Helen Hu grabs fourth SEC Specialist of the Week award of the season

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The SEC Specialist of the Week award belongs to the No. 8 Mizzou gymnastics team.

For the fifth time in the last six weeks, a Tiger gymnast was named the Southeastern Conference's Specialist of the Week. It's just the third time that any school has won the award five times in one season, as Mizzou joins the 2013 LSU Tigers and the 2022 Florida Gators.

Helen Hu, MU's resident beam queen, claimed the weekly honor, after scoring her fourth 9.975 on that apparatus this season in the meet against Georgia. The Chicago-native is splitting the honor with the Bulldogs' Anya Turner, who also recorded a 9.975 on the beam on Friday.

It is the fourth time this season that Hu has won the SEC Specialist of the Week honor this season, which makes her just the second gymnast in SEC history to ever win the honor four times in one year.

After returning from an off-year ahead of the 2025 season, Hu has been Ms. Consistency for head coach Shannon Welker. The redshirt senior ranks third in the country in balance beam national qualifying score (NQS). She's also helped her Tiger team to be ranked No. 8 nationally on the beam.

She's also just one of two gymnasts to attain perfection on the beam this season, as she scored a perfect 10.000 earlier in the year. She is one of 11 gymnasts to achieve a 9.975, as well, and she's done it quite often. In fact, Hu has recorded a 9.975 on the beam four times in 2025.

As she wraps up her final year of collegiate gymnastics, Hu and No. 8 Mizzou will look to make it to the national stage: the NCAA Championships.

Up next - the Tigers will head to Gainesville to meet No. 5 Florida on Friday, Feb, 28. First touch is slated for 5 p.m. CT.