with a 9.85 (3x 9.85, 9.8). After earning a 9.90 in the semis, she was a little over-archy on a handstand, might have caught the Gienger a bit close, and took a step on the landing, but overall, a solid performance for the freshman and I can’t wait to see what she does moving forward in her Tiger career. Hannah was spectacular in the five-spot, earning a surprising 9.925 (2x 9.95, 9.9) which I also think could have gone higher. It was so, so good, and would end up earning her an individual spot at Nationals. Kimarra, in the anchor spot, had an amazing routine with just the hop at the end, earning a 9.85 (also higher than semis).
As for the other teams, I only really watched Arkansas, as they were Mizzou’s main competition, but have noted everyone’s performance in relation to Friday’s semifinals (+ or -), as well as any lineup changes.
- Oklahoma, Vault: 49.525, +0.075 from Semis
- Hannah Scheible came out in favor of Lily Pederson, who hadn’t been in the vault lineup since February 20. “We did have to make a change late in the lineup, and Lily [Pederson] has not vaulted, I’m going to say, in almost three to four months in the lineup,” head coach KJ Kindler said. “So that was, like a big change, and she had to really step up in a big way… So I’m really proud of her for stepping up into that role. You know, that’s a lot of pressure when you haven’t competed in a long time. So really proud of her on that.”
- Blessey 9.875 (-) | Wells 9.85 (-) | Estep 9.95 (+) | Mueller 9.925 (+) | Fatta 9.925 (+) | Pederson 9.85
- Arkansas, Floor: 49.400, +0.00 from Semis
- Allison Cucci, who earned a 9.85 in Semis, was replaced with Lauren Williams
- Klein 9.85— 1x 9.8 (=) | Smith 9.825 (-); one landing was pretty uncontrolled| M. Price 9.9— 1x 9.85 | F. Price 9.85— 1x 9.8; foot slide on one pass | Williams 9.85— 9.8/2x 9.85/9.9 | Roberson 9.95— 1x 9.9 (+)
- Ohio State, Beam: 49.050, +0.075 from Semis
- Guevara 9.80 (-) | Jackson 9.70 (+) | Smith 9.10 fall (-) | Martin 9.80 (+) | Vetter (=) | McCann 9.90 (+)
After One: OU 49.525 | ARK 49.400 | MIZ 49.300 (-0.100) | OSU 49.050
Rotation 2: ARK- VLT | OU- BARS | MIZ- BB | OSU-FX
The Tigers headed to beam next, hoping to exorcise Friday’s beam demons. Mission accomplished, as the beam team earned a 49.250, which was 3/10 better than Friday, and in the middle of their scores for the season. The scoring on beam was nutso, but had it been equally applied to alllllll teams, I would have been fine with it. That was not the case, dear readers; it was NOT.
Railey led off and appeared to have just a small wobble; otherwise, it looked really good… though she only received a 9.825 for the effort with the scores split evenly between 9.8 & 9.85. Amy looked great in the two-spot, finishing, per the CGN live blogger, just short of 180 on the split (understandable with the injury) and with a bit of lean into her stick, earning a solid 9.85 that beat Friday’s score.… I strongly feel Railey should have gotten at least this score, you guys.
“I’m really proud of Amy,” Shannon said. “It’s a super cool story for her to come back to her home state and really have a ton of success with a school that runs in her family’s blood. She battled through that leg injury at the end there with some strained muscles. You know, that takes some toughness, and she really bounced back from day one to day two.”
Kaia went next and was so solid, with just a small step on the landing, earning (again) what seemed to be a lower scoring 9.825 (one judge gave her a 9.9). Olivia followed with a 9.775 and another stick, earning one 9.85 from a judge. She had a bit of a balance check after that damn side aerial that’s gotten her in many meets this season.
To wrap up the rotation, a pair of seniors, Lauren and Addi, performed the last beam routines of their respective careers 🥺. LMac had just a hop in place, earning a 9.875 (one judge gave her a 9.95), and then came Addi, who earned a super solid 9.875. What a difference 24 hours makes!
In closing, we are just elated the Tigers won’t have to see this beam in Lexington again until 2028 (next year UK comes to CoMo).
As for the other teams:
- Oklahoma, Bars: 49.475, -0.050 from Semis
- Pederson 9.90 (-) | Murphy 9.925 (-) | Fatta 9.85 (=) | Estep 9.80 (-) | Scheible 9.875 (-) | Torrez 9.925 (+)
- Arkansas, Vault: 49.275, +0.025 from Semis
- Camie Weaver replaced Joscelyn Roberson, who scored a 9.700 on her ultra-difficult Mustafina vault in semis
- Weaver 9.825 on YF | Smith 9.85— 1x 9.9 on YF (-) | Cucci 9.80— 1x 9.85 on Y1.5 (-); big hop | Klein 9.85— 1x 9.9 on YF (+) | Williams 9.95— unanimous on Y1.5 (+) | M. Price 9.200 fall on Y1.5 (-)
- When asked if she spoke with her sister Morgan after the fall, Frankie said: “No, I didn’t. I knew she knew that exactly what would happen next would have to be completely from her. She got to bars and she completely dominated., and that’s exactly what we do in practice every day. I have full trust in her.”
