Y’all, Friday was a great day. Stop Day for students, officially signaling the end of Fall 2025 coursework. My J-School promotion was officially announced at our faculty meeting. One of my friends signed,
sealed and delivered his agreement to take an amazing [redacted] job at the University. My mom received what seems like good health news. The Taylor Swift Eras Tour Docuseries released. And, of course, the real reason you’re here…
For MIZZOU FLIPPIN’ — it originally said a bleeped-out expletive, but since they do flips, this felt like a better choice — GYMNASTICS.
[pauses for wild cheers from the room, and TSwift below]
Friends, we are so, so close to the start of NCAA Gymnastics season. Which means, Mizzou Gymnastics kicked off its 2026 campaign with the Black & Gold intrasquad meet at the team’s new home, Mizzou Arena. J-School professor John Anderson and I were talking on Friday afternoon about the move to the arena, and how maybe it shouldn’t be framed as the team is finally good enough for Mizzou Arena, but rather, he argued, Mizzou Arena is finally ready and good enough for this Mizzou gymnastics team, as this is, after all, the best team in the school. I must say, I LOVE that framing of it.
When talking with head coach Shannon Welker after the meet, he was effusive in his praise of the team’s work ethic and performance, especially for the now-sophomores and the team’s development as a whole.
“I really feel like our last year’s freshmen and this year’s sophomores, they really have an opportunity to really have a huge impact,” Shannon said. “I felt like they were doing really well last year; they just had a lot of people in front of them on events, and I think you got to get through that freshman year.”
Think about that… You had Amari on all four events, Joci on vault, bars & floor, Mara & Kyra on bars, Abby filling in on bars, vault and beam, Helen on beam… Now, with their graduation, that frees up lineup possibilities for Railey Jackson and Kaia Tanskanen, who both competed in the all-around on Friday, as well as freshmen like Kimarra Echols and countless others. And as you’ll see later on with the scores, GOOOOOD LUCK figuring out who will make lineups on a weekly basis.
About the aforementioned development, Shannon said, “I think last year we hit the ground running pretty quick there, and then we just really stayed there. I think what’s going to be really cool about this team this year is you’re going to, you’ll, you’ll see some steady progression all the way through the year.”
Which takes us to our first event:
VAULT
The Tigers showcased five 10.0 start value vaults to varying degrees of success on Friday night, and more are on the way. Of those we saw, Railey Jackson’s much-awaited Yurchenko 1.5 finally came to fruition, and she led all scorers with an absolutely fabulous 9.90.
When asked about the vault post-meet, RJ said, “It was very exciting. It was something that I’ve been looking forward to, to be able to show off in front of the big crowd in Mizzou Arena for a long time.”
Also showcased were really nice 9.85-scoring Yurchenko 1.5s from Hannah Horton, Elise Tisler and Arkansas transfer Dakota Essenpries. Dakota’s vault, in particular, looked the best I’ve seen her do in several intrasquads. Kaia competed her customary Tsuk Full, and her landing was a bit wonky- she took a large step back and may have had a bit of directionality issues, but as I’ve mentioned previously, she also has a Y1.5 and a Pike Front Half (both 10.0 SV) at her disposal. Ultimately, I think (and hope) she’ll end up doing the Pike Front Half, as it’s a cool, different vault.
“Kaia has World Championships under his belt and getting back, we’re on a different cycle with her,” Shannon explained. “We’re just kind of getting going with her. She did well tonight, but she’s got even more. I think we give her another month of just coming up from a little bit of dip in her training cycle, and she’s going to look really good. We’re excited for her.”
While Kimarra showcased a Yurchenko Full (9.95 SV), that Y 1.5 that we saw in in an intrasquad earlier on in the preseason is right there. “I think we’re going to see a one and half from this lady over here, right?” Shannon said, gesturing to Kimarra, who nodded enthusiastically.
There were a host of other Yurchenko Fulls on display as well, as Kennedy Griffin, Ayla Acevedo and freshman Bryce Kupbens, who all earned 9.80 scores. (Kimarra earned the highest of the bunch, a 9.85).
BARS
I must confess something, friends. I missed several of these bars routines. From our new media seating, bars is farrrrr away— it felt like I was looking a whole football field away — and it actually got started while I thought they were still in warmups.
