Tigers take The Swamp with Nationals on the mind

I can’t believe we’re here, you guys. It’s all led to this. The NCAA Regionals. The goal, obviously, is to advance to the NCAA National Championships in Fort Worth in a few weeks, just as they did two years ago when they shocked the country and ended up in 5th place (just outside the National Finals).

But first, the Tigers have to get past at least three of the four teams in their Gainesville Regional Round 2, Session 3 Quad Meet (more on them in a bit) on Friday, and then after advancing to the finals, they must again place in the top two on Sunday (also a quad meet, coincidentally).

Per the NCAA’s website: The top two teams from each regional will receive an automatic berth to Nationals. In addition, the top all-around competitor and top event specialist from round two (that’s what today is— round 2) at each regional (who is not on a team advancing to nationals) will advance to the national championships. Event specialist qualifiers will only compete in the events they qualified.

So.... say Mizzou makes it to the Regional Finals on Sunday, but the team places third (this is hypothetical). That would mean we could see Sienna Schreiber (beam), Jocelyn Moore (floor) and Mara Titarsolej (bars) compete in the National Championships as event specialists if they won their events but Mizzou as at team failed to advance. To avoid only seeing just a couple of Tigers in that meet, it’s just best for team to get in the top 2. It will be tough, but they CAN do it. Anything is possible.

The no. 13 Tigers are coming off a fifth place finish at the SEC Championships with a 197.250, just missing on the fourth place slot by 0.025, but Mizzou had their best beam rotation since early February, so they’re back on track.

Per Mizzou Head Coach Shannon Walker, who the media spoke to on Wednesday about the team’s preparation, after SECs, “We took a couple days and just got a little rest, a little recovery right there. You get to this point in the year and everybody’s excited to get to the postseason... You’re just trying to do what you need to do because you’re ready to go, right? Energy has been good, and practices have been good and we’re excited about what we’ve got coming up.”

Let’s get started.

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Meet Info

When: Friday, April 5 (Round 2, Session III)

Where: Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center | Gainesville, FL

Time: 6pm CST

TV: ESPN+

LIVE STATS: statbroadcast

MIZZOU ORDER OF EVENTS: Floor —> Vault —> Bars —> Beam

Do you see beam last and break out into a cold sweat? Let me remind you of last year’s Regionals, which went in the same order. You can read about Finals here.

“I won’t bury the lede here. When it came down to it, Mizzou got it done. Performing on the balance beam in their final rotation, they showcased nerves of steel and ice in their veins and got that s@$* done. The ending was technically decided before the anchor Sienna Schreiber even took to the 4-inch wide apparatus.”

Leo Reveal: You guys! The bars on the back are supposed to be the columns!!!!

Format: The play-in dual on Thursday between Clemson and Iowa State determined the last of the entrants in Mizzou’s quad session. Earlier on Friday, Utah, Michigan State, Tolson, and Maryland will face off. The top two teams from that session as well as Mizzou’s will advance to Sunday’s Regional finals. The top two teams there will advance to Nationals.

About the Venue:

photo by Ashley Joliceour

Per floridagators.com, Exactech Arena holds 10,151 rabid fans, and we should expect to see a majority of Gator fans on hand in Mizzou’s session. They’ve averaged just a touch over 8,700 this season.

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Last Time On The Mats

The Tigers finally put together four complete rotations in the SEC Championships. Facing off against #12 Arkansas, #14 Auburn, and #18 Georgia, they led from start to finish in the first session of the SEC Gymnastics Championships. Missouri’s final score narrowly kept them from beating out Florida, who finished just ahead of them (0.025) in the 4th place spot in the evening session.

“I feel like SECs was a really good meet for us,” Shannon told us Wednesday. “We were able to kind of put all four events together pretty well. And so just kind of keeping that momentum going into Regionals and kind of knowing we have the capabilities to be one of the best teams in the nation and using that to kind of feed us for Regionals and making Nationals.”

