Presenting…. The winners of our 3rd annual Rock M’My Awards!!!
Well, folks, we’ve made it. It’s the end of awards season at Rock M Nation, and we’re ready to celebrate the digital winners of our third annual Rock M’my awards (pronounced like Emmy). I hope you enjoyed reading through the nominations, as there was a lot to celebrate and relive from the 2024-25 school year. New faces on the playing field and leading their respective teams, postseason highs, incredible individual and team performances, perfect scores, national titles, coming back from the (metaphorical) dead… There were a lot of memorable things going on in CoMo and we wanted to make it as hard as humanly possible to pick a favorite in each category.
I’m super proud of how the whole thing came together, and I am thankful for our diverse group of writers for thinking outside the box and doing a damn good job making sure as many teams as possible were represented. Did we miss some nominations? Of course. But we covered a lot and we honored 15 different Mizzou sports teams, which matches the 15 from last season. With each nomination came great backstories so even if you missed that particular event or don’t really follow that team, you could still make an informed decision of who was most deserving.
Now that all the votes for each award have been tabulated— a total of 3,960 ballots were cast!!! — it’s time to present a winners list.
So congrats to the student-athletes, teams and coaching staffs who were nominated and awarded our completely serious awards that will undoubtedly be the greatest triumph in your lives thus far. Feel free to print your graphic and hang it up next to all your real trophies and awards.
Without further ado… the winners.
PHOTO OF THE YEAR:
The Nominees:
“Are you not entertained?”, MBB | “Mitchell & the Mob”, MBB | “Inside Out & Upside Down”, FB | “Queen of the Beam”, GYM | “Euphoria”, WBB | “Kroenke Keep Away”, WBB | “All Eyes and Ears”, VB | “Fake Punt”, FB | “In the Silence”, SWIM | “Young Tigers”, WBB
Votes Tabulated: 520
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: “In the Silence”, Swim & Dive
We are so, so lucky to have such phenomenal photographers on staff that we were able to add this new category this year, and I don’t know how people decided on the winner. Did they connect it to a moment in time, such as the kU court storm which resulted in the Mark Mitchell photo? Just find it visually striking, like the Brady Cook upside down photo? Love the angle of the shot, like the Helen Hu head-on beam photo? Or love the interaction, like Dawn Sullivan animatedly talking to her team? For whatever the reason, this was the most hotly contested category, with the lead changing multiple times throughout the week.
For me, I chose “In the Silence” for a couple reasons. One, it felt different than all the others, which captured a sense of joy or action. This photo, taken by Mike Baniewicz, showed just one figure all by himself. Also, as a former swimmer myself, I understand the feeling of being alone with your thoughts during races, which is why I titled it (yes, I titled this one), “In the Silence.”
Third Place: “Queen of the Beam” (nominated by Cal Tobias, 100 votes)
Runner-up: “Inside Out & Upside Down” (nominated by Cal Tobias, 115 votes)
The Winner: “In the Silence” (nominated by Mike Baniewicz, 150 votes)
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES: Photographers LOVE good light and this was a gimme shot. I noticed the ray of light peaking through one of the windows at the Mizzou Aquatic center. The rest of the facility did not have strong light, which worked well because with high contrast, photographers can make really dramatic and moody photos. High contrast happens when there is a stark difference between the shadows and highlights of an image. This happens a lot with bright sunny days that with no clouds blocking the sun. I chose to expose my photo for just the highlights instead of the shadows. I crouched by the lane closest to me and waited for the next swimmer to pass through this small corner of sunlight. I chose this picture because the audience can see Joswiak’s face and the logo clearly illuminated in the sunlight.
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR:
The Nominees:
Olivia Kelly, GYM | Mark Mitchell, MBB | Jonathan Seremes, T&F | Mychael Vernon, VB | Laniah Randle, WBB | Trent Mierl, M-GOLF | Corey Flagg Jr, FB
Votes Tabulated: 620
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Olivia Kelly, Gymnastics
After watching Liv all season and seeing not only the awesomeness of her skills but also how much she helped the team as the season went on, she was an obvious pick for me despite numerous deserving newbies on the gym squad. You can read what I wrote about her in my nomination below since — spoiler alert! — she won by a landslide. I must say, though, I am truly shocked by the lack of votes for triple jumper Jonathan Seremes, the NATIONAL TITLE WINNER, and I waffled back and forth between the two of them. Mark Mitchell was also a really good option here and a close third for me.
