Tiger Gym holds on to Braggin’ Rights on strength of strong bars, beam, floor routines in Champaign

This Show Me State team was deserving of champagne, anyway.

Sunday was a wild day for Missouri sports, but a great day for the ladies! It kicked off with an early 9am start with no. 15 Mizzou Softball’s game vs. Iowa in Florida, which they won on a walk off, preserving a 4-1 start to the season. After no. 9 Mizzou Gym firmly kept its claim on Braggin Rights, of which we will talk about extensively below, WBB also notched a win on Sunday, just their second SEC win of the season and their first on the road in over a year. Oh, and while it wasn’t on television, Mizzou Tennis shut out both Colorado State and St. Thomas in a doubleheader as well. With all the women winning, it was great to see a new Nike commercial pop up during the Super Bowl, since as we know, EVERYONE WATCHES WOMEN’S SPORTS.

Unfortunately, the luck wasn’t on the Show-Me State’s pro team on Sunday night and the vibes** were just off for me, and we’ll just leave that at that! (**Kendrick aside, he is an incredible storyteller)

Let’s recap.

Rotation One— MIZ Bars | ILL Vault

The Tigers got off to a fantastic start on their first rotation, earning a season high 49.475 rotation score, which ranks them sixth nationally going into Week 7. Kyra got the rotation started off right with great handstands a stuck dismount, earning a 9.85, and Rayna followed with a solid 9.775 — she also had great handstands, but took a small step back on her landing — that would ultimately be dropped. Jocelyn was next, tying her season high 9.875 after a sky-high Tkachev and a stuck landing, and Hannah followed with a 9.90 (her second highest score of the season) and another stick. Amari had a gorgeous three-release routine and a stick on her signature dismount, tying her career high 9.925, and Mara also stuck her landing, and we wondered if she’d get a 10 again. Not quite, but it was a 9.925, which tied her season high and secured the season high rotation score. Abby, back at home in front of her former school, got in on exhibition, and tied her career high with a 9.85.

Illinois also had a great first rotation, earning their season high on vault, a 49.200, by a considerable margin. Arielle Ward led all competitors with a 9.95 score – her season high – on her Yurchenko 1.5, and the Illini also counted 9.825 scores from Mareli Muller and Eden King, who competed on vault (and with a 10.0 SV) for the first time this season. Olivia Coppola tied her season high with a 9.80 and also good was freshman Mya Gordon, who performed her first 10.0 SV vault of the season, earning a 9.775.

After one rotation, with both teams hitting a season high, Mizzou leads by 0.275, 49.475 to 49.200.

Rotation Two— MIZ Vault | ILL Bars

After last week’s better vault rotation, it was disappointing to see it go off the rails a bit, earning just a 48.975, which matches Week 1-2’s low score. How much of this was due to Kaia’s absence (she told me she had a small injury setback but would be back next week)? It’s kind of hard to tell, but given that she had her high score last week, it could have made a bit of difference. In her absence, Missouri welcomed back Abby to the rotation, who led off with a 9.775, which was just off her season high 9.80. Kyra’s YF looked good in the air, but the slight hop forward indicated under rotation, and she earned just a 9.625 (it was dropped). Elise’s Y1.5 looked good in the air, but the small hop to the side earned her a 9.775 (seemed a bit low to me), since it was pretty close to Hannah’s matching Y1.5, which also had a small hop to the side, but earned a 9.85. Jocelyn’s Y1.5 had a small step back, earning a 9.775, and Amari’s Y1.5 resulted in her crossing a foot over the white line, which the announcers said was directional deduction, and earned her a 9.80. So yeah… when your highest score is a 9.80, it is not a sign of a good rotation. Railey, who we’d been wondering about since debuting her Y1.5 at Black & Gold, tried it out again in an exhibition role, but had the same fate— a sit down, which resulted in a 9.100. My gym colleague Nate wondered afterwards if they should try her Yurchenko Full, as it is very good and may outscore some of the others.

Illinois headed to bars next, and they did okay, earning a 48.825, but had some handstand and sticking issues that kept them from earning another season high. The Illini were led by Makayla Green’s anchor 9.85, and a 9.80 by Ward. Freshman Kennedy Brown, in her first action on bars of the season, earned a 9.725, as did Cho and Amelia Knight. They dropped a 9.100 from Destiny Denning.

After two rotations, Mizzou extended its lead to 0.425— 98.45 to 98.025.

Rotation Three— MIZ Floor | ILL Beam

The Fab Floor returned, and many a Missouri Tiger tied their season high score. At some point, we’re going to need to start seeing high scores, as we know they’re capable of it, but for now, in early February, this will do! Elise tied her season-high 9.875 again with really clean landings and a perfectly executed leap combo. Hannah followed with a 9.85— her first landing on her E pass was a bit uncontrolled, but the rest of it, including her leap combo and second pass (front through to double tuck) was great. Rayna, whom the woman announcer said was a last-minute addition, tied her season high with a 9.85 of her own— she missed getting entirely around on her wolf jump and might have had a minimal landing deduction. Amari then followed with a season-high tying 9.925 — she had SUCH a good meet!!! — and the only deduction the announcers noted was possibly some leg separation in the air on her first pass. Kennedy then earned a 9.875 for the second straight week, with maybe some slight control issues on her passes. Jocelyn then followed with a near-perfect and season high 9.95— it was GORGEOUS — in the anchor spot. The rotation score of 49.475 was another season high, and we know they can go even higher than that. Not to be outdone, the Tigers also had two Tigers in exhibition, Railey, who had seen lineup action earlier in the season and earned a 9.825 (her best is a 9.875), and Jessa, who was awesome, earning a career high 9.85.

