Regional Finals Reaction: They believed that they could, so they did.

NEVER doubt the ambush. [shocked face emoji]

As I start to write this on Monday, April 7, I am another year older and wiser at age [redacted], but my god if that Regional Finals on Sunday night didn’t age me an additional five-plus years. If you read my preview, I diagnosed myself with Post Traumatic Regional Finals Stress Disorder, or PTRFSD from last year’s infuriating mess. I was ready to be done with that, washed clean by TSwift lyrics and the torrential downpours that flooded Columbia’s streets all weekend. I was not expecting how we got to this point, as The Plains Tigers are decidedly NOT the Utes, and so I thought, it’ll be fair this time. It’ll be fine, I told myself while rocking back and forth like I was reliving last year’s nightmare.

I kid. I was planted in my seat, unmoving, watching the meet on my laptop because I misplaced my tv remote at like 6:45pm and couldn’t change the freaking channel. I believe I also started mildly hyperventilating during the beam rotation. I might have lost consciousness at one point. It grew dark outside as the hours passed and I didn’t even get up to close the blinds. I was into it.

Alas, not one damn bit of my weirdness matters now, because THE MISSOURI TIGERS ARE HEADED BACK TO NATIONALS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN FOUR SEASONS.

Belief

This isn’t a story about what if, my friends. Oh no. This is a story about belief.

“I do think we out-culture people,” Shannon said to the assembled media after Sunday’s Regional Finals. (SID Ryan, bless his dear lil’ heart, sent us the video file afterwards because the CoMo contingent was having zoom issues). “I think we out-heart them and out-culture them. And I think tonight, that paid off.” He continued. “I think it’s really cool to see things come to fruition that you have worked so hard to plan out. We put so much effort into it (and) it just takes so much from a lot of people.”

B-roll footage screenshot from Mizzou Athletics video

Being able to cover the team so closely this season has been a true joy, and the media who has been around the whole time — me, Nate, Grace — have gotten to know this group so well. We’ve seen the incredible culture and the unrelenting work ethic right in front of our eyes, and I agree with what Shannon said. They can out-heart ANYONE.

“Shannon talks a lot about how lucky the program is to have me back,” an un-retired Helen Hu said on Sunday, showing a bit of emotion. “But I think I’m more lucky to be a part of this program this year, and to be able to come back when we’re so strong and when I think the culture is the best it’s ever been since I’ve since I’ve been there since my freshman year. And so it’s really a rewarding feeling. And again, I’m just so grateful to be a part of all of this. Really.”

I’m not crying.

Have No Fear, The Helenator is Here

So who do we ultimately have to thank for why the collective we (team, fans, etc.) are all still on this crazy ride? One Helen Hu, who with ice in her f’ing veins, got on that four-inch wide apparatus and knocked that thing out of the park. NOT A WOBBLE IN SIGHT. She dug her heels in so hard on that landing I bet there are still marks there on the mats. Someone should check and make a cement casing or something out of it, à la the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I can see it now. “Helen Hu was here. April 6, 2025”

“I mean, I’m human,” Helen said post-meet when asked if she felt ‘undeniable’ (the team buzz word Shannon threw out on Friday’s postgame) that day and very confident in her role. “I had some nerves, for sure. That was probably the highest pressure routine I’ve done all year. But I was just telling Amari, I think her following the fall right after was a tougher routine than mine. She picked it right back up, got us back on track. And then every single routine after that just hit it so well that it felt like it gave me confidence they’ve got my back, I got their back. And so each routine leading up to mine, I felt more and more calm by the time it was me, it was my turn.”

Now, was it the contributions of Helen and Helen alone that got the Tigers there? Of course not. That’s absolutely absurd. It was this team. The ambush, as they’ve called themselves. They have shirts emblazoned with the word on it.

Redshirt junior Elise Tisler was asked about this on Wednesday at the team’s training facility, as she was wearing a gold rectangle necklace with words “ambush” on it.

