Mizzou gymnastics survives and advances to NCAA Regional Final
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou gymnastics team will live to compete another day in the postseason. The Tigers edged out Georgia in the Gainesville Regional to become one of the top four teams to advance to the Regional Final on Sunday.
MU, Florida, Utah and Michigan State will be the four teams competing for the two spots in the NCAA Championship Semifinals on April 13 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Gainesville Regional was split up into two sessions, with eight total teams competing. The Tigers needed a top-two finish in the afternoon session to advance and they managed to pull it off. It is the fourth-straight year that head coach Shannon Welker's crew has advanced to a regional final.
The meet brought all the drama, too. Mizzou beat out the Bulldogs in the afternoon session for a spot in the regional final by an insanely narrow margin. You can find the full list of team final scores below.
- Florida - 197.925
- Utah - 197.825
- Mizzou - 197.525
- Michigan State - 197.475
- Georgia - 197.425
- Iowa State - 196.575
- Maryland - 196.350
- Towson - 195.050
Mizzou's 197.525 is the highest regional second-round score in program history, besting the 197.400 mark set at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional Second Round in 2023.
The Tigers battled back from a .150 deficit behind Georgia to advance thanks to some clutch performances. Welker's team posted scores of 49.3 or higher in four events for the first time in 2024, as they entered the final two rotations still behind the Bulldogs.
Mizzou put up clutch numbers on the uneven bars, as the lineup compiled a 49.475 overall score on the event courtesy of 9.9s from Jocelyn Moore, Kyra Burns and Mara Titarsolej. With that performance, MU gained a slight advantage over the Bulldogs headed into the final rotation.
That final rotation was make-or-break for the beam lineup, as Mizzou led UGA by just a tenth of a point. In crunch time, the Tiger beam rotation delivered one of the best performances of 2024.
Grace Anne Davis opened up the scoring with a 9.900 in the leadoff position. She was followed up by veteran Sienna Schreiber, who kept MU's season alive with a 9.900.
Moore, the 2024 SEC Event Special of the Year, put up quite a performance in Gainesville. She notched 9.9s on three events for just the second time in her career.
Up next - Mizzou will compete for a spot in the NCAA Championship Semifinals. The quad meet between No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 12 Michigan State will begin at 4 p.m. CT in Florida.