Third Place: Jonathan Seremes (nominated by Abigail Klapatauskas, 47 votes)
Runner-up: Mark Mitchell (nominated by Sammy Stava, 104 votes)
The Winner: Olivia Kelly (nominated by Karen Steger, 414 votes)
From the Nomination: After a preseason scooter accident slowed the initial progress of the highly recruited Bronx, NY freshman, Olivia Kelly came on strong as the season progressed, finding herself as a mainstay in the bars and beam lineups and able to help the Tigers at pivotal moments with beautiful, unique routines that secured them their program high score, third place in the national finals, and an undefeated home record, among other accolades.
On the team’s no. 4 ranked bars squad, Liv shined, earning just one score under 9.80 in seven meets while scoring a 9.90 on the road at Arkansas, a 9.925 in the Washington Regional, and a 9.8875 that earned her Second Team All-American honors in the National Semis.
On beam, she scored just one routine lower than 9.8125 (a 9.700 v. UGA), and by season’s end had amassed four 9.90s, a 9.8875 and two 9.875s. Liv’s 9.90 in the Washington Regional helped propel Mizzou to the Regional Final, and her 9.8875 in the National Semifinal not only earned her Second Team All-American honors, but it also helped secure the Tigers a spot at the program’s Four on the Floor.
I will say, this honestly could have been any number of freshmen or transfers on the Tiger roster this year, as freshmen Railey Jackson and Kaia Tanskanen, along with transfers Abby Mueller, Amy Wier, and Elise Tisler were also big contributors to the team’s success but I ultimately went with Liv for her multiple All-American performances, something you don’t see from many freshies.
I’M HIM/I’M HER (BEST PERFORMANCE):
The Nominees:
Tamar Bates vs. kansas, MBB | Helen Hu at Regional Finals, GYM | Valentina Barrios National Champion, T&F | Brady Cook & MU Healthcare at Homecoming, FB | Marina Crownover vs. Former Team (Texas), VB | Cam Steed at NCAA Championships, WR | Caleb Grill at Gainesville & Starkville, MBB | Milena Fischer’s Hat Trick, SOC | Grace Slaughter’s 31 points vs. MS State, WBB | Collier Dyer at USA Diving National Championships, S&D | Madison Walker at Mizzou Invitational, SB
Votes Tabulated: 459
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Helen Hu at Regional Finals (OR) Brady Cook & MU Healthcare at HoCo
This was a hard one, y’all, and I’m betting if you read all the nominations, you likely found it difficult to decide upon a vote as well. I actually don’t even remember who I voted for! I was at the Homecoming game, and watching Brady Cook with the help of his magical medicine return to the game and kick some Auburn Tiger tail was an incredible experience. On the other hand, covering gymnastics this season and hearing from Helen and Shannon after the meet is something I will never forget.
Again, the track & field nominee, Valentina, SHOULD have gotten a ton of votes as she won a national title and was the only national title winner of these nominees (Helen’s title was at the national semis, not this meet), and seeing Marina Crownover take it to her former school and reigning national champ was incredible.
This was the closest race of the competition with only 10 votes separating first and second, and like Best Photo, the lead changed often.
Third Place: Tamar Bates vs. kU (nominated by Matt Watkins, 43 votes)
Runner-up: Helen Hu at Regional Gym Finals (nominated by Karen Steger, 186 votes)
The Winner: Brady Cook & MU Healthcare at Homecoming (nominated by Quentin Corpuel, 196 votes)
From the Nomination: This past October, Homecoming was saved by a hospital patient. Cook, who went down with an ankle injury early in the first quarter, spent much of the game at University Hospital before making a triumphant return late in the third quarter. With Mizzou down 17-6, Cook helped bring the Tigers all the way back. Within a 17-play, 95-yard game-winning touchdown drive, Cook ran for 14 yards on 3rd & 7 and hit Luther Burden III with a perfect pass on 4th & 5.
Plenty of guys contributed to an epic save of Homecoming. The defense was phenomenal. Jamal Roberts punched in the game-winning touchdown from four yards out. But Cook’s return and subsequent heroics will never be forgotten
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
The Nominees:
Morgan Meador, SOC | Lacey Rubin Balance Beam Coach, GYM | Marcus Carroll, FB | Blake Craig, FB | Drake Heismeyer, FB | Arielle Wilson Defensive Coordinator, VB
Votes Tabulated: 1174
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Lacey Rubin
This was an easy one for me, as what Coach Lacey did with the beam team this season was unbelievable, With an almost all-new lineup, they twice broke the program record and six Tigers earned or tied season high scores. Three earned All-American honors, and under Lacey’s direction, Helen Hu won about every postseason award imaginable, including the team’s first individual national title.
