Mizzou gymnastics prepares for NCAA Championship Semifinal with sights set on ‘Final Four’

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou gymnastics team has already filled up the record books this season, achieving the highest team score in program history, matching their best finish at the SEC Championships, having an athlete earn three perfect 10.000's in one year and the list goes on. However, head coach Shannon Welker and company are not done, yet.

The Tigers achieved a goal they set at the beginning of the season: making it to the program's fourth-ever NCAA Championship Semifinal in Fort Worth, Texas. But, just arriving at the highest stage, isn't the end goal.

"I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, I think if we're hitting on all cylinders we give ourselves a shot at competing on the last day of the season in that Final Four...We control our own destiny and give ourselves the best shot of getting there. You know, if we can get to that final day, then, hey, we get to compete for a national title," Coach Welker said.

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

Welker has made it to this stage before, competing amongst the final eight teams in the nation at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas. In 2022, his team finished in fifth place in the night session of the NCAA Championships, which is the highest finish in program history. Although MU had a talented team that season, Coach Welker felt that it was a bit more of a shock for people that they made it to that stage in 2022. However, that's changed in the 2025 season. It's become an expectation.

"Sometimes that underdog role is easier than being expected to perform at a certain level, as we've all seen in sports. So, to see them go 5-3 in conference play, I mean, we had we were tied for the second most wins in the SEC this yea. We had some big wins. We were undefeated at home. I mean, we have done some really great things along the way this year that maybe we haven't in the past and we got that trip to Dallas, so, I mean, I just name off those things and I just feel a sense of pride," Welker said."

It's been a few seasons since Mizzou has advanced to the NCAA Championship Semifinal as a whole team, but there is experience in this roster. Seniors Amari Celestine and Jocelyn Moore, as well as graduate Helen Hu were all on the 2022 squad, who achieved the best finish in program history. Graduate Mara Titarsolej has also been on that stage before, as she was an individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships on the bars just one season ago.

The group will take confidence from that experience and from how they've gotten to this stage, with them down to Forth Worth.

Coach Welker and his team didn't take the easy road to the 'Elite Eight.' In fact, Mizzou advanced past the NCAA Regional Final by one-tenth of a point ahead of Auburn, thanks to a massive recovery on the final rotation of the night.

"Just a tremendous amount of mental toughness there," Welker said.

The Tigers competed on the beam to end the evening at the Regional Final and, on the very first routine, redshirt junior Amy Wier had an unfortunate fall, which put MU in a precarious spot with only the top two teams in the meet advancing.

After that fall, MU put up five-straight routines of 9.825 or better to get back on track, with Hu anchoring the rotation with a stunning 9.925.

"I think that took up 20 years of my life. That was so nerve wracking. I mean, obviously we've been seeing those girls kill on beam, so I had I had a lot of trust in them, but still...We were just all holding hands and screaming our lungs out for everybody else to come. It was just really exciting to see them go up there and absolutely kill it. Like, those were great routines and maybe that's what we needed. Maybe we just needed that little bit of extra like excitement, you know," Titarsolej said.

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

The team said that kind of grit shows they always has each other's back, which is critical as they enter the biggest stage. That mindset is summed up by a team motto: 'ambush.'

"Ambush is just like our Tiger family. You know, there's a group of Tiger and it's an ambush. So, we really kind of latched on to that this year that, you know, we are one cohesive group," redshirt junior Elise Tisler said. "It doesn't take one person to win. In a meet, there's 24 routine that go up, there's 22 of us on our team and it takes every single person, whether they're in that lineup spot or we're moving mats, we're cheering, we're giving it our all. It takes every single person in and out of the gym to get where we are."

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

Coach Welker's team will, once again, be opening up the meet on their strongest rotation, which is the floor. Although it's not the order that MU would pick, it's one they've grown accustomed to.

"I think we feel super comfortable. It's an event we're really good at. We're starting on a great event. You know, I think you can spin it really however you want. But, I do think the repetition of doing that rotation will pay off for us and on beam, too...I think we're comfortable with that and we're excited to to do it and run it back again. So, hopefully we'll get to do that same rotation in the Final Four," Welker said.

Mizzou will be in action on Thursday, April 17 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. NCAA Championship Semifinal action will begin at 3:30 p.m., as No. 7 MU faces No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida and No. 12 Alabama.