Karen Steger (Rock M)

“Ambush is just like our Tiger family; a group of tigers is an ambush. And so we really latched on to that this year, that, you know, we are one cohesive group. It doesn’t take one person to win a gymnastics meet. There’s 24 routines that go up. There’s 22 of us on our team. And it takes every single person, whether they’re in that lineup spot or removing mats. We’re cheering, we’re giving it our all. And it takes every single person in and out of the gym to get where we are. And I think it goes back to our team culture. We’ve really latched on to that ambush, and that we truly are this amazing family.”

It was the ambush’s determination that got them to this moment. Their unrelenting pursuit of excellence. All the preparation of their minds and bodies. When Amy fell on beam in the first spot, did I dissociate? Perhaps. But you know what? Amari got on there right afterwards and was like, ‘Watch this.’ And once she got through the routine flawlessly, I just had this feeling the rest of them would get it done.

How? Both Amari and Helen said that this was something they practice every day in the gym. “The beauty of being on a team,” Amari said on Sunday, “is that we don’t have to go through all of this ourselves. So just trusting in my own training, knowing that my teammates know I have their back, and know that my teammates had confidence in myself. All I had to do was believe in myself as well.”

“Good answer, good answer,” Helen whispered next to her, smiling approvingly.

She mentioned this in the closing moments of the team’s press conference, and it was objectively hilarious, because it also was quite true.

“Our beam team last year was… yes, it was something…” Amari said, searching for a word. “No, but seriously, for lack of a better term, it was something, and the fact that we had a little stumble in there, and we were still able to pick it up. Us last year, we would not been able to do that. So that it alone says so much growth about our program and everybody in this lineup is new, except for me! I was the only one that was in this lineup last year! We are so strong as a team. I’m so proud of us. Okay, that’s all I have to say. I’m done now.”

Back to the Beginning

Look, I’ve talked your ear off already and have yet to mention a score or the actual specifics of the meet. Let’s get to that part, shall we?

ROTATION ONE: MIZ – Floor | AUB- Vault | OU- Bars | AZ- Beam

Mizzou took the floor, both figuratively and literally, first on Sunday night, determined to do better than the 49.300 score they had in Round 2. And they did, notching a solid 49.550 (note: I’m kinda side-eying the judges here as their score compared to OU’s make no sense.)

Rayna led things off with a super solid 9.875 and looked great; her first pass was strong and she stuck her second pass. Of note, one judge gave her a 9.80? Huh?

Of the all-important leadoff spot, Amari said, “I feel like that leadoff position is what really sets the tone for the rest of the meet, honestly and Rayna being in that lead position this past weekend, we had no doubt in our minds that she was going to set us up for greatness, and we just continued that build throughout the rest of the lineup. So we started off much stronger today than we did on Friday.”

Hannah followed with a 9.90, her first of two 9.90+ scores on the day, and I thought that was the best she’d looked in some time. Kaia, back in the lineup for Elise, scored another 9.875, including one 9.95 (and one 9.85?) from the judges. Amari followed with a 9.90, and then Kennedy had a gorgeous 9.925 (should have been a 9.95 in my eyes).

Over on the vault, Auburn put the fear in the hearts of Mizzou fans everywhere when they stuck like…. all their vaults? It was honestly incredible and blew their Round 2 score out of the water, so kudos to them. I was sweating watching them hit after hit… after hit after hit, and aside from the leadoff and the anchor (9.775, dropped), the Tigers stuck them all, counting scores of 9.825 (leadoff non-stick), 9.90, 9.90, 9.875, and 9.95 (from Paige Zancan). The Tigers’ 49.45 was their second best of the season, and it gave me great pleasure to see that their other scores were no match for this rotation score as the meet went on.

