Mizzou gymnastics earns No. 2 seed at NCAA Lexington Regional
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The No. 8 Mizzou gymnastics team is intent on a return trip to Dallas-Fort Worth in 2026.
For head coach Shannon Welker and his squad, the road to nationals will begin in the Bluegrass State. The Tigers are headed to the Lexington Regional of the NCAA Championship and will face No. 9 Arkansas, No. 21 North Carolina State and No. 27 Maryland on Friday, April 3.
The nine-team field for the regional is as follows:
- No. 1 Oklahoma
- No. 8 Mizzou
- No. 9 Arkansas
- No. 16 Kentucky
- No. 18 Ohio State
- No. 21 North Carolina State
- No. 27 Maryland
- No. 31 Central Michigan
- No. 36 Rutgers
"Excited to return to NCAA Regionals again. I think it's a really an expectation for us, but, you know, we're a two-seed for the second year in a row and so that's exciting," head coach Shannon Welker said. "I think our grouping is good. I think that should give us a lot of confidence. You know, obviously, we have seen every seeded team in our regional and we've had a lot of success against many of them this year on a couple of occasions, including SEC Championships, last weekend."
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Welker in the video player below.
Mizzou does have the advantage of having competed at Historic Memorial Coliseum this season, meaning the equipment will not be completely new for his squad.
"Every venue or set of equipment has a little bit of a different feel, whether it's lighting or balance or this or that," he said. "So, I certainly think that the having gone there and competed on it gives us a nice advantage over teams that maybe haven't done that."
As one of the top two seeds in the Regional, Mizzou will also have the advantage of picking which event they will start the meet on. It's something that Southeastern Conference has done for years and now the NCAA has picked up on it, as well.
"I think last year we made some changes to the rules or we had suggested some things for the NCAA and be like look the top seeds should get the advantage," Welker said. "Look, you've worked hard, the number one seeds work hard, the number two seeds worked hard, they should get the advantage and get to pick where they want to start. So, that was a change that we made and and that's why that was pretty important for us to, you know, to slide into a two spot versus a three spot last weekend."
The second quad meet of the Lexington Regional will feature No. 1-seeded Oklahoma, as well as Kentucky, Ohio State and the winner of the dual meet between Central Michigan and Rutgers.
After the first day of competition, the top two teams from each quad meet will advance to the Lexington Regional Final, on Sunday, April 5. That meet will be for all the marbles, as the top two squads will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship Semifinal in Fort Worth, Texas on April 16.
A return trip to the Lone Star State has been the goal for Tiger gymnastics since day one of the 2026 season, after the team earned its best finish in program history (third place in the Championship Final) in 2025.
"Look, we're not going to we're not sugar coating it, a return trip to Dallas-Fort Worth for NCAA Championships is what we've been intending to do all year long," Welker said. "[That's what] we intend to continue to get better and put ourselves in a position to do as we kind of hit this regional weekend and we'll continue to get better as we go to NCAA Championships, if we do our job in this upcoming week."
MU gymnastics does have experience on its side on this 2026 roster, as multiple gymnasts were present for the 2025 run, which marked the Tigers' best finish in program history.
Coach Welker emphasized that last year's successes are this year's opportunities.
"I think, really, that team last year gave a lot of confidence and gave some opportunities, that maybe we hadn't had in the past. Now, we have those expectations," Welker said.
This berth will mark Mizzou gymnastics' 11th-straight NCAA Regional appearance, earning a No. 2 seed for the second-consecutive season. It's also the fifth-straight year that the Tigers area Top-16 seed in the NCAA Championships.
No. 8 Mizzou will continue postseason action on Friday, April 3 at 12 p.m. CT, as the squad meets Arkansas, North Carolina State and Maryland in the Second Round.