Note to Announcer/Meet Staff: Letting the crowd know the meet was actually beginning would have been helpful. The music continued and all of a sudden— oops, several Tigers had performed on bars before the first vaulter ever took off. It was very confusing.
I don’t have a lot of notes for bars, as I couldn’t tell you who was ON the bars without zooming in on my phone camera, but I did specifically note sticks from Illinois transfer & bars specialist Makayla Green (9.90, though she did windmill her arms to hold steady), Ayla, Kaia, and Lisa Szeibert.
I was particularly impressed with Kaia’s bars routine— she scored a team-high 9.95! — as well as Railey, who had a 9.85 in her first collegiate bars performance.
Per Shannon, Railey had a shoulder injury her senior year of high school so she wasn’t ready for all the events last year. This year, however, all-around could be in her future, though she’s got plenty of competition, from the looks of it. With 4/6 of the bars rotation turning over, this field is wide open.
BEAM
WOW. This beam rotation is soo incredibly deep, especially when you consider that Addi Lawrence, rock solid throughout her time with the Tigers, had an uncharacteristic fall on her series, earning just a 9.25. The falls were contagious (as they always seem to be), and Bryce also fell right after her. It’s early though, and this was an exhibition, so no need to panic, as the Tigers pulled out three — count em, THREE — 9.95 scores on Friday evening, all from underclassmen (Kimarra, Railey & Kaia). And yes, if you’re keeping track that means that Kaia had two 9.95s in the meet— ON EVENTS SHE DIDN’T EVEN COMPETE FOR MIZZOU LAST SEASON, and she hasn’t been back in training very long. WOW.
When speaking with Kimarra post-meet, she said, “I personally think the pep talks from Lacey [Rubin, beam coach] beforehand really calmed my nerves [before the event]. And all of my teammate really, like talking to Kaia before my routine. It helped me build confidence, because she’s like, ‘You got this, you know how to do it.’ And that me believe myself that much more, and it’s really helpful.”
Aside from seeing the regulars on this event— Lauren Macpherson, Grace Anne Davis, Amy Wier, Railey & Olivia Kelly — we saw so many new additions from athletes we hadn’t seen on the beam, like Kennedy, who looked PHENOMENAL, scoring a 9.90, and Rayna Light, who had a great dismount (can’t recall what it was exactly). Neither had competed beam since their freshmen seasons, by my recollection. And while Hannah’s score (9.75) didn’t match up to what I think she’s capable of, it’s only going up from here as that beam tumbling is awesome if she can minimize the wobbles. I also thought Lisa and freshman Hayli Westerlind looked great, each earning solid 9.85 scores. In my notes regarding Hayli’s specifically, I wrote, “punch front to beat jump- FUN.”
BEAM QUEENS, INDEED.
FLOOR
The fab floor has returned with a vengeance, and like beam, it is going to be hard to get into these lineups. There is so much depth. 11 Tigers took the floor on Friday, and 8 of them scored 9.80 or higher, including a team-leading 9.95 from Beyonce enthusiast Kennedy Griffin, a trio of 9.90 scores from underclassmen (Kaia, Kimarra, and freshman Maiya Terry) and a trio of 9.85 scores from (Hannah, Ayla, Railey). SO GOOD.
Overall, Shannon seemed pretty pleased with the floor squad, stating, “We got to clean up a little bit on floor. We had a couple little mistakes there, but overall, I think, you know, when you when we take our top six, I think we’re going to look pretty strong over there.”
I agree. Illinois State transfer Sara Wabi went out of bounds on one of her passes, and Nate Salsman described Hannah’s double layout to me as “a lil’ wonky,” overall, I thought the team looked great for a December exhibition, and they’ll only pull it together from here.
When asking Kimarra and Railey about the magnitude of working with someone like choreographer Jackie Terpak on the floor, their praise was, well… you just have to read it.
“It’s really fun working with Jackie, because she knows how to work with you,” Kimarra said. “She’s really, really creative, and she makes sure everybody has a routine that looks good on them. And it’s just… she’s great at her job, even with leaps, not just dancing. Like, she’s so particular with leaps. And she makes sures that we have a leap that is perfect for us, and it if takes five different leaps to figure it out, it takes five, but in the end, she finds the best one that works for us.”
