Mizzou conquers vault, beam demons; Helen Hu is literally perfection.

Be right back, just watching Helen Hu’s beam routine for the umpteenth time.

They say it doesn’t matter how you start; it’s how you finish. And there’s just no higher note than what Mizzou finished its trip to Norman on. It was quite literally perfection. More on that in a bit.

Let’s recap.

Rotation One— MIZ Bars| OU Vault

Mizzou got started on bars and it felt very similar to last week, honestly. Kyra got the squad started on a high note, with a stuck landing and a season high-tying 9.875, which is just off her career best 9.90, before Addi followed up with a 9.75, a score that honestly confused me at first, as the announcers did not mention the faults in the routine that my colleague Nate Salsman saw. Aside from a tiny hop back (minimal deduction), she had some verticality issues on her handstand pirouette. I wasn’t too worried at the moment, as I assumed that would be the dropped score. Yeah…. about that.

Jocelyn followed up with a 9.775, as she took a tiny step back and was short on her final handstand. But then came Hannah, who in the midst of what looked to be a flawlessly executed routine, lost her final handstand and had to redo the move, resulting in a 9.35 score (THAT was the dropped one). Amari made sure things stayed on the rails with a 9.80, though she also had a small step on her dismount and had what looked like a short-ish handstand as well, before Mara ended the rotation on a high note with a season-tying 9.90 score.

A 49.100 was the lowest of the season, and the small mistakes continued to add up for rotation that week 1 looked like it would be a super bright spot.

Oklahoma got started on vault, and of course their rotation was made up of entirely 10.0 start values — I think the announcers said they have 10 of them on the team?!. Only two had stuck landings, leadoff freshman Lily Pederson and anchor grad student Audrey Davis, each of whom scored a 9.925. They dropped a 9.800.

After one rotation, Oklahoma had an early lead, 49.350 to 49.100.

Rotation Two— MIZ Vault | OU Bars

Now THAT’S MORE LIKE IT! While I think the Tigers only had one stick, they had a really nice rotation overall. Abby led off with an explosive Yurchenko Full that had a small hop back and a little leg separation, earning a 9.725, before Kyra followed with a 9.775 on a slightly piked down Yurchenko Full that didn’t get a ton of distance. Kaia earned a season-best 9.825 on her 10.0 SV Tsuk Full, and Hannah followed with a season-high 9.875 on her Yurchenko 1.5.

Jocelyn NAILED her 1.5, scoring one 10 from a judge and a 9.95 from the other for a season high 9.975, which currently stands alone as the highest vault score in the country this season. Amari anchored with a very powerful 1.5 of her own, earning a 9.85. The 49.300 score was the team’s highest rotation score of the season by far and bodes well for the future if they can get some more sticky feet (and some more 10.0 SV vaults).

(pardon my screaming)

Oklahoma went to bars next, and were led by Audrey Davis’s 9.95, which I marked down as “10/10, no notes,” while dropping a 9.80 from lead-off Lily Pederson. I believe this was the point where I started to side-eye a couple of the scores a bit, as freshman Addison Fatta was awarded a 9.90 in the two spot despite an under-rotated half pirouette, a bit of leg separation, and a little hop on her landing. Regardless, the Sooners earned a 49.40 on bars, and the judging weirdness only got weirder from there.

After two rotations, Oklahoma built on its lead, 98.750 to 98.400.

Rotation Three— MIZ Floor | OU Beam

The Fab Floor was not fabulous this time around, and the Tigers’ 49.100 was their lowest of the season. So what happened? A lot of things, honestly.

Elise moved to leadoff this week, and the College Gym News live blog called her switch full awesome, noting that it’s a very difficult leap “to crush like she did.” Aside from a slide back on her front layout to Rudi, she looked great, earning a 9.825 (down from a 9.875 last week). Railey followed and earned an astonishingly awesome career-high 9.875 on a gorgeous routine, and it looked like the Tigers were going to have another great rotation. That is, before Amari wayyyy overpowered her first pass, falling far out of bounds and looked to injure her ankle. As Mizzou Nation held their collective breath, she got back up and finished her routine without a problem, but I wondered if she’d be okay to compete in the final rotation as she immediately left the floor to take her inhaler. After a scary fall, it would be interesting to see how the Tigers would respond, and Hannah came storming back with a super solid 9.875.

But then they faltered, and it was odd to watch from two normally high-scoring competitors. Kennedy earned a very uncharacteristic 9.75 as she underrotated on her first pass, causing her to take a large step forward, and Jocelyn also had a low score, only earning a 9.775 as she was a bit short on her double layout which caused her to take a couple of quick steps. I’d honestly like to look at the judges’ sheets on these, but they are not available yet as of this writing.