On bars, Oklahoma got off to a good start with a 49.650, which beat Round 2’s 49.525. They dropped a 9.80 in the leadoff, but then recorded three 9.90 scores in a row, followed by a 9.95 by Audrey Davis, and a 10 for Jordan Bowers, her first of the season, and her first of three in this meet. Her handstands were very long and perpendicular. Surprisingly, this was not the Sooners’ season high, which is a 49.700. (Hopefully, they will not attain this next week, either.)

I honestly wasn’t paying too close to what Arizona was doing on beam, but they earned a 48.850. The two sub-9.70 scores hurt the Cats here, and then they also counted a team-high 9.825 from Alysen Fears, a 9.775 and 9.75. It should be mentioned, this appears to have been the first time the program had ever advanced to a regional final, so that’s really awesome.

AFTER ONE: OU 49.650 | MIZ 49.550 (+0.10) | AUB 49.450 | AZ 48.850

ROTATION TWO: MIZ- Vault | AUB- Bars | OU- Beam | AZ- Floor

Vault was actually pretty good for the Tigers, comparatively, and Shannon agreed. “I’m not trying to give myself a pat on the back,” he said, “But the student-athletes on vault… I think we really put some work in over the last three to four weeks. That was not a strength of ours at the beginning of the year [editor’s notes: yes, those sub-49 scores tend to agree with that assessment], although we have the talent. And I really do think, I feel like the last three meets of the season, they bought into some of the training and some different stuff that we did, and I really feel like that paid off for us.”

Kennedy was clean in the air and just piked down a smidge, earning a 9.800, before Kaia earned a season high 9.85 with a stick! Hoping it would be contagious, it was not, but Elise did look beautiful in the air. I do not think her hop was for 0.15 worth of deductions for a 9.95 SV Yurchenko Full, and I wondered at this point if the judges did, in fact, hate YFs. I think so, guys. I think so.

Hannah was next and she became the talk of the gymternet when she wasn’t awarded a 10 and OU’s Jordan Bowers was later on in the meet… without a stick. Below, Forbes writer Caroline Price talks about how one judge awarded these two vaults the same score (a 9.90), which is just… bewildering. HH scored a career-high tying 9.95, by the way.

Joci was next and went so high and took just a small step forward… and was awarded a 9.825? It seemed like it should have been a 9.90. Amari followed with a 9.875 in the anchor spot. The team’s 49.300 was tied for their second highest of the year and matched the team’s away meet at OU. Plus, it was higher than their Round 2 score (49.225).

Auburn visited its weakest event next, uneven bars, where they are ranked 19th nationally. The Tigers did beat their Round 2 score, earning a 49.275. The leadoff had some issues, earning just a 9.75 which would be dropped, but the other routines were pretty solid, ranging in score from a 9.825 to three 9.85s to Sophia Groth’s stuck 9.90. Their score did lessen Mizzou’s lead a bit, but they’d get it back up a rotation later.

Oklahoma went to beam next, and didn’t do quite as well as their 49.700 in Round 2, but a 49.525 was still very good, and a score Mizzou would have happily taken this round! The Sooners dropped one of two 9.85s and then counted two 9.90 scores, a 9.925 from Audrey Davis and a 9.95 from Faith Torrez.

Arizona scored a 49.300 on vault, which wasn’t their highest of the season, but was quite good and matched Mizzou’s score the rotation before. They dropped a 9.725 but also counted some really nice scores like a 9.875 from Alysen Fears and two 9.90 scores from Emma Strom and Emily Mueller.

AFTER TWO: OU 99.175 | MIZ 98.850 (+0.025) | AUB 98.725 | AZ 98.150

ROTATION THREE: MIZ- Bars | AUB- Beam | OU- Floor | AZ- Vault

With two rotations to go, this Tiger vs. Tiger battle was shaping up to be an epic showdown and a real nail-biter. With Missouri on bars, an event they have been soooo unbelievably solid on all season, I was flabbergasted by their scores. Not because how they performed was bad, but because the scores were absurd. Kyra led off and had a rare hop back, earning her just a 9.825, and then came perhaps the most egregious of scoring errors, when Hannah was awarded just a 9.75 when the only noticeable error we (me, Nate & Grace) could find was a hop on the dismount. The judges were equally perplexed, awarding her a 9.85, 9.80, 9.70(!) and 9.65(!)). I don’t know what they were watching, but it wasn’t that routine, that’s for damn sure.

