Shannon Welker, Helen Hu headline Mizzou’s SEC honors
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Gymnastics is home to the 2025 SEC Coach of the Year and Specialist of the Year.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) named head coach Shannon Welker as the league's coach of the year and Helen Hu as specialist of the year on Wednesday afternoon. Additionally, four MU gymnasts were recognized as All-SEC selections, including Hu, Amari Celestine, Jocelyn Moore and Mara Titarsolej.
Welker, who became a two-time SEC Coach of the Year (2022 & 2025), has guided the Tigers to a record-breaking season. Mizzou matched its best finish at the SEC Championships, finishing in fourth place after competing in Session II of the event for the first time in program history. MU, who's ranked No. 11 or better in all four events, also currently holds a program-best 197.510 national qualifying score (NQS) and No. 7 NQS ranking. In addition, the team set a new program-high score against Auburn (198.100), surpassing the 198.000-threshold for the first time.
Hu, who's a three-time All-SEC honoree, has been crowned SEC Specialist of the Year for the second time in her career, earning the honor for the first time during the 2020 campaign. The Chicago native stands alone as the only gymnast in the nation with at least two perfect scores on the balance beam this year, ending the regular season as the No. 2-ranked athlete on that apparatus. The SEC's Co-Champion on beam also became the first gymnast in conference history to win SEC Specialist of the Week five times in a single season.
Moore and Celestine made history as MU's first four-year gymnasts to become four-time All-SEC team selections. According to current NQS rankings, Celestine is the No. 9-ranked gymnast in the nation and fifth-best in the SEC on the floor exercise while Moore is the country's No. 11-ranked athlete and seventh-best in the conference on the same apparatus.
Titarsolej clinched a spot on her second All-SEC team as the nation's No. 4-ranked gymnast and third-best in the conference on the uneven bars. The back-to-back SEC Co-Champion on bars recorded a perfect score at the conference championship meet and has tallied five consecutive marks of 9.950 or better.
Mizzou is preparing to travel to the West Coast to compete as a program-high No. 2 seed in the NCAA Seattle Regional. The Tigers will perform alongside No. 10 Georgia, No. 21 Arizona and No. 26 Arizona State on Friday, April 4 at 3 p.m. inside Alaska Airlines Arena.
