No. 7 Mizzou gymnastics falls short of a historic upset over No. 2 Oklahoma
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The No. 7 Mizzou gymnastics team started fast, but couldn't hold its lead against No. 2 Oklahoma, on Friday night, falling to the reigning national champions 197.425-196.925.
"I think we obviously were, a little disappointed in the overall performance because we know we can do better. But that's a good thing too," said head coach Shannon Welker. "We had some visible errors that that you know you can spin that into a negative if you want. But I think it's actually a positive. Like I mean we clean up bars right there. You know we're hanging right with a really good team."
With the loss, the Tigers fell to 4-1 to start the 2026 season.
Mizzou started off strong through the first rotation, leading No. 2 Oklahoma 49.300-49.1000. The Tigers' fast start came courtesy of four 9.850's from Kennedy Griffin, Railey Jackson, Kimarra Echols and Elise Tisler. However, the event was anchored by the team-best score of 9.900 from Hannah Horton. She ended the night tied for fourth place on that apparatus.
The second rotation brought some adversity for head coach Shannon Welker's team. The highest score that MU found on the uneven bars was a 9.800 from Horton. The rest of the team scored in the 9.7-range, which put the Tigers behind the Sooners midway through the meet, trailing by 0.550.
As a result, Mizzou headed to the balance beam in need of a response.
Coach Welker's team dialed up the response it needed, as Olivia Kelly and Lauren Macpherson paved the way, each scoring 9.900s. Kelly's score matched her career-high, while Macpherson's came courtesy of a scoring inquiry from the MU coaching staff. She was originally awarded a 9.850, but after the third rotation wrapped up, the judges upped that score to a 9.9. The rest of their Tiger teammates followed them up with scores in the 9.8-range to get with 0.425 of the reigning national champions.
MU would need a big finish on the floor and a misstep from Oklahoma on the beam, in order to pull out their first win over the Sooners since 2004.
Although Mizzou stunned its home crowd with three events earning at least a 9.9 on the floor, Oklahoma did not misstep on its final rotation, coming back from that early deficit for the victory in Columbia.
"I thought we were really good and pretty good on three events. You know, we just had a little whoopsie on on bars, not as clean as we needed to be there, but overall I actually saw a lot of progress tonight," said coach Welker on the team's performance tonight.
Up next - No. 7 Mizzou will continue its tour of matchups against Top-4 opponents with a showdown against No. 4 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The meet will start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23.