Railey added, “When it comes to creating our floor routines, it’s working with her throwing in our own ideas, and we feed off each other when it comes to making the choreography or picking out our music and making our character, like who we want our character to be on the floor.”
When I asked about that inspiration for her character, Water Bender, she explained it’s from the anime, Avatar, where they control water, basically. “So my floor music is basically water, and I’m controlling the water.”
Incredible.
Final Thoughts
I came away from this meet impressed, and counting down the days to the opener.
“I think a lot of people are doing some great things and putting in some hard work,” Shannon said. “You should expect another great Mizzou gymnastics team this year. It’s going to be fun.”
“I think just cleaning up some landings and some little stuff on there, but I think sometimes we need events like this to, like, really, kind of motivate us,” Shannon said. “And it’s really cool to see people that get 5% better in competition, or maybe 10%, right?”
Indeed. As someone lucky enough to see a practice earlier that week, as well as two intrasquads before this one, there has definitely been some improvement, and the competition level has been upped astronomically.
“I feel really good about my performance today,” Railey said. “Yes, it was the first one. There’s things to clean up, but I think I showed up, and everything that I’ve been doing in the gym has been put into this competition today, and I’m just excited to do more.”
Scheduling
Next up for the Tigers is the season opener against Iowa State on Sunday, January 4 at 2pm, and after that, a date with Nebraska, both former Big 8 conference members. When asked if this was intentionally part of the scheduling, Shannon said, “I think it kind of played out a little bit that way. I think if we can schedule those things and bring a little nostalgia to it, we’re excited to do that.”
“And,” he added, “those are a little bit easier travel trips, too. So that helps. And we have a Home and Away, so next year Nebraska will come to us. We also felt like also challenging ourselves a little bit in our non-conference would maybe help us prepare a little bit strong for our conference schedule.”
I know if the weather holds up, I’m making the drive to Lincoln in mid-January to see the Tigers on the road. I mean, why not?!
Get your single meet tickets here, folks.
Preseason Rankings
The Women’s College Gymnastics Association (WCGA) preseason poll came out on Tuesday afternoon, and I let out an emphatic whoop in my office as the Tigers topped their highest preseason ranking in program history, coming in at no. 7 nationally. Previously, the highest rankings were no. 9 in both 2023 & 2025. All 9 SEC teams appeared in the top 12, of course, with reigning national champ OU in the top spot, followed by LSU (2), Florida (3), MIZZOU, Alabama (8), Kentucky (9), Arkansas (10), Auburn (11), and Georgia (12).
Per the MUTigers.com release:
This marks the highest preseason ranking in program history for the Tigers, who were also one of five teams to earn multiple first-place votes. After a 2025 campaign that saw Mizzou finish third in the nation, the Black & Gold has now slotted in the WCGA preseason top 10 in three of the last four seasons. Missouri’s previous high was No. 9 in 2023 and 2025.
WAIT. READ THAT AGAIN. “WHO WERE ALSO ONE OF FIVE TEAMS TO EARN MULTIPLE FIRST PLACE VOTES.”
“Being ranked seventh in the WCGA preseason poll is a reflection of the work our student-athletes and staff have put in to build this program the right way,” Mizzou head coach Shannon Welker said. “It speaks to the consistency, belief and standard that now exists at Mizzou gymnastics. We don’t put a lot of emphasis on preseason numbers, but earning the highest ranking in program history shows the respect this team has gained nationally. Our focus remains on continuing to improve every day and being at our best when it matters most.”
Scoring
The whole black or gold team aspect of this event doesn’t really matter, which is why I’ve left it for the end, but in case you really want to know, here’s how the teams were assigned, and Team Gold took the W in the end.
- Team Black: M. Green | K. Griffin | H. Horton | O. Kelly | B. Kupbens | A Lawrence | R. Light | E. Tisler | S. Wabi
- Team Gold: A. Acevedo | G.A. Davis | K. Echols | D. Essenpries | R. Jackson | L. Szeibert | K. Tanskanen | M. Terry | H. Westerlind | A. Wier
And finally, here is a breakdown of their scores. If you’re keeping track and take the top five scores, vault was a 49.30, bars & floor were 49.50 and beam was an astounding 49.65. This would be — keep in mind, this is an exhibition and not a real meet — a 197.95. HOLY HELL.
