No. 7 Mizzou gymnastics faces third Top-3 opponent in as many weeks

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A pair of showdowns against Top-3 teams in the nation opened up Southeastern Conference action for No. 7 Mizzou gymnastics, in 2026...and they aren't done, yet.

On Friday night, MU will host No. 2 LSU at Mizzou Arena for its third Top-3 clash in as many weeks. Head coach Shannon Welker said that meet will be a great opportunity for fans to come out and set some attendance records.

"I want to see our attendance go above 5,000 this weekend," Welker said. "I think that's a great opportunity for our Mizzou fans to really show like, hey, we are a gymnastics school, in addition to some other sports, right?"

You can watch the full press conference with Coach Welker in the video player below.

The Tigers will roll into the third meet of conference action off of a pair of losses against No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Alabama. Although those outings ended up with a mark in the loss column, Welker said he loves the growth he's seen in his team week-to-week.

Mizzou improved its team score by 0.3 from the loss to Oklahoma to the loss to Alabama, as Welker's group earned its second-highest team score of the year, down in Tuscaloosa. At the end of the day, team scores is really what counts the most for these teams, as that factors directly into their national rankings.

"I feel like we've had an opportunity in both of those competitions to win...and I think we're really in a position to do that. I was pleased with the progress we made between the meet versus Oklahoma to the meet versus Alabama," Welker said. "I thought we competed pretty well. Just a little stronger, if we can get off there, right off the bat. I think we're in a real good position there. You know, there was some challenging judging at the end there that I think could have at a critical point, you know, impacted the meet. But, you know, listen, we're always going to focus on what we can control and those things and just try to work on them."

That growth that Coach Welker mentioned was tangible in the meet in Tuscaloosa.

Following the team's SEC opening loss to Oklahoma, the reigning national champions, Welker highlighted his bars rotation as one his group would need to hone in on. In that loss to the Sooners, MU came out flat, posting a 48.825, led by Kimarra Echols who had the team-best score of 9.825. However, just one meet later, the Tigers showed vast improvements.

In fact, one of the highlights of the night for Mizzou at Alabama was the uneven bars. Both Echols and Kaia Tankskanen notched career-highs on that apparatus, scoring a 9.950 and 9.925, respectively.

Welker actually rolled with a different rotation against the Tide, than he did against the Sooners, which seemed to do the trick. The Tigers opened up with Lauren Macpherson, who scored the team-low of 9.325, followed by Olivia Kelly, Makayla Green, Maiya Terry, Hannah Horton, Echols and Addison Lawrence.

"Well, Lauren [Macpherson] was a little off. We were trying to play around with the line up a little bit and just trying to figure out the order there. I think that actually was a really good line up order for us. We just had a little bit, I think, we just need to prep that a little bit better this week," Welker said. "I think we'll be in good shape right there. You know, I think Lauren's a competitor and she wants to step in there and do the job that we need to have happen in the front end, right there. So yeah, I was really excited. I think they were hungry and they felt like they can walk into Tuscaloosa and have a shot at winning. Again, I know I said it against Oklahoma, but that's a great mindset to have. We proved it, like we were within a couple of tenths right there. I think we'll get it done on the next round."

During Tuesday's meeting with local media members, Welker was also asked about what he feels like the next steps are for his team, in order to peak at the right time this season.

"Obviously, we started out really hot with sticks on bars on weekend one and we've just been a little off, right there. So, I think we we need to clean that up just a little bit. Otherwise, I thought bars was really good last week. We just got to, you know, just stick a couple of dismounts if you're going 9.8, 9.85, somewhere in there and you're taking a step on the dismount, well that's two thirds of your deductions right there, at least right now, if not more. So, really that's about it. A little bit on vault, I think if we could stick a couple of vaults over there, you know, that's going to be a big boost for us. We're going 49.2, 49.3 on vault and we have maybe one stick. If we get one more in there or two more, we're at at 49.4, 49.5, which is a pretty big score, especially over there. So, otherwise just adding a little bit of depth, I think some quality depth. At some point, we're going to need to start rotating a little bit. Now, we did last weekend [against Alabama], we subbed a few new people into the lineup and they did a great job, so that was exciting to see."

No. 7 Mizzou's clash against No. 2 LSU will start at 6:45 p.m. on Friday.