No. 13 Gymnastics Takes Second At NCAA Gainesville Regional Second Round, Advances To Regional Final

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — No. 13 University of Missouri gymnastics placed second in the NCAA Gainesville Regional Second Round, scoring a 197.525 to move onto its fourth consecutive NCAA Regional Final Friday night inside Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. 

Needing a top-two score in their quad meet to advance, the Tigers finished as the runner-up behind No. 4 Florida, scoring a 197.925 as the home team, and outlasted No. 20 Georgia, who put up a 197.425, and Iowa State, who rounded out the scores with a 196.575.

MU showed resilience throughout the meet, battling back from an early .150 deficit behind Georgia. For the first time this season, head coach Shannon Welker‘s squad posted four rotations above 49.3, and after entering the final two rotations still behind, Missouri utilized clutch rotations on both the bars and beam to complete the comeback and advance to Sunday’s regional final with a trip to the NCAA National Semifinals on the line.

Mizzou opened with a 49.300 floor routine and fell behind after a strong Georgia beam rotation. The Tigers responded by scoring a 49.375 on vault, bolstered by a trio of 9.900s in the back half of the rotation from juniors Amari Celestine and Jocelyn Moore and freshman Hannah Horton. However, the Tigers still trailed the Bulldogs at the halfway point.

The Black and Gold bars lineup stepped up in a major way to give Mizzou the edge, compiling a 49.475 rotation to pull ahead of its SEC foe. With 9.9s from Moore, alongside seniors Kyra Burns and Mara Titarsolej, the Tigers gained the advantage heading into the final rotation.

Heading into the make-or-break beam rotation, MU led by just a tenth over Georgia. With their season on the line, the Tigers delivered one of their best beam rotations of 2024 with a 49.375 team score. Junior Grace Anne Davis opened the scoring with a strong 9.900 in the leadoff position, and needing a 9.825 to advance, graduate student Sienna Schreiber delivered a 9.900 to keep Missouri’s season alive.

Moore, the 2024 SEC Event Specialist of the Year, had an outstanding effort on three events, notching three 9.9s in the same meet for the second time in her career. Titarsolej’s 9.950 in the anchor position on bars tied for the second-best score on the apparatus between both sessions.

Meet Notes

• Missouri advanced to its fourth consecutive regional final appearance dating back to 2021.
• The 197.525 is Missouri’s highest regional second-round score in program history, besting the 197.400 mark set at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional Second Round last season.
• Mizzou’s 197.525 performance ties its second-best score of 2024 and its sixth-best score in program history.
• MU has scored 197 or higher in eight consecutive NCAA tournament meets dating back to the 2022 NCAA Raleigh Regional Second Round.
• For the first time this season, the Tigers compiled four rotations with a team score of 49.3 or higher. It’s the first time MU has accomplished the feat since it scored a program-record 197.850 at Arkansas on Feb. 24, 2023.
• With a 49.300 floor performance to open the meet, Mizzou maintained its 20-meet 49.3+ streak on the apparatus.
• The Tigers extended their 49+ streak on vault to 15 meets.
• MU’s spell of 49+ team scores on bars now sits at 11 consecutive meets.
• Missouri continued its run of 49+ beam rotations, stretching its run to five straight outings.
• Jocelyn Moore hit her 16th consecutive 9.9 floor routine, posting a 9.900 in the anchor position.
• Kyra Burns tied her career-best bars score with a 9.900.
• Rayna Light came up clutch with a career-best 9.875 beam routine, improving her best mark by .075.
• Mara Titarsolej has hit 9.9 on bars in four consecutive meets.

UP NEXT

The Tigers will compete in the NCAA Gainesville Regional Final on Sunday evening with a trip to Fort Worth for the NCAA Championship Semifinal. Missouri will join No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 12 Michigan State in the quad meet. First touch is slated for 4 p.m. CT, and the meet will stream on ESPN+.

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