Oklahoma headed to beam next where they earned a 49.375 rotation score. Audrey Davis was absolutely gifted a 9.925 despite a very obvious balance check and what looked like a missed connection, but the other scores were a bit more on par with what they should have been. Jordan Bowers earned a 9.925 to take the top spot for OU, and they dropped a 9.775.

After three rotations, Oklahoma’s lead extended, 148.125 to 147.500.

Rotation Four— MIZ Beam| OU Floor

Ahhhhh…. that’s more like it! I could foresee this being the beam rotation going forward, with a sub in every once in a while to give someone else a look (Abby, Olivia, Kaia, etc.). I don’t know if it was because it was Amy’s old stomping grounds and Shannon thought the nerves might be running a bit high, but he adjusted the beam lineup this week and put Addi in the leadoff role. She had a slight wobble that took her foot off the beam, but stuck her roundoff 1.5, earning a 9.825. Super solid. Amy followed with a career-best 9.825 (it seemed underscored), and it was gorgeous and I was so happy to see her do so well in front of her old team (who never let her perform aside from a few exhibition routines over the years).

Kennedy followed with a season-high 9.675, which despite being her highest thus far, is still quite low for her and may be something to monitor, as I’m not really sure why. CGN’s live blog said she adjusted after her full turn and mentioned something about her knees after her kickover front back handspring, but I honestly don’t know what that means! A sub-9.700 isn’t what the Tigers are looking for on beam though, and we have seen KG be much better and more consistent than this.

Amari was next and earned an astonishingly low 9.725, which made me scream obscenities at my tv. I literally wrote “EXCELLENT!” in my notes and then that score popped up. The only thing we could think was that maybe the judges didn’t like how slow she did her back handspring to side aerial, but THERE WAS NO EXTRA MOVEMENT, so she should have gotten the connection bonus. Her dismount might have been a teensy bit low in the chest, but Amari definitely didn’t deserve that low of a score. Railey followed with another career best 9.875, and it was awesome. Just nerves of steel for such a youngin’, and she performs so tall!

And finally, we’ve reached the moment we’ve all be waiting for— Helen’s perfect 10. After previously being awarded six (SIX!!!) 9.975 scores in her career (that means one judge gave her a 10), she finally did it, and it’s only fitting that she was the first gymnast in the entire NCAA to earn a 10 this year after taking an entire year off to backpack around the world. Her routine was jaw-dropping.

(pardon my shrieks and attempts to not swear)

[plays elevator music]

A voice says, “Please hold while I watch this video several more times…………… thank you for your patience.”

Okay, I’m back.

As for Oklahoma, they ended the meet on floor where freshman Elle Mueller was gifted a 9.875 after landing with her chest down and very obviously taking an uncontrolled step to the side on one of her passes. SIGH. The final two Sooners earned near-perfect 9.975 scores— Jordan Bowers’ routine was particularly brilliant — and they dropped a 9.80 from the freshman, Fatta. Their 49.65 was their highest of the season.

After four rotations, Oklahoma expanded its lead and won the meet, 197.775 to 196.750. This was Mizzou’s highest score of the season, just beating the 196.700 scored in the Beauty & The Beast meet.

MVP

• Helen Hu (beam)- The gymternet went collectively bonkers when she got that 10. It kept me up way past my bedtime and prevented me from working on this very recap. I’m just so damn happy for her!!! She even hit no. 5 on the SportsCenter top 10!

• Railey Jackson (beam, floor)— How can you NOT be impressed with the grace and steadiness of the freshman?! On the road AT OKLAHOMA and she’s throwing down career high 9.875 scores? That’s a vet move right there.

• Amy Wier (beam)- The Oklahoma transfer definitely showed off in front of her former school, and I couldn’t be happier for her.
• Jocelyn Moore (vault)- There’s no way Joci wasn’t making it onto this list after getting one 10 from a judge for this unreal Yurchenko 1.5. It was near perfect.

---

Final Thoughts

It was the Tigers’ highest score of the young season, but Nate and I both hoped they’d hit the 197 sweet spot, and they missed the mark again. As of Saturday evening, they’ve moved to no. 11 in the rankings, just behind Alabama and ahead of Auburn. The Tigers are 6th on floor (tied with Kentucky, stays same), 17th on beam (up from 25th), 9th on bars (holding steady) and 12th on vault (up from 15th).

Next Sunday, I’m looking for big scores in front of the home crowd and more crispness all around. They just aren’t there yet, but it’s still so, so early. I also just KNOW the floor routines will be insane.

---

UP NEXT: Mizzou welcomes Kentucky to Hearnes next week for their SEC home opener for Retro Cat Night. Tip off is at 5pm.