Mizzou gymnastics rallies in NCAA Championships for best finish in school history
No. 7 seed Missouri’s season ended — at the very last stage — in the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships final four in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Tigers made a bit of history along the way.
The third-place finish in the Four on the Floor event marked the best in Mizzou gymnastics program history and the highest national finish for any women’s team in Mizzou history.
“We’ve earned the right to be here by what has happened from August 28 to this point, and that daily commitment level has been the highest I’ve ever seen,” coach Shannon Welker said on Friday, before the final. “Not only do we have the talent, but they have worked hard enough.
“... We’ve had talented teams before, but the level in consistency with which they’ve put in the work and the buy-in and just the communication and everything it takes to get to this point has been at the highest level I’ve ever seen. And I’m excited for how this will impact future teams as well.”
No. 2 seed Oklahoma and third-seeded UCLA pulled ahead after the opening rotation and battled for the top spot throughout, with the Sooners winning their seventh national title with a score of 198.0125. UCLA tallied a score of 197.6125, while MU followed at 197.2500.
No. 5 seed Utah rounded out the field in fourth (197.2375) in its fifth consecutive final four appearance.
“Missouri reaching their first-ever national championship is pretty awesome,” Oklahoma head coach K.J. Kindler said in her post-meet news conference following Thursday semifinal. “I remember that moment myself, and I’m getting emotional just thinking about it.”
Missouri initially was announced as the fourth-place finisher — despite the ABC broadcast reporting a third-place finish — with a score of 197.2125, 0.025 behind the Utes. Then, with an in-arena announcement after a video review, the Tigers were bumped up to third, finishing in front of Utah.
The reason for the increase in the Tigers’ team score came after a review of Mizzou’s third rotation — balance beam. Redshirt junior Amy Wier’s score was first recorded as 9.5500, with a start value of 9.7000.
Wier initially didn’t receive credit for her connection series in the routine, lowering the start value. A further review of her routine was done, and her score was raised to 9.8500, putting Mizzou in the third-place spot.
Missouri faced an uphill battle early, tallying just one score of 9.9 or higher across the first two rotations. While Oklahoma and UCLA pulled ahead, the Tigers remained within reach of Utah the whole meet, after the Utes suffered a fall on their second rotation on beam.
The Tigers ended on a high note, with a trio of strong floor routines, each scoring 9.9 or above. Senior Amari Celestine, in her final meet, went out in style, posting a team-high score of 9.9000 on vault and a strong score of 9.9125 on her floor routine.
Sophomore Kennedy Griffin and senior Jocelyn Moore recorded 9.9500 and 9.9000 respectively on their floor routines.
The NCAA balance beam national champion, Helen Hu, delivered a 9.9625 on her specialty, building on her critical score of 9.9875 Thursday, which secured Missouri’s spot in the final.
“Helen’s been a huge part of what we’re doing this year,” Welker said. “She has said this and probably will say this again: that it takes 23 routines to put Helen in the position that she’s in.”
As for Hu’s thoughts?
“We didn’t go in thinking that there’s a lot of pressure on us,” Hu said to media Friday. “I think we went in doing our normal. ... We keep breaking these records and doing amazing things.”