FIRST ROTATION— BARS: 49.325 | Kyra Burns 9.775 (dropped) | Rayna Light 9.825 | Amaya Marshall 9.825 | Sienna Schreiber 9.875 | Jocelyn Moore 9.85 | Mara Titarsolej 9.95 (co-SEC champion)

After 1: Mizzou leads by 0.175. MIZ 49.325 | AUB 49.15 | ARK 49.05 | UGA 48.875

SECOND ROTATION— BEAM: 49.300 | Grace Anne Davis 9.525 (dropped) | Rayna Light 9.80 | Kennedy Griffin 9.875 (career-high) | Sydney Schaffer (season-high) | Amari Celestine 9.875 | Sienna Schreiber 9.825

After 2: Mizzou leads by 0.325. MIZ 98.625 | ARK & AUB 98.300 | UGA 97.275

THIRD ROTATION— FLOOR: 49.400 | Sienna Schreiber 9.90 | Alonna Kratzer 9.85 | Hannah Horton 9.825 | Amari Celestine 9.85 | Kennedy Griffin 9.90 | Jocelyn Moore 9.90

After 3: Mizzou leads by 0.275. MIZ 148.025 | ARK 147.75 | AUB 147.375 | UGA 146.725

FINAL ROTATION— VAULT: 49.250 | Sienna Schreiber 9.825 | Grace Anne Davis 9.825 | Kennedy Griffin 9.85 (tied season-high) | Amari Celestine 9.85 | Jocelyn Moore 9.825 | Hannah Horton 9.90 (4th place overall)

After 4: Mizzou takes the W by 0.270! MIZ 197.275 | ARK 197.05 | AUB 196.775 | UGA 196.075

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Quick Comparisons

(just pretend Clemson isn’t there, please, as I made this prior to Thursday Round 1)

data via roadtonationals.com | Karen Steger Designs

Florida is coming off a surprising fourth place finish at the SEC Championships, earning a 197.300, which is their second lowest score of the season. Florida has shown some flashes this season, such as their 198.225 on the road at Kentucky in early March and 198.15 at home vs. LSU at the end of February, but largely has spent the season in the 197.3-197.9 range. The Tigers last saw the Gators at the Zou to the Lou meet in mid-February. You can read about it here.

The Gators had two gymnasts earn WCGA regular season All-American honors in junior Leanne Wong and freshman Anya Pilgrim. Wong earned 1st Team honors on bars and 2nd Team honors on both balance beam and all-around. Pilgrim is one of just five freshmen in the country awarded AA honors and earned 2nd Team honors in vault and all-around.

Georgia, who was in Missouri’s session at the SEC Championships, had a rough floor and vault rotation (both sub-49) before coming back strong on bars and beam. They finished last in the session with a 196.075, which is far below what they’re capable of. Prior to this meet, they had two other meets in March with mid-197 scores. Freshman Lily Smith was named 2nd Team WCGA All-American on bars after already being named SEC Freshman of the Year the week prior. Smith scored a 9.925 or better seven times.

On Vault, it seems we can count on them to get in the mid-49.2 range and are coming off a 49.225 last week, and on bars they’ve had several 49.4 scores, and are coming off a 49.325 last week. Beam looks to be on the promising side, with 49.4 scores in ²⁄₃ of the previous meets. (Their beam scores are what I think Mizzou should regularly be doing.) Crazily enough, they only have ONE score this season under 49.10... couldn’t be us (Mizzou). Floor has been very consistently in the 49.45-49.475 range, so that’s decent.

Iowa State is coming off a fourth place finish at the Big 12 Championships, where they scored a 196.35. The Cyclones have yet to break a 197 this season, with their highest scores being a 196.90 against BYU in mid-January and a 196.70 in a quad meet in March. In Thursday’s Play-in dual meet, they defeated no. 30 Clemson in the opening rounds, 195.875 to 195.625. While they struggled on bars (48.600), they had a solid vault (49.025) and floor rotation (49.025) before taking the lead over the Tigers in the final rotation on beam (49.225).

“That was an incredible meet out there today. I am so proud of them with how they have worked this season. It feels like everything that we have been through has led to this moment. Our goal was to make it to day two of regionals and we have now achieved that. It is something that we all should be proud of. This is a great day for Cyclone nation.” Head Coach Ashley Miles Greig said, per cyclones.com.

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Individual Analysis

I went through Road to Nationals (a great website) and ranked the highest scores by each of the four teams (Mizzou, Florida, Georgia, Iowa State) and then secondarily by their national qualifying score. I’ve also included their average scores for the season. The decision on alternates, which are listed in light green, are based on Shannon’s comments from the recent presser and the amount of lineups the others have participated in. For instance, if they were in the last two lineups, that’s a good indication of if they’ll be in it going forward, unless the coaching staff just decides to change things up based on how teammates are feeling.

