Checking in with Mizzou Gymnastics

Nov 26, 2024 | Uncategorized

Written By

Missouri’s Elise Tisler competes on floor in an intrasquad meet on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at Tiger Performance Center. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

After two intrasquad meets, let’s see how our favorite high-flying team is coming together.

I know this is not the first time I’ve made this statement, but it must be asked again— is it gymnastics season yet? It’s been roughly a month since we last checked in on the team as a whole — you can read my prior observations piece here — and there has been some significant progress. We saw the return of a couple athletes who had been nursing injuries and a couple more full routines at the team’s recent November 16 intrasquad.

Let’s check in, shall we?


Sophomore Hannah Horton defies gravity on floor exercise in an open intrasquad on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the Mizzou gymnastics practice facility. Her MJ-themed routine garnered her a 9.90 score. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

VAULT

vault scores from Nov. 16 intrasquad meet
  • There were five 10.0 start value vaults featured in the intrasquad — Hannah, Joci, Amari & Elise all competed a Yurchenko 1.5, and Kaia did a Tsuk (pronounced sook) Full — and fans should expect a couple more.
  • “I do feel like we’ve got to three others [capable of the 10.0 SV vaults]. I just need to see how it goes over the next month and see how that development goes. They’re training them. We just weren’t ready to show up on the competition level surfaces yet,” Welker said. When pressed about who they were, he said Kennedy Griffin and Railey Jackson are the top two and then we’re “TBD” on a couple of other ones.

BARS

  • While I only managed to capture see a single bars score— Lauren Macpherson scored a 9.80 — Shannon was happy with how the team looked. “I thought our handstand work on bars was really good, especially for a lot of our returners. I think landings are ahead right there.” I’ll give it to the head coach here for his assessment, but both my gymfan colleague Matthew Gustafson and I thought some of the handstands were noticeably short of that 10% that they’d like you to have in competition. What do we know, though? I was never good at geometry, as my parents can attest.
  • Shannon said they are watching the volume of routines, numbers-wise. “You don’t want to get too high, too early. It’s a long season; it’s a marathon, so you just want to pace them out. But I’m pleased with where we’re at.” This is important to note, as it’s about the quality, not so much the quantity at this point. They’re building routines, not doing full out routines every day, it sounds like.
  • Bars competitors (since I have no scores) included grad students Kyra Burns, Lauren Macpherson, Mara Titarsolej, and Abby Mueller, seniors Jocelyn Moore and Amari Celestine, junior Addison Lawrence, sophomores Hannah Horton and Rayna Light, and freshman Lisa Szeibert.
  • In my hardly an expert opinion, I was most impressed with Kyra, Joci, Addi and Amari. I thought Lisa looked really nice as well as the only freshman competing on the event. I anticipate fellow freshman Olivia Kelly, once her wrist injury fully heals, to make bars lineups as well. [links go to video of routines]

Missouri’s Amari Celestine competes in an open intrasquad on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the Mizzou gymnastics practice facility. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

BEAM

balance beam scores from November 16 intrasquad
  • “Our freshman class is really good on beam,” Welker said on an October 11 call, “but I also know that it can take a year at times, you know, to kind of acclimate and do some of those things.” They appear to be at a good place thus far, as the balance checks will be addressed as confidence is heightened.
  • There were a couple more hiccups this time around than in the first intrasquad, though the Tigers mainly stayed on the four-inch wide apparatus, which is great news. (I like to point this out so you realize just how narrow that is). Both new and old Tigers had their share of wobbles, with Jocelyn, Amari, Kennedy, Jessa, Kaia, Abby, Lisa having at least one significant balance check.
  • Helen Hu looked masterful, and the crowd and her teammates were yelling for a 10.0 (she got a 9.95). Considering she’d just gotten off a plane on Thursday to join the team and compete in the meet, it’s kinda crazy. “I don’t care how good you are,” Shannon said. “For her to come back here on Thursday and then show up on Saturday and knock it out of the park, I mean, that’s impressive stuff.”
  • Besides being absolutely mesmerized by Helen (the whole place was, video below), I was really impressed with how new Tigers Amy Wier and Lauren Macpherson looked, as well as Addi Lawrence and freshmen Olivia Kelly & Railey Jackson. This beam squad is deeeeeeeep if they can minimize the whoopsies (they can).

FLOOR

floor exercise scores from Nov. 16 intrasquad
  • Last time around, I referenced a possible new viral floor routine from Hannah Horton, who is doing MJ-inspired choreo (links to video), but this was without spying Kennedy Griffin’s new Beyonce routine (more on that below), or the riveting yet creepy awesomeness of Kylie Minard, or freshman Railey Jackson’s Black Swan-inspired choreography. There is so much artistry and fun all over this team, and I can’t wait to chat with assistant coach/choreographer Jackie Terpak about how these routines came together.
  • Here’s Kylie’s routine below. It’s giving horror film/exorcism/creepy doll vibes. I LOVE IT.
  • Olivia Kelly showed off her new E pass (increased difficulty), which features a double Arabian, which is a type of somersault that starts backwards (so from a back handspring, for instance) and then goes immediately into a half twist after takeoff, and then continues into a front flip so you land facing the opposite direction from how you started.
  • Kennedy Griffin’s new Beyonce-inspired routine features music and moves from Single Ladies and Crazy in Love, among many others. Watch.

