Mizzou Gym earns highest road score of season in Baton Rouge

They may not have taken down the reigning national champs, but it was another complete performance.

I have to say, I feel really good about this meet. It was never about getting a W for me, though SECN announcer John Roethlisberger tried so hard to remind us all that it is allll about that. It’s just not. It was about pulling out another 197 score — which they did! — showing improvement— which they did! — posting four solid rotations with hit routines — which they did! — and being able to hold their own and not buckle in a hostile environment— which they did! All in all, awesome. Not one single Tiger scored below a 9.70. And they only counted one SINGLE score below a 9.80 (a 9.725 on vault) the entire meet. That is awesome.

However, I have a bit of mixed feelings about this meet that has nothing to do with Missouri’s performance. The final score should have been even higher but it seemed in some instances that the judges forgot that they should be scoring both teams equally. It’s one thing to score the entire meet tight; that’s what the new scoring system is for. But it’s another to score one team tighter than the other in the same meet. Anyway, we’ll get to that.

Let’s recap.

Rotation One— MIZ Bars | LSU Vault

The revolving door of illness continued this week, as the team welcomed back grad student Kyra Burns, but lost junior Addison Lawrence. Let’s hope this doesn’t end up being a thing. With Kyra back, she took over the leadoff spot and did a great job starting the Tigers off on a high note with sticky feet on her double layout and a 9.85 score that was just off her season best. Rayna, back in the lineup for the second consecutive week, looked marvelous with perfect handstands. She had a tiny hop on her landing, and scored a 9.825 to get things started (side note— seems low?). Jocelyn followed with a solid routine of her own. It’s possible her last handstand was a little short, and she had a small hop on the landing, earning a 9.85.

Hannah took a slight step backward on her dismount, but no other notes. She looked fabulous, earning a 9.825. The final two Tigers in the rotation were masterful, starting with what looked like a perfect routine from Amari, who received a 9.90, tying her season high, and then Mara, who was flawless. She didn’t move one inch on her dismount, earning a 9.925, her season high. (My gym colleague Nate said it should have been at least a 9.95.) Mizzou’s 49.350 rotation score was just off its best of the season, and was a strong way to start the meet.

LSU got started on vault, and honestly, it could not have gone any better for them (see video below). Their feet were stuck to that mat with superglue, and I’m sure after struggling on the road at Arkansas in the week prior, this was a welcome sight. That, and KJ Johnson, who had been out with an ankle sprain since mid-January, came back and did wonders to start the rotation off on fire. Her stuck cold Yurchenko Full (9.95 SV) got a 9.90 (one judge gave her a perfect 9.95; the other a 9.85, which makes no sense). Chase Brock followed with a stick on her Yurchenko 1.5, earning a 9.925. Aleah Finnegan and freshman Kaliya Lincoln— same. 9.925 and sticks. It wasn’t until the last two vaulters that their feet lost a little stickiness. They dropped Amari Drayton’s 9.75 and freshman Kailin Chio anchored with a small hop and a 9.875. The team’s 49.550 put them tied for first nationally with Florida for highest team vault score and was, of course, a season high.

After one rotation, LSU grabbed a .200 lead, 49.550 to Mizzou’s 49.350. So far so good.

Rotation Two— MIZ Vault | LSU Bars

Would LSU’s sticky feet on vault extend across the aisle to the other Tigers? Not so much, but it wasn’t a bad score. It also wasn’t a great score, however, and some of that was outside of MU’s control. Kaia got things started with her Tsuk Full (10.0 SV), but she had a bit too much power and took a large hop backwards, earning a 9.725, and Elise followed with a 9.825 on her Yurchenko 1.5 (10.0 SV), and she had just a small lil hop. Her 9.825 seemed low, given what was awarded to LSU’s vaulters who didn’t stick, like Chio, for instance. Hannah followed with a STICK and it was awesome. She didn’t move one bit, and performed a fun little celebration dance afterwards, earning a 9.925. Frankly, these judges seemed very attached to a 9.925 score (they awarded 4) so it shouldn’t be surprising that she didn’t get any higher than that, but she deserved higher, as did some of those LSU vaults. You can watch H^2’s vault later on in this piece.

Amari must’ve read my preview (ha) where I called for her to continue her progression of nailing her Y1.5 a little more each week, because hot damn, that was her best vault of the season. She had the tiniest hop and got a 9.90.

Joci was next and shuffled her feet a little bit on her landing, but otherwise looked great— she goes sooooo high — and earned a 9.80. Maybe she shuffled too much? Who knows… Like last week, Kennedy took the anchor slot with her YF (9.95 SV), but unlike last week, it didn’t go as well, as she had a large hop and piked down, scoring a 9.70 that would be dropped. A 49.175 was the Tigers’ third highest of the season, but didn’t do much to help them catch the Bayou Bengals, who were on mission in front of the home crowd.

LSU continued its great night at PMAC with a season-high 49.425 on bars. They did lose a bit of their sticky feet magic as they only stuck two routines, but still had a really nice rotation (matching Mizzou’s season high!), dropping a 9.80. After two 9.85s to kick off the rotation, Alexis Jeffrey stuck her full twisting double tuck, earning a 9.925. Kailin Chio followed with a 9.925 of her own, but I had written down that one of her handstands looked a little wonky and off, so perhaps all the judges remembered was the stick? (Mara’s bars, for comparison, was better than Chio’s, and they scored the same).

Aleah Finnegan’s 9.80 was dropped — she was a bit short on her handstand, and Konnor McClain earned a 9.875 in the anchor spot— her handstands were gorgeous, but she over-rotated her dismount a little and had to take a step back.

