Tulsa, OK: Missouri Gymnastics hit the mats for the SEC Championships on Saturday afternoon, finishing second in Session One and taking sixth overall.
The Tigers finished with a score of 197.075, narrowly surpassing Arkansas (196.975) and Kentucky (196.925). They placed behind Georgia, the top-ranked team in the afternoon session, putting them in sixth place in the final standings after Florida, Oklahoma, LSU and Alabama all posted high scores in the evening session.
The outing was highlighted by strong individual performances from Kimarra Echols, whose 9.900 bars routine put her in an 11-way tie for fourth place, and Hannah Horton, whose 9.950 on vault earned her a silver medal.
The Tigers also had their fair share of struggles, including a disastrous start to the beam rotation.
Amy Wier opened up the event, returning to the beam after being sidelined the last two weeks with a groin strain. Missouri made the last-minute decision to put her back in the lineup, one that was quickly regretted after she posted a sub-nine score.
“We were trying to put Amy in there, and maybe a little too soon, quite honestly. She probably needed a few more reps,” said Head Coach Shannon Welker about the decision.
It didn’t get much better from there, with Railey Jackson scoring a 9.600 and recent lineup addition Hayli Westerlind posting 9.750.
“When you have a challenging series of events like that, you have to just challenge them,” Welker said about regrouping his team midway through the lineup.
Luckily for Missouri, anchor Addison Lawrence made her return to the event after a concussion that had sidelined her the previous week. She recorded her sixth score of 9.925 or higher this season, bringing the Tigers’ event total to an even 49.000.
“We can’t have a 49 on beam like we did. We really need to do better over there,” said Welker about the low-scoring rotation.
The final tallies made Lawrence’s performance even more impactful in retrospect. Had she missed a connection on the apparatus or stepped out after her dismount, Missouri could have finished the meet behind Arkansas, a team they beat head-to-head three weeks prior.
The Fantastic Four
After their lowest beam score since Jan. 4, the Tigers quickly regrouped and put on a show in the center of the arena.
Conveniently placed as the centerpiece of competition, the floor exercise saw four Tigers hit 9.900.
Elise Tisler, Kaia Tanskanen, Kennedy Griffin and Horton all made their mark on the event, becoming the only teammates to hit four 9.900s in a single rotation among Session One teams.
“I’m not really surprised but I’m pleased,” Welker said. “Really, we just need to do what we normally do in training. If we do those things, that’ll take us deep into the postseason.”
Missouri finished with a 49.450 on the event, its third-highest of the season and the third-highest across both sessions.
The Landing Zone
Missouri continued its momentum on the vault, earning the highest event score of Session One with some stellar landings.
Ayla Acevedo earned a career-high 9.850 after being added to the lineup during the warmup period. The sophomore replaced Railey Jackson, who had competed on both beam and floor prior to the vault rotation.
Kimarra Echols stuck her Yurchenko full for the first time this season, earning a 9.900 out of a 9.950 start value. Her vault has been noticed throughout the year for its height and power, so fans loved to see it stuck in such a crucial part of the season.
Additionally, Horton posted a 9.950, the second-highest score out of all competitors across both sessions. Horton held a first place lead on the event up until the final competitor, 2025 NCAA Vault Champion Kailin Chio, who earned a 9.975 for the LSU Tigers.
With improvements from Acevedo, Echols and Horton, Missouri earned a season-high 49.350 in its final event.
Back to the Bluegrass State
As announced on Monday morning, Missouri will compete in Lexington for their Regional Semifinal competition on April 3, with a possibility of appearing in the Regional Final on April 5 for a spot at the NCAA National Championships.
As the eighth-ranked team in the country, Missouri will face No. 9 Arkansas, N.C. State and Maryland in a quad competition, where the top two finishing teams will advance to the Regional Finals.
On the other side of the bracket are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 16 Kentucky, Ohio State, Central Michigan and Rutgers.
The rest of the SEC will appear in Baton Rouge, LA, Tempe, AZ and Corvallis, OR.
The last time the Tigers traveled to Lexington was for a dual meet with Kentucky on Feb. 13. Missouri barely edged out the Wildcats by a score of 196.825 to 196.800, their tightest victory margin and lowest score of the season so far.
Despite the result of the last outing, Welker believes the familiarity of the environment will benefit his team.
“I certainly think that having gone there and competed gives us a nice advantage over teams that maybe haven’t done that, and so we’re excited to get back there and do an even better job this time,” Welker said.
As a part of its preparations for the postseason, Missouri Gymnastics will host an open intrasquad at the Tiger Performance Complex. The date and time will be announced later this week on the team’s official social media pages.