On Friday evening, Mizzou Gymnastics began their 2025-26 campaign with their “Black & Gold” exhibition event – the team’s first appearance in their new home.
Team Gold ultimately defeated Team Black 158.150 to 157.200, but the focus wasn’t on winners and losers.
Rather, the meet’s location and atmosphere had a much larger impact than any scoresheet.
On October 21, the team announced a transition from the Hearnes Center to Mizzou Arena as their primary home venue, a move Head Coach Shannon Welker has publicly celebrated.
“This is something I’ve been working on for over 10 years,” Welker said. “A premiere venue is something you need to compete at a premiere level.”
This year’s group contains premiere talent, retaining most of last season’s NCAA Championship third-place squad and adding a slew of newcomers via the transfer portal and the 2025 signing class.
Among those returning are juniors Kennedy Griffin and Hannah Horton, who finished the 2024-25 season as top-20 individuals in the floor and vault events, respectively.
Additionally, sophomore Kaia Tanskanen, now in her second year with the Tigers, earned a top-15 all-around finish in this year’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.
All three put on spectacular showings, but the night’s primary focus was on the gymnasts with less experience in big arenas.
Freshman Kimarra Echols and sophomore Railey Jackson represent 10 underclassmen on this Missouri team. Getting to perform for a home crowd in an elevated atmosphere, they said, has helped them focus on competing at a higher level.
“It gave us an environment to solely focus on gymnastics, to focus on the energy we were getting from the crowd,” Jackson said.
A greater fan experience and a larger crowd to supplement the team’s efforts is expected to catalyze a season of growth.
“I think if you follow us this year, you’re going to see steady, steady progress,” Welker said.
After losing Helen Hu, the 2025 beam specialist who brought Missouri its first individual championship, many raised concerns over whether this year’s team could compete at the same level – especially in the beam.
The Tigers, however, aren’t focused on what they’ve lost from their past. Rather, their energy is spent building what they hope to be an even stronger squad.
“I actually think we are deeper than last year,” Welker said about the team’s depth.
The Tigers showed strength throughout all rotations, including the beam. Echols, Jackson and Tanskanen all earned a score of 9.950 in that event, tied for the highest on the team.
“That made me believe in myself so much more,” Echols said about her performance tonight.
For Echols and Jackson, high-caliber performances are achieved through their character and collaboration.
“We all have talked and communicated to each other what we feel would help us best,” Jackson said.
Jackson also says that effective communication has helped each individual express their creativity during their respective routines.
“We feed off of each other when it comes to making the choreography, picking out our music and making our ‘character’.”
The Tigers have a wide array of personas they portray throughout competition. *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye,” multiple selections from Adele’s discography and music from Avatar played through the arena’s speakers during the floor and beam events.
“My floor music is basically water and I’m controlling the water,” Jackson said about her Avatar-themed routine.
The ability to incorporate their own interests into a competitive setting has helped establish a strong team community – a camaraderie that energizes them for the season ahead.
Despite competing against each other, Friday’s event was a unifying experience for Missouri’s gymnasts. Following a podium-finish at NCAA nationals, they look to launch another historic season with the help of each other – and their new home.
Missouri Gymnastics will host their first official competition of the year against Iowa State on Jan. 4 at 2:00 pm.