“We need to have that depth in order to put the best person in because, you know, if somebody is tired or somebody is a little off, which can very well happen in a three-day span. We need to be able to plug and play and do those things, but I do think it’ll be similar in some events [to what we saw at SECs],” Shannon said.

data via roadtonationals.com | KarenStegerDesigns

FLOOR: I expect no changes here in lineup or positioning. Jocelyn is in the middle of 15-meet streak of hitting a 9.9+ on floor, and Kennedy is at six consecutive 9.9+ scores. Mizzou starting with their best event will get things off to a rockin’ start, which is especially important. “You have to get off to a pretty solid start regardless of event,” Welker said. “But I do think we can capitalize on floor being a very steady event for us, and we feel we can go out and do a great job there and really set the bar for not only our competition, but for other teams that have to go to floor after us.

VAULT: A meet after Kyra scoring a career-high 9.90 in the final quad of the season, she was replaced last minute by Kennedy in the vault lineup. Sienna has had a fantastic season, earning career-bests on ³⁄₄ of apparatuses. The only one where she hasn’t hit it yet? Vault! Six times in her career has she gotten a 9.90, including last year at this very meet. I’d also love Jocelyn, even if it’s not a 10, get a 9.95 or a few 10s from the judges, as we know she’s capable of it.

BARS: I was not expecting to see Rayna in the bars lineup at SECs, but alas, she replaced Hollyn Patrick due to a bit of back issue, Shannon told us on Wednesday. I’m looking for her to match her career-high 9.95!

BEAM: Welcome back, Rayna? We did see her take Amaya Marshall’s slot at SECs, but do we see her on Friday? Regarding Grace Anne’s slight issue (she scored a 9.55), it’s not a concern. She’s had a bit of a hip flexor issue so they changed her jump series to accommodate that, and it ended up changing her SV. Now that she’s okay, they’ll change it back and it’s not anticipated it will be an issue for this weekend. Sydney Schaffer is SOOO close to her career-best on beam after hitting a 9.925 at the SEC Championships, but her 9.95 set at this meet in 2021 awaits!

OVERALL: The team continues to perform at a very high level, and they are doing a lot of things great. Now’s the time to show off! Missouri is fully expected to make it to Sunday’s finals based on their scoring and seed going into the session, and in the finals, WATCH OUT. Last year, Auburn failed to make the finals, shocking the Gymternet. This year, in the Ann Arbor Regional, host team and no. 11 Michigan finished third behind no. 25 Penn State.

On the last preparations: “If we’ve done it right, and if we’ve prepared correctly and we’ve been doing the right things, there’s very little we have to change and move in on at this point, quite honestly.” He continued, “It’s really just hammering home some of those little details and just little things. SEC Championships was a much more high pressure event than this.”

About the meet’s structure: “It doesn’t matter who comes out of there,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the one seed or the two seed, you’re gonna have to be really good on that day, which we certainly have that capability of doing so. Preparation wise, we’ve been doing it, we’re ready and I think, if we could compete today (Wednesday), we would do it so well.”

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Should They Advance

The top two from Quad Two, Session 1 will move on to the Regional Finals to face the top two from Quad One, Session 2 (Mizzou’s quad)

data via roadtonationals.com | KarenStegerDesigns

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Mizzou Records To Watch

• Overall Score: 197.850, scored at no. 17 Arkansas in 2023
• Regionals High Score: 197.400 in LA Regionals Second Round, 2023 | 197.600 in LA Regional Finals, 2023
• Balance Beam: 49.550, scored at no. 17 Arkansas in 2023
• Uneven Bars: 49.600, scored at Mizzou Quad, March 10, 2024
• Vault: 49.500, scored at Illinois Quad, March 17, 2024
• Floor Exercise: 49.700, scored at Illinois Quad, March 17, 2024

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To Do List Before First Touch

• Broken lamps and smashed records: The story of Missouri gymnastics star Jocelyn Moore (Calum McAndrew, Columbia Tribune)
• Jackie Terpak: The key to Missouri gymnastics smooth moves (Nate Salsman, The Maneater)
• Tigers wrap up SEC Championships with afternoon session win, 5th place finish overall (by me)
• Watch this about senior Kyra Burns- a new episode of A Tiger’s Heart

LET’S GO!!!!!! Time to show the country you’re a force to be reckoned with, Tigers.