Mizzou splits action at ‘Beauty and the Beast’
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
MU Gymnastics and Wrestling's home openers officially marked the return of "Beauty and the Beast".
Both programs competed alongside each other at Mizzou Arena on Friday night for the first time since 2019 but experienced different outcomes. No. 9 Mizzou Gymnastics earned a 196.700 team score to start its season with a quad meet win over Ball State, Illinois State and SEMO while No. 19 Mizzou Wrestling dropped its matchup with No. 12 Cornell 26-12, marking the team's sixth loss in eight duals.
Head Coach Shannon Welker's group claimed at least a share of all four event titles. Jocelyn Moore split the vault title with Ball State's Alana Laster after both gymnasts posted 9.850 routines. Hannah Horton won the bars title with a 9.925 score, closely followed by her teammate Amari Celestine who recorded a 9.900 routine. Addison Lawrence was crowned the winner of the beam title, earning a 9.900 score for her performance. Finally, Moore, Horton and Celestine all shared the floor title, following a trio of 9.850 performances.
Celestine was also named the All-Around title winner of this meet, tallying a total score of 39.350, which was .275 higher than the next closest competitor. The senior gymnast recorded a 9.775 or higher on all four events.
Collectively, Mizzou assembled team scores of 48.975 on vault, 49.425 on bars, 49.100 on beam and 49.200 on floor.
Head Coach Brian Smith's squad saw three Tigers earn wins during Friday's action. Gage Walker recorded his first career fall to begin the night in the 125-pound weight class. Then, Zeke Seltzer secured his first dual win of the season with a late takedown in the final period to win by decision. Finally, Jarrett Stoner rounded out the competition with MU's final win of the dual, defeating his opponent by decision in similar fashion to Seltzer.
However, five straight losses to Cornell in the middle stages of the dual costed Mizzou the win. Overall, the Tigers lost the 133-pound, 141-pound, 157-pound, 165-pound, 174-pound, 184-pound and 197-pound bouts, and the Big Red clinched the win with No. 8 Chris Foca's victory over No. 9 Colton Hawks.
Up next - Mizzou Wrestling returns to the Hearnes Center for a dual against No. 15 Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. while Mizzou Gymnastics hits the road for the first time this season to compete in the Denver Quad on the same day at 3 p.m.
