Missouri gymnastics opened its season in a quad against Southeast Missouri State, Ball State and Illinois State. 

The Tigers started the competition on vault where graduate student Abby Mueller stuck her Yurchenko full for a score of 9.800. Senior Jocelyn Moore vaulted a big Yurchenko 1.5 to earn a 9.850. The Tigers gained a total score of 48.975 on the event. 

Missouri moved to bars in rotation two. Junior Addison Lawrence led off the Tigers on bars with a strong routine, earning a 9.825. Moore capitalized by earning a 9.875. Sophomore Hannah Horton stuck her double layout, scoring a team-high 9.925. Graduate Kyra Burns kept the stick party going by sticking her double layout dismount for 9.875. After a shoulder injury kept her off bars last season, senior Amari Celestine stuck the Tigers’ fifth-straight dismount and scored a 9.900. The Tigers ended the rotation with a big score of 49.425. 

Heading into rotation three, Missouri led with 98.400, followed by Ball State with 97.350, Illinois State with 97.000 and SEMO with 95.300. 

Missouri lept to beam in rotation three. Oklahoma transfer Amy Wier led the Tigers off with a 9.775. Sophomore Jessa Conedera fell on her flight series and earned a 9.150. Freshman Railey Jackson got the Tigers back on track with a 9.800. 

Lawrence said she gave the freshman a pep talk before her first NCAA routine. 

“I told Railey before her beam routine today, I was just like, hey, enjoy every second of it,” Lawrence said. “You get less than two minutes up on that beam, and so you just need to enjoy it.” 

Jackson completed a team-high steady routine that scored a 9.900. Graduate Helen Hu has returned to competition after initially retiring after the 2023 season. She earned a 9.800 on beam and helped the Tigers earn a total of 49.100. 

Heading into rotation four, Missouri led with 147.500, followed by Ball State with 145.875, then Illinois State with 145.825, then SEMO with 143.700. 

Missouri completed their meet on floor. Sophomore Rayna Light started the Tigers with a 9.800. Horton followed with a Michael Jackson-inspired routine to earn a 9.850. Jackson finished her day with a 9.825. Celestine scored 9.850 on floor and earned an all-around score of 39.350. This was the first time Celestine competed in the all-around in her NCAA career. Moore closed the rotation scoring a 9.850 to give the Tigers a total of 49.200. 

Missouri won the meet, scoring 196.700, Ball State finished second with 194.925, Illinois State finished third with 194.925 and SEMO came in fourth scoring 190.475. 

“We really wanted to take tonight to test out some lineups and just see how some people were going to do in those situations,” Welker said. “And I was pleased with them overall.” 

Missouri will compete again on the road in Denver on Jan. 12 against Georgia, LIU and Denver. 

Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com 

Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com

Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com