This ended up being another interesting battle in the end, with support for now-former assistant VB coach Arielle Wilson coming in like a flood at the end to wipe out the competition.
Third Place: Drake Heismeyer (nominated by Nathan Hurst, 130 votes)
Runner-Up: Lacey Rubin (nominated by Karen Steger, 344 votes)
The Winner: Arielle Wilson (nominated by Matthew Gustafson, 503 votes)
Wilson played a key role in Mizzou Volleyball’s mid-season transformation as the Tigers reeled off nine straight wins over the span of a month, including a massive upset of top-10 Texas in Austin. The team quickly established itself on offense in 2025, becoming one of the nation’s top attacks, but took longer to find a defensive identity. That defense quickly rose up from the bottom of the SEC to become a formidable unit during the streak, an impressive feat considering the team’s height deficit at times up front. The blocking continued to improve, though, and proved crucial to another major upset in the NCAA Tournament against host SMU. Wilson’s role as defensive coordinator got her noticed by Central Michigan this offseason, and she is now set to lead the Chippewas into her first season as a head coach.
MOST EUPHORIC MOMENT:
The Nominees:
Men’s Hoops takes down top-rated kU | Gymnastics secures first ever Four on the Floor appearance | Softball knocks off no. 1 Oklahoma | Stuffed Hawkeye in the Music City Bowl game | Tennis chomps the Gators | Zion Young’s football scoop-and-score against Oklahoma | Volleyball pulls off NCAA upset, advances to Sweet 16
Votes Tabulated: 766
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Men’s Hoops beats kU (OR) Gym makes its first Final Four
Welp. Another hard category to vote upon, and another one in which I waffled back and forth so much between my two choices that I actually don’t know which one I picked. I was at the kU game, and it was glorious, watching the Tigers take down that team from the west for the first time since 2012. When the fans rushed the court, I watched with tears in my eyes and was just so excited I got to be there in person to see it all happen.
The same tears of joy fell when gymnastics made its first Final Four in school history. While I was relegated to watching that one on tv, it was a nailbiter from start to finish and it came down to the final competitor, Helen Hu, on the balance beam to secure Mizzou’s spot in history.
This was yet another category which came down to the final day of voting where support suddenly rushed in for the eventual winner.
Third Place: Zion Young’s Scoop & Score (nominated by Quentin Corpuel, 44 votes)
Runner-up: Gymnastics makes first Final Four (nominated by Karen Steger, 269 votes)
The Winner: Men’s Hoops takes down kansas (nominated by Quentin Corpuel, 432 votes)
From the Nomination: The morning of the Border Showdown in 2022, I had to get my appendix removed, and thus, I couldn’t attend the game in-person. I was terribly upset, but I didn’t miss much excitement, as Mizzou got clobbered.
Perhaps my body was planning ahead. Two years later, Mizzou took down Kansas 76-67, the first Tiger victory in the series since 2012. MU led by as much as 24, a lead that was almost blown. Luckily for the Tigers, Mark Mitchell canned a humungous corner triple that put Mizzou up five with two minutes left in regulation. kU would never come within one possession the rest of the way. Mark Mitchell and Tamar Bates, who are both from the Kansas side of Kansas City, combined for 46 points. Bates and Anthony Robinson II had five steals apiece. Josh Gray locked down the interior, grabbing 10 rebounds. The Jayhawks looked out of sorts offensively for most of the night, committing 22 turnovers.
As the clock ticked down, troves of fans prepared to rush the court. A good friend of mine told me in the final minute that he drove “about 100 miles an hour” from work in St. Louis to catch the end of the game. Sure enough, as the final buzzer sounded, the court became littered with ecstatic people dressed black and gold. As I watched the biggest party in Columbia take place, one thought crossed my mind… I’m glad he made it.