- Ohio State, Floor: 49.075, -0.10 from Semis
- Guevara 9.80 (-) | Belman 9.80 (+) | Smith 9.725 (+) | Grimes 9.85 (+) | Vetter 9.75 (-) | Coleman 9.875 (+)
After Two: OU 99.00| ARK 98.675 | MIZ 98.550 (-0.125) | OSU 98.125
Rotation 3: OSU- VLT | ARK- BARS | OU-BB | MIZ-FX
Let’s just get this out of the way first thing, shall we? The Fab Floor got screwed, y’all. You know it. I know it. The gymternet knows it. The media knew it. Expletives were muttered. At one point I banged on the table. It was bad, so bad. I simply do not understand what happened here, other than they were wearing perhaps wearing the wrong leo.
In my notes, for Railey’s routine in leadoff, I wrote, “WOW. 9.85 is bs.” She got one 9.9 from the judges. Elise looked fabulous in the second spot, earning a… 9.80. WHAT? She also got one 9.9 from the judges. Ayla had a foot slide in her first pass, but her second was good and her last pass was stuck cold. She earned a 9.85 with, you guessed it, one 9.90 from the judges. I am fairly certain I started to disassociate at this point.
Kaia was next, and her first pass actually made me exclaim, WHOA. She earned a 9.875, which meant two judges gave her a 9.85. I banged on the table after that one.
Kennedy went fifth and did not take a step out of place; it was insanely good, and she earned the only fair score of the rotation, a unanimous 9.95 (her season high). And finally, came Hannah, where I almost fell out of my chair when I saw one judge — just one! — throw up a 10.0 that she’s been waiting on all season. Did the other judges follow suit? OF COURSE NOT. One gave her a 9.95 (good), and then two for some completely unknown reason gave her a 9.90.
Here’s a smattering of the gymternet’s reactions to this routine.
When asked about the Fab Floor post-meet, Shannon said, “It’s a talented group. They’ve got a lot of innate ability, and then we also, I feel like they’ve developed it quite a bit. So it’s an impressive group, and excited. I think we only lose one out of that group next year, so I’m sure they’re going to be stronger.”
As for the other teams:
- Oklahoma, Beam: 49.750, +.325 from Semis
- Fatta 9.90 (+) | Wells 9.90 (+) | Murphy 9.95 (+) | Pederson 9.95 (+) | Mueller 9.95 (+) | Torrez 10.0 (+)
- On Faith’s 10: “I didn’t know what was going on at first, everybody just started cheering around me,” Torrez said. “But I was just glad to go out there and do a better performance than last time, of course, but just remembering not to make the moment bigger than it is. But I was really happy to go out there and do it for my team.”
- Arkansas, Bars: 49.350, -0.025 from Semis
- Roberson 9.875 (+); 1/2 pirouette was arch-y| Klein 9.875 (=); clearly some broken form in her release | Smith 9.80— 9.75/2x 9.8/9.85 (-); couple of issues, including a weird bail and a hop back on the dismount | Campbell 9.80— unanimous (-) | Cucci 9.90— 9.85/2×9.9/9.95 (+); some leg separation | M. Price 9.90— 9.85/2×9.9/9.95 (-); some arm bending on the catch
- Ohio State, Vault: 49.400, -0.150 from Semis
- Grimes 9.825 (+) | Pomager 9.85 (+) | Smith 9.90 (-) | Martin 9.90 (-) | Vetter 9.90 (-) | Coleman 9.85 (-)
After Three: OU 148.750| ARK 148.025 | MIZ 148.00 (-0.025) | OSU 147.525
Rotation 4: MIZ- VLT | OSU- BARS | ARK-BB | OU-FX
With one event to go and the Tigers just 0.025 behind the Gymbacks, would they become Ohio State-esque on vault? No, unfortunately not. When the vault squad desperately needed the sticks, they just didn’t get them.
“I thought vault was solid over there,” Shannon said. “You know, it comes down to sticks at this point when you’re at this level and you have those goals.”
I will contend, this vault squad, even without the sticks, has looked markedly better the last month-plus. The landings have been a lot more controlled, and I’m excited for this group moving forward, who loses just one senior (Elise 🥺).