After two rotations, LSU extended its lead to 0.450, 98.975 to 98.525. The 98.525 was Mizzou’s highest score through two rotations of the season.

Rotation Three— MIZ Floor | LSU Beam

I will say, I was honestly surprised by the decision to hold Railey Jackson out of the lineup again, as her Black Swan floor routine is so beautiful, but I’m not a coach and am not at practices, so Rayna led off for the second week in a row. She had a super clean routine and looked precise, earning a 9.85, which tied her season high. Elise followed with an incredible routine, earning a 9.875, which seemed a bit low.

Hannah’s 9.825 was dropped, and the announcers thought she might have taken a slide back on one of her landings (something I was hoping they’d rectify this week). And then came an incredible routine from Amari. She appeared to stick both landing passes. It looked like perfection. I waited for a massive score. At least a 9.90! I mean, clearly the judges watched it carefully, right? RIGHT?! When she was awarded just a 9.825, me (and the gymternet, I’d find out later) were completely flummoxed. What had they been watching? It surely wasn’t THAT routine.

Kennedy followed with one of her best routines of the season, scoring a 9.875 (also lower, in my opinion). It was great. She held her landings and didn’t take even a step out (which is allowed, but it was that much of a stick). And in the anchor spot was Joci, who was so, so good and scored a 9.90. The Tigers’ 49.325 was their third highest score of the season and if not for the tight black & gold scoring, would have likely a decent amount higher.

LSU headed to beam next and achieved a season high 49.55. Sierra Ballard led off with a strong 9.875, and Kylie Coen followed with an even higher 9.90, despite landing her dismount with her chest pretty low. Kailin and Konnor were pretty flawless, scoring a 9.90 and 9.95, respectively. Haleigh Bryant followed, and somehow ended up with a 9.875 despite a sizable wobble on her front tuck that almost took her off the beam [deep infuriated sigh] and Aleah Finnegan anchored the rotation with a 9.85, which was dropped, as she couldn’t hold her landing and swung her arms backward a few times.

After three rotations, LSU extended its lead further to 0.675, 148.525 to 147.85. Mizzou still at its highest through three rotations.

Rotation Four— MIZ Beam | LSU Floor

With one rotation to go, as long as the Tigers could hold it together, earning an all-important 197 road score was still very much in play. With the aforementioned Addi out sick, Amy Wier stepped into the leadoff spot again, and had a great, albeit low scored 9.775 which made no sense. My colleague Nate rewatched the routine to see which judge he agreed with— the one who gave her the 9.85 or the one who gave her a 9.70, and it was the 9.85 one. He just couldn’t find the deductions the other judge mysteriously found. After taking off last week, Amari returned in the two spot, and was awesome, with no extra movement on her wolf turn, or back handspring to side aerial series, or on her front tuck. She was terrific… and earned a 9.85 (remember Haleigh’s 9.875 in the rotation before? Yeah….) Olivia was next and earned an outstanding 9.875 (just off her 9.90 last week) in just her second collegiate routine.

Abby had a couple of little bobbles in her routine but still earned a 9.825, and Railey followed with a 9.80 (seems low) with no noticeable deductions outside of a step forward on her landing. And then came Helen to end the meet for Mizzou. Near perfect again (one judge gave her a 10), she was marvelous, earning a 9.975 and cementing the team’s highest away score of the season and their second highest overall of the season, just 0.025 off last week. The 49.325 rotation score was the team’s second highest of the season, and also just 0.025 off their best.

With the nation’s second 198 score firmly in their sights, LSU took to their best event, floor. Their 49.475 was the only rotation of the night that wasn’t a season best, but the Bayou Bengals did very well, dropping a 9.75 which came from Aleah Finnegan stepping out of bounds, but counting no other score worse than a 9.85. I thought there was a chance the judges would award Haleigh Bryant, the anchor, with a 10 as she did look awesome, but she grabbed a 9.95 and top honors on the event. Amari Drayton and Kailin Chio, the latter of whom took the all-around (she’s a freshman!), each earned 9.90 scores, which shared the runner up slot with Joci.

After four rotations, LSU officially got their 198.000 by the skin of their teeth, and I will give them props. They looked fantastic, especially on vault— wow.

MVGs

• Amari Celestine takes top MVG honors from me for her double 9.90 scores on bars (runner up) and vault (runner up), and her wildly underscored floor routine. She had a truly terrific meet, and a solid 39.475 all-around score.

• Mara Titarsolej’s near-perfect bars (she deserved higher) tied her for the bars title with two other LSU gymnasts. The score also puts her in elite company nationally, as only three 9.975 scores have been handed out nationally, and she’s one of just two 9.95 earners per my research.

• Hannah Horton’s vault— WOW. That 9.925 was HH’s highest of the season and gave her a share of the vault title (with three LSU gymnasts). It was just as good as Joci’s near-perfect vault a week ago.

Final Thoughts

Some insanely tight scoring in spots aside, this was a great meet for Mizzou. who currently still sits in 9th place nationally. While Sunday could possibly bring about a couple more changes in the national rankings (Cal is currently 8th and has a meet Sunday; Utah & Florida also compete), Mizzou should end Week 4 in fifth place in the SEC in average score at 196.790 (+0.10 over Week 3), ahead of Georgia (11), Auburn (12), Alabama (14), and Arkansas (15). That’s awesome, and the team has to feel good about where they are currently. Hopefully we’ll get to talk to Shannon this week to hear his thoughts on all things Tigers before their Super Bowl road trip.

I also love that the team debuted a new leo, Velvet Noir, on the road this week. It looked super cool on tv and I can’t wait to see it in person!

---

UP NEXT: Mizzou heads to Champaign for a dual with Illinois on Sunday, February 9 at 1pm on Big Ten Plus.