Missouri’s head gymnastics coach Shannon Welker shares his thoughts on the upcoming season. 

Q: Reflect on the last 2 seasons. Missouri had such an amazing climb going all the way to nationals in 2022 and another very successful season last year coming close to nationals,but nonetheless you had wins over Georgia, Auburn, Arkansas and Alabama. How does that success help your mindset coming into this season?

 A: “I think the last two years have been a culmination of the things we have been working on the last 10 years. Things just take some time, and I am really proud of our gymnasts that were here prior to this group of gymnasts. They also put in so much and sometimes did not get the results they wanted, but things just take time. Overall, it’s a lot easier to sleep at night, and my wife liked me a lot more ‘cause I am a lot less crabby!” 

Q: Does it help going into the season that a lot of your top scoring athletes, such as Jocelyn Moore and Amari Celestine, are still on the team and that most of your roster remained the same? 

A: “I do not get as nervous when I don’t lose big names. We did lose some top kids last year,  but I think if we do it right, we should be losing strong gymnasts every year. I would say we have a bulk of our top scorers back, so we are going to be looking to them as leaders in the locker room and the competition floor.”

Q: Tell me about the freshman class. What should we expect from them this season? 

A: “I am always impressed with our newcomers. They are hungry to compete and improve. Rayna Light, Kennedy Griffin and Hanna Horton are key to our success this year, and I expect them to compete a decent amount this year. I suspect we will see a lot of Griffin on vault, beam and floor. Light has an opportunity in every event to compete. She is a very steady competitor. Horton is someone who can be a wow factor this year. 

Q: Are you excited to bring Florida to St. Louis for Mizzou to the Lou? 

A: “I think the Zou to the Lou will be really fun. I think it will benefit us because we will get the opportunity to get another road score. It is also an awesome opportunity to compete on a podium. It will be live on the SEC Network so I am very excited about that.” 

Q: Last year you guys broke the attendance record at the Auburn meet. How do you plan to continue to keep that attendance level high? 

A: “We have seen a lot of growth with the attendance. When you are constantly competitive, it is going to continue to draw fans. We don’t win every meet, but we are definitely constantly competitive, and that is what fans are looking for. We have had a lot of fan engagement in the preseason, so I think we will continue to grow our attendance.” 

Q: So tell me about the vault situation. Last year you guys had two, sometimes three, 10.0 start value vaults. Do you plan on bringing any more this season? 

A: “That is something that we knew we had to get better at doing. We struggled with vault last year, but by the end of the season, we improved. I think we have the opportunity for vault to be one of our strongest events. On the low end, we should have four and may have as many as six 10.0 vaults. I do think we have a few lower start value vaults that could match the score of a 10.0 vault.” 

Q: Tell me about welcoming transfer student Mara Titarsolej to the team. She is a former Dutch national team member in elite gymnastics, so how do you think she will benefit the team? 

A: “She has been an All-American two years in a row and she is very consistent on bars and getting better on beam too. She is very calm, and that is a great thing to have from someone who performs at that high of a level. She brings so much experience and is a great person who greatly benefits the team.” 

Q: What are your goals for the season? 

A: “We want to go back to the NCAA Championships as a team. Last year, we were in a difficult situation being on the road and having UCLA and Utah in the same session. I think had we been on a neutral site, it could have been a different story. We were at UCLA and credit to them, they did their job. I think we can match up with a lot of teams. A lot of it comes down to who has home field advantage and the situation we are in. We want to be competitive and get back to the NCAA Championships.” 

Edited by Chase Gemes | cgemes@themaneater.com

Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com