MOST GUT-WRENCHING MOMENT:
The Nominees:
Keegan O’Toole loses national title wrestling match on torn ACL | Men’s Hoops’ loss to Drake in first round of NCAA tourney | Women’s Hoops on wrong end of 31-0 run in SEC Tourney loss | Baseball faces historic struggles | Soccer has SEC Tourney dreams dashed in loss to LSU | Football’s last second loss to South Carolina
Votes Tabulated: 214
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Women’s Hoops on wrong end of 31-0 run
While I can certainly understand the votes for Keegan, who closed out his college career in sad fashion, fighting for a national title with a torn ACL, along the football team’s loss to the Gamecocks, I ultimately decided to go with the final game of the Robin Pingeton era, as it was such a sad and honestly, typical, way for her time in the black & gold to end. After strong first half against MS State, the Tigers looked to be in control… until they weren’t, and they crashed and burned in spectacular fashion to end their season.
Third Place: Men’s Hoops’ loss to Drake (nominated by Sammy Stava, 43 votes)
Runner-up: Keegan O’Toole’s ACL Tear (nominated by Matthew Gustafson, 44 votes)
The Winner: Football’s last second loss to South Carolina (nominated by Nate Edwards, 109 votes)
From the Nomination: The lucky-horseshoe-jammed-up-Eli-Drinkwitz’s-butt seemingly always activated its powers in one-score games, allowing Drinkwitz to trot away gleefully while his kicker hit an unfathomably long field goal or his defense secured a strip sack return for a touchdown with no time left. It’s kind of what he does. His record in one-score games says enough.
So when Brady Cook uncorked a bomb to Luther Burden III along the left sideline and the future 2nd-Round draft pick secured it with one hand while shrugging off a top tier corner, and then skipped into the end zone to put the Tigers up by 1 with 3:45 to play – while Jamal Roberts converted the two-point conversion – you’d forgive the Missouri fans (and the world) for thinking, “Yup, that pretty much does it for this one”.
But then the horseshoe didn’t activate. Or it fell out. Or something happened.
And LaNorris Sellers marched the Gamecocks down the field on an 8-play, 70-yard drive, capped by a shovel pass to a Rocket Sanders who busily burled his way through an alleged 200 arm tackles for the game-sealing score.
Missouri’s last-ditch pass getting intercepted was just an extra insult to the surprising injury.
And, thus, Eli Drinkwitz lost his first one-score game in his last nine attempts, and took an “L” against South Carolina for the first time in his career. Missouri was officially officially bounced out of the Playoff and South Carolina stole the thunder of beloved out-of-nowhere-underdog-darling of the SEC.
Hey, man. That’s not supposed to happen!
BEST TEAM:
The Nominees:
Volleyball | Football | Gymnastics | Men’s Hoops | Track & Field Jumpers | Women’s Golf
Votes Tabulated: 207
Karen’s Vote/Rationale: Gymnastics
We have reached our final category, where voters had less than 24 hours to cast their ballots. For me, I don’t even think it was a question that gymnastics was the top team of the year after finishing third in the country (see my nomination below), but there were so many other good choices in a good year for Mizzou Athletics.
Men’s hoops knocked off some incredible teams, including the eventual national champion, and I absolutely loved that Abigail nominated the jumpers, who accounted for two of the school’s three individual national titles and had an absolutely stellar season in their own right. In another year, volleyball likely could have fought for the top team as well, making their first Sweet 16 in several years after taking down 2-seed SMU, and Caroline Westrup’s got women’s golf on the up-and-up.
Third Place: Men’s Hoops (nominated by Quentin Corpuel, 9 votes)
Runner-up: Football (nominated by Josh Matejka, 10 votes)
The Winner: Gymnastics (nominated by Karen Steger, 139 votes)
From the Nomination: It was a season of wonderment for the Mizzou Gymnastics team, whose third place finish at Four on the Floor was the best finish by any Tiger women’s program EVER at the NCAA National Championship. Not only this, they had a .500 record in the SEC (a conference with all teams ranked in the top 12 nationally by season’s end), an undefeated home record, two events (Floor, Bars) ranked in the top four nationally and the remaining two in the top 11. The Tigers qualified for the night session of SEC Championships for the first time ever and placed fourth. They broke the elusive 198 team score barrier against Auburn, which only seven teams nationally did this season (they were the fifth).
A whopping six(!) were named WCGA regular season All-Americans, while nine (!) achieved postseason All-American honors. That’s not to count five All-SEC performers (Mara, Helen, Amari x2, Jocelyn), Specialist of the Year honors (Helen Hu), two SEC co-champions (Mara Titarsolej, Hu), one national champion (Hu), a WCGA Coach of the Year, and a very deserving WCGA National Coaching Staff of the Year honor. I’m sure I missed something, but you get the picture. What a season. I wish I could re-live it forever.