Additional Notes

  • After the meet, Shannon Welker met with select members of the media and said, “I was pleased to see the growth in our routines and just where we’re at with a lot of depth, which is fantastic. Not everybody is quite where we want them, but that’s okay because it’s mid-November. We’re really excited, I think, about the progress, and we’re doing a much better job on our landings overall. I thought they were cleaner.”
  • Landings, landings, landings!!! Landings continue to be a supreme focus for this Tiger team, and Shannon thought they were a little bouncy, but said they also just switched surfaces to one that’s a bit firmer. “I want to begin the year, honestly, in that 50% range, so we can build on that,” Welker said.
  • Rotation-wise, he mainly tested people in lead-off and anchor spots to see how they looked, and it seemed to be a good indication of the future in some cases. Vault leadoffs were Kennedy & Kyra and anchors were Amari & Jocelyn. Bars leadoffs were Kyra & Rayna, and anchors were Mara & Amari. Beam leadoffs were Addison & Abby, and anchors were Lauren & Helen. Floor leadoffs were Elise & Rayna, and anchors were Kennedy & Joci. Very interesting indeed. The anchors weren’t really a surprise; it was more the leadoffs for me (Kyra’s bars notwithstanding).

Freshmen Frenzy

Now, with this massive amount of depth, it’s possible that we won’t see that many freshmen work their way into lineups this season. And that could be a good thing! Per Shannon, while he does anticipate that the Tigers will have some freshmen who are competitive to make lineups, they’ve had to use some freshmen out of necessity in recent years.


Freshman Railey Jackson competes on beam in an open intrasquad on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the Mizzou gymnastics practice facility. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

When asked about the rookies, Shannon said, “Watch Railey Jackson; she’s a little bit of a sleeper but man, is she going to be good. That kid is good, right? And Kaia is just getting back. She had a little bit of a heel thing so she’s been resting a little bit, but she’s good as well. And Olivia Kelly is just getting back. She had a little scooter accident over the summer so I kind of knocked her out for a few weeks and she’s made some great strides in a real short period of time. So I’m really excited about those young ladies right there, you know?”

With the quality depth, the team expects to take their time a bit and develop a bit more as to not rush them into competition, but he does expect to see some freshmen in lineups (as we saw at this meet).

Sixteen Days

There’s still ONE more intrasquad on December 18 at Hearnes at 11:30am in conjunction with Columbia Public Schools before the season kicks off.

“I think we’re right on track. I think we’re right where we want to be, and actually probably a little bit ahead. We’re just excited to keep moving forward and to get to our next kind of checkpoint in December at the Black & Gold exhibition,” Welker said.

And from there, we have just 16 days — SIXTEEN!!!!!— before the new season kicks off. Can you feel it? A glow of gymnastics is in the air.

As mentioned previously, the Tigers’ 2025 season will officially kick off on Friday, January 3 with the return of the Beauty & the Beast meet, a collaborative event with Mizzou Wrestling where the teams will share the floor and compete simultaneously at Mizzou Arena. TigerStyle’s opponent is a tough one, Cornell, and Gym’s opponents will be Illinois State, SEMO and Ball State.

Why is it at Mizzou Arena, you ask? During the November 13 super-sized press conference with head coaches Brian Smith and Shannon Welker (among others), Smith said, “Last time we had it (in 2019), there was an ice storm, so it only drew a couple thousand people. I would be shocked if it still had a couple thousand people now, where both programs are at — both top 10 programs — that it doesn’t sell out Mizzou Arena.” He continued, “We have to have it in the Mizzou Arena. The reason being that Hearnes has a smaller floor. And at one of the Beauty and the Beast meets, J’den Cox almost took out a girl on a dance routine. And that point I said, we can’t have it here anymore.”

On how this meet really kicks off a tough stretch of scheduling, Welker said, “We’re excited to do the Beauty and the Beast. From a competitive standpoint, that’s probably the one [meet] that we’ve got a little bit of wiggle room to just kind of get some things squared away. But then it’s, we’re gonna hit it. Because we’re in Denver, and then we go to Oklahoma, and then we’re home vs. Kentucky right after that. And it doesn’t get any easier after that. I think they’re all important, honestly. Listen, we want to get wins, but we also have to score high too, right? It’s nice to get the win, but if we don’t achieve certain scoring, it doesn’t help us as much as it could. So they’re all important, in that aspect.”

This team has high aspirations: Finish in the top half of the SEC, reach the evening session of the SEC Championships, return to Nationals as a team. These are not unattainable goals. “We’ve got to push the envelope a little bit,” Welker said.

Let’s just fast-forward to January 3, shall we? Until then, I’ll be back with another set of updates after the Tigers’ final December 18 intrasquad.

You Might Also Like

Injuries, obstacles mounting for Mizzou Wrestling

Injuries, obstacles mounting for Mizzou Wrestling

Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation The Tigers are currently without their three expected key contributors, two gone for the rest of the season For the second straight year, Mizzou Wrestling has begun its season with high hopes and expectations before seeing the year take a...

read more
Commute: Who is declaring for the NFL draft?

Commute: Who is declaring for the NFL draft?

The Morning Commute for Friday, January 3rd, 2024. Welcome to the Morning Commute We all need our moment, right? That’s the benefit of social media, it allows every one to play the title role in their own script. With that said I’m not sure I fully understand...

read more
Defending champs blow out Mizzou WBB

Defending champs blow out Mizzou WBB

Karen Steger Action Photography Tigers fall to South Carolina 83-52 Mizzou WBB (11-5, 0-1 SEC) competed early on with No. 2 South Carolina (13-1, 1-0 SEC), but faltered in the second half as the talent discrepancy showed. South Carolina ended the first quarter ahead...

read more

0 Comments