Illinois headed to beam next, and got on the right side of scoring, earning another season high, a 49.275, which was actually higher than what their previous high scores predicted they could attain, so that’s cool! Megan Sapp, who got her first taste of leadoff on Friday night vs. Ohio State, tied her season high, 9.775. Knight, IU’s one returning beamer, followed with a season-high 9.90, and King’s season high-tying 9.825. Muller, who competed exhibition on Friday, inspired enough confidence in her routine on Friday night, but unfortunately she fell off the beam, and her score was dropped. Coppola also earned a season high 9.90, and Cho rounded out the rotation with a solid 9.875 (guess she effectively hid that wobble on her aerial, ha). In the exhibition slot, Ruthuja Nataraj returned to the lineup, earning a 9.825, which was great.

After three rotations, Mizzou again increased its lead to 0.625, 147.925 to 147.300.

Rotation Four— MIZ Beam | ILL FX

A couple of really good performances helped the Tigers earn their third highest rotation score of the season, a 49.275. Amy led off with a brilliant career high 9.90 and got the rotation started on the right foot. Per Nate, she appeared to have moved some things around in the routine and did a different acro series (an aerial-bhs-bhs), which worked wonders for her score, so I commend beam coach Lacey Rubin for the change. Amari followed with a stick, tying her season high 9.85 score, before Olivia followed with a matching 9.85— she had a small hop forward. Addi followed with a 9.80 — she had a bit of a wobble but stayed on and moved quickly to keep her momentum going and took a small step forward on her dismount — before Railey earned a near season high 9.85 (her best is a 9.875). The normally so sure-footed Helen had a slight bobble in a weird spot, and took a small step back, earning just a 9.825, and Mizzou dropped the 9.80 score. Both exhibitioners, Jessa and Rayna did quite well, with Jessa earning a 9.80 career high, and Rayna earning a 9.775 in her first beam routine of the season.

Illinois closed out the meet on floor exercise, earning a 49.375, which ties their season high. They were led by Cho’s season-high 9.95 and season high-tying 9.875 scores by Ward and Muller. King added a really nice 9.85 score, and Tali Joelson rounded out the counting floor scores with a 9.825. They dropped Emmalise Nock’s 9.800.

After four rotations, Mizzou took the meet with a 197.200, which ties its highest score of the year (set at home vs. Kentucky, so good for NQS), and Illinois had a season high 196.675. Overall, a really nice meet for both teams, who will see each other again in under a week’s time at the Zou to the Lou quad.

MVP

• Amari Celestine— What more can I say about her that I haven’t already said previously? While Amari wasn’t scheduled to compete in the all-around on Sunday, I’m guessing that after she killed it on her first three routines, that the staff thought it would be good to add her to beam, and it worked! She scored a season-high 39.500 AA. Besides taking all-around honors, her 9.925 on bars tied a career best, and gave her a share of the bars title with Mara, and her 9.925 on floor was runner-up for top floor score.

• Amy Wier— Take THAT, OU! Just kidding, but seriously, I could not be happier for the redshirt junior, who has done a masterful job on beam in her first season in the black & gold. Her 9.90 was her career high by a good margin (she had a 9.825), and earned her a share of her very first beam title!

Final Thoughts

This was a good meet. Vault aside — is this Mizzou’s achilles heel this season? (sorry, LMac & GAD for that choice of words) — the Tigers put together three good rotations. The Tigers’ 197.200 raised their average score from a 196.790 to 196.858, and soon all-important NQS scores will come into play, in which they take the top six scores, toss out the top score, and average the remaining five (which must include three away scores). Floor, while still ranked no. 6 nationally, has increased its average from 49.300 to 49.329. Beam has moved up from no. 14 to no. 13, increasing its average from 49.120 to 49.146. Bars took the biggest jump, moving from no. 8 to no. 6 nationally, and the average bumping up from 49.248 to 49.283.

Shannon said in last week’s presser that, “I really feel like we have an opportunity here in February to kind of cement ourselves as one of the top teams right there, and cement ourselves as a contender for what I’ll call the premiere session of the SEC Championships, which is that evening session with the top four teams,” Shannon said. “We’re sitting at fifth in the SEC right now, and we’re real close to number four.”

This still rings true. Going into Week 7, the Tigers are in fifth place, and sit just one place back from Kentucky, whose average score is 196.975, just 0.117 higher than Mizzou’s 196.858. But as I mentioned in my preview, the rest of the SEC is right behind them, so growth is key. UGA is no. 11 (+0.098), AUB is no. 12 (+0.133), and Mizzou’s next opponent, BAMA, is no. 14 (+0.243). ARK Georgia has tied Mizzou’s high score, and Auburn has surpassed it.

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UP NEXT: Mizzou heads to the Lou for their second Zou to the Lou meet, weather permitting. If Mother Nature keeps me from making it to this meet again….. [mumbles expletives]