No. 9 Gymnastics Hosts No. 3 LSU In Top-10 Battle

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The No. 9-ranked University of Missouri gymnastics team (4-1, 1-1 SEC) returns to Hearnes Center Friday night for a top-10 showdown with No. 3 LSU (4-1, 1-0 SEC). First touch is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT, and the meet will broadcast on Friday Night Heights on SEC Network.

• The No. 12 Tigers captured not just a victory at No. 20 Georgia, but a critical road score of 197.400, Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.
• Senior Mara Titarsolej started the afternoon with a major milestone for the Tigers on bars, breaking Missouri’s program record on the apparatus with a 9.975 to lead the team.
• Missouri featured a trio of event title wins, with junior Jocelyn Moore securing the vault title with a breathtaking 9.950 Yurchenko layout with a 1 1/2 twist, while graduate student Sienna Schreiber captured the beam crown by tying her career-high score of 9.975 and the top all-around score with a 39.525.

• Senior Mara Titarsolej picked up her first SEC Specialist of the Week honor after her best bars routine in a Missouri leo.
• The Zutphen, Netherlands, native posted a 9.975 on bars with a spectacular routine that stands alone as the best single routine bars score in Missouri gymnastics history.
• The two-time WCGA Regular-Season All-American is just one of 11 gymnasts to hit the 9.975 mark on bars this season, and with a perfect 10 under her belt with LIU, she has a chance to break her own record this season.

• Missouri enters the weekend ranked No. 9 in the Road To Nationals rankings, rising up three spots from the previous week with an average of 197.008.
• Both marks set program records, as the Tigers broke a 197 average through three weeks of the season for the first time ever.
• Mizzou ranks among the top 10 teams in three disciplines, earning the No. 6 ranking on vault in addition to the No. 9 position on both floor and beam.

• Junior Jocelyn Moore has developed into one of the most consistent gymnasts in the country over the past two seasons and has started the 2024 season stronger than ever.
• The two-time WCGA Regular-Season First Team All-American on vault has continued her success on the event, as her 9.892 average ranks 10th in the country.
• Moore also ranks among the top 15 in the nation on floor, placing 11th with an average score of 9.925. She has hit a 9.9 on all three of her floor routines this season and has a streak of six such scores dating back to the 2023 SEC Championship.

• Graduate student Sienna Schreiber is making the most of her final season with Missouri, serving as one of the top beam and all-around competitors in the nation.
• After tying her personal-best 9.975 beam score at No. 20 Georgia, the Cumming, Georgia, gymnast sits in third place on the apparatus with a 9.950 average, the best in the SEC.
• The 2022 SEC Specialist of the Year has scored a 9.9 or higher in six of her last seven competitions dating back to last season.
• The three-time WCGA Regular-Season All-American also ranks in the top 20 for all-around average with a score of 39.475.

• Junior Amari Celestine wrapped up the best meet of the young 2024 season, producing her first two 9.9s of the year.
• The former five-star recruit from Wildomar, California, notched a 9.900 on vault then followed it up with a 9.925 on beam for the first 9.9 score on that discipline in her career. Additionally, she matched her season-high 9.875 on floor.
• With a trio of scores over 9.875 this season, Celestine holds a 9.883 average on vault to rank 15th in the country.

• Three Mizzou freshmen — Kennedy Griffin, Hannah Horton and Rayna Light — have made their mark in the lineup during the first month of 2024.
• Griffin made her competitive collegiate debut on floor two weeks ago at No. 4 Alabama, posting a 9.825. This past weekend at No. 20 Georgia, the Strongsville, Ohio, product scored a 9.900 on that apparatus for her first collegiate 9.9.
• Horton, a skilled gymnast out of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, already has three 9.9s under her belt. After scoring a 9.900 on floor at the Mizzou Invitational, Horton became the first Missouri freshman since Amari Celestine in 2022 to score two 9.9s in the same meet, accomplishing the feat with a 9.900 on vault and floor at No. 4 Alabama.
• Light has competed in all four disciplines through her first three meets and has shown potential to be an all-around option for the Tigers. At No. 20 Georgia, she competed on three events for the first time collegiately, making her collegiate debut on bars and beam while maintaining her spot in the vault lineup.

• In last year’s matchup in Baton Rouge, Missouri scored its best score against LSU on the road with a 196.525, but could not earn a victory at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
• Mizzou received 9.9 efforts from Helen Hu on beam and Amari Celestine on floor as the two teams posted near identical scores on the final two rotations.

• Mizzou enters Friday’s matchup trailing in the all-time series against LSU, 6-45.

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