Jocelyn followed with another low score and I had to wonder what she did to them to make them go after her so hard; it was wild. She stuck her landing and somehow still ended up with a 9.825. Oh, her sky-high Tkachev wasn’t as sky high?! It’s still higher than everyone else’s. SIGH. Olivia took a one footstep back and got a 9.85. Amari stuck hers and also got a 9.85, and I began to wonder if my eyes were working correctly. Since I was on my laptop, that screen was right in front of my face, and I just didn’t see all these phantom deductions.

For instance, Auburn’s Olivia Greaves earned a 9.85 in the anchor spot on bars, and she had clear leg separation, took a small hop, and was kinda cockeyed. Joci earned less than that with a stuck landing and no mention or notice of these things. Thank god for Mara though, in the anchor spot, as she earned a 9.95 (including one 10 from a judge) on a routine that honestly should have been a 10 across the board, but hers made me less mad than the others.

At Wednesday’s media session, it was mentioned to Mara that we’d lost track of how many 9.9-plus scores she’s had this season, and was asked to talk about that consistency.

“It really all starts in the gym,” she said. “Obviously, we put in the work every single day, and we’re all really focused on the landings, and we do these little assignments that we have to stick in a row. So I think it’s really helping us to prepare to be that consistent. It’s always exciting when I can just hit my routine as I intend to.”

Sounds like whatever they’re doing has worked, as this is the country’s fourth-best bars squad.

Auburn went over to beam next and went slightly lower than they had in Round 2, earning a 49.225. Their stuck landings continued, but they got super squatty, and thus were deducted points, especially from the first two competitors, who earned a 9.725 and 9.775 respectively. They dropped the 9.725, obviously, and then counted a trio of 9.85 scores and team-high 9.90 from Sophia Groth (lucky for them she was really “on” this meet). That lower score combined with Mizzou’s higher score allowed the black & gold Tigers to take a two-tenths lead going into the final rotation.

Oklahoma knocked it out of the park on floor, though their scoring was slightly insane. I didn’t watch them all that carefully, but there is simply NO WAY their floor was a full 0.25 better than Mizzou’s. There’s just no way. I will fight for this. The Sooners scored a 49.800, which was an NCAA Regionals record, I believe, and definitely a program record for them. You know the rotation is good when you DROP a 9.90 in the leadoff spot. They also counted two 9.925 scores from Dani Sievers & Addison Fatta, a 9.95 from Elle Mueller and then two — yes TWO — tens from Bowers & Faith Torrez.

Arizona went to vault, and I only saw a couple of their routines as I was fully freaking out over Mizzou’s bars scores at this point. They scored just a 48.90, which was lower than their Round 2 score, and they had an unfortunate fall in the anchor spot, meaning they counted three sub-9.80 scores, and only two Cats scored 9.80s— Fears and Emily Mueller.

AFTER THREE: OU 148.975 | MIZ 148.150 (+0.200) | AUB 147.950 | AZ 147.050

ROTATION FOUR- MIZ- Beam | AUB – Floor | OU- Vault | AZ- Bars

Going into the final rotation, I asked what the coaching staff’s message was to the team. “To enjoy every moment of it,” Helen said. “I don’t think they really put too much pressure on us, because like Shannon said, they believed in our abilities, and they believed that we could do this, and we were more than capable of following through. So I think it was just enjoying every moment of our experience and being where our feet were, and then focusing in and just having fun.”

Well, we know it didn’t exactly start fun, as Amy made a rare mistake in the leadoff in which she had several wobbles and took a tumble and ended up grabbing around the beam like a sloth. Ouch. So obviously, that