Kennedy looked great back in leadoff with just a hop in place. She had great height, tying her season best 9.85. In for Kaia, Ayla stepped in — she looked damn good in warmups — and took a pretty big step back, earning a perhaps generous, but unanimous 9.80. Her legs were glued together, and Ayla did a good job filling in last minute.
When asked about the change, Shannon said, “We looked at the day before, and that wasn’t Kaia’s best vault on Friday… We knew I was going to be deciding between those two, quite honestly, and I just felt like we needed steady right there, and I didn’t think Kaia was going to score that much higher than what Ayla scored there.”
Railey was next, taking a step back on her Y1.5, earning a 9.825 (she may have lacked some distance), before Hannah had excellent shape in the air but a medium hop forward, earning a 9.85— these judges LOVED a 9.85 this rotation (I say sarcastically).
Kimarra’s score in the fifth spot should have been higher, also earning a 9.85 despite having a TINY hop, but a great block and tons of height. She got one 9.9 from a judge. Elise, who did a 9.95 SV Yurchenko Full on Friday, at the last minute switched back to a Y1.5, also earning — YOU GUESSED IT! — a 9.85 (and one 9.9 from a judge).
“We were prepared to do both vaults, quite honestly,” Shannon said. “And we wanted to warm up the [Yurchenko] Full night one, just because we hadn’t competed it, just in case we got to the end and we just needed sure thing… We just wanted to be prepared for both scenarios there. And obviously, we just decided to go for it at that point and I didn’t have their [Arkansas] last beam score. I’m like, well, we need to go for it here. If we’re going to be aggressive, we need to let them be aggressive, too.”
To wrap it up, here’s how the rest of the final rotation went.
- Oklahoma, Floor: 49.600, +0.125 from Semis
- Murphy 9.90 (=) | Fatta 9.90 (+) | Pederson 9.90 (=) | Wells 9.875 (=) | Mueller 9.95 (+) | Estep 9.95 (+)
- Arkansas, Beam: 49.425, +0.300 from Semis
- Park 9.85— 9.8/2x 9.85/9.9 (=)| Klein 9.825— 2x 9.8/9.85/9.9 (-) | Weaver 9.80— 1x 9.75 (+); ; not much height on her BHS-LOSO; pretty big balance check and another on side aerial. HOW DID THIS GET A 9.8? | Cucci 9.90— 9.85/2x 9.9/9.95 (+) | M. Price 9.90— 1x 9.85 (+); balance check with her LEG UP after BHS-LOSO | Roberson 9.95— unanimous (=); CGN blogger didn’t think she got the connection into her back tuck
- Ohio State, Bars: 49.050, +0.075 from Semis
- Sadie Jane Berry, who fell in the semis, was replaced with Buchanon in the Sweet 16
- Pomager 9.80 (+) | Rader 9.85 (+) | Vetter 9.85 (+) | Jackson 9.875 (+) | Coleman 9.80 (-) | Buchanan 9.75
After Four: OU 198.350| ARK 197.450 | MIZ 197.225 (-0.225) | OSU 196.700
And there you have it.
The Future
So where does this leave us? Well, first up, everyone will be watching the NCAA Championships because obviously, #everybodywatcheswomenssports, but also, to tune in and watch HANNAH HORTON compete bars as an individual in the National Semi #2 session.
And in case you’re wondering how the Regional Floor Co-Champion didn’t advance to nationals, in the semifinal round, Hannah, The Creator earned a 9.925 that matched Arkansas’ Joscelyn Roberson and Kentucky’s Creslyn Brose. When Arkansas advanced, that automatically knocked out Josc, and left a tiebreaker between Brose and H2. Because both had the same scoresheets— two 9.90 and two 9.95 (Hannah was underscored, per usual) — they took to NQS, where Brose had the upper hand… by 0.05 of a point. [dramatic sigh.] The underscoring of H2 all season was the culprit once again, this time keeping her out of contention for a natty on a second event.
Aside from that, Shannon said, “This is a young team just trying to figure it out a little bit. I think that tells you what we’re going to be capable of next year, especially with the number four recruiting class in the country.”
“I think every event we have is going to get stronger next year. I know we’re losing a couple of routines here and there, but what we’re going to develop along with what’s walking in the door, I think people are going to be really impressed. If they liked this year and last year, I think next year is going to be pretty impressive.”
On a Personal Note
Man, I’m going to miss this team and these parents that I’ve gotten to know over the last couple months. Covering this team is so, so good for the soul. That’s what we — me, Nate and Ben — all talked about this past weekend. We are so proud to get to be three of the main voices behind the Mizzou Gym coverage. It’s truly been an honor.
This, of course, is not goodbye. There will be much more to come. [And sorry this took so long to get out. It’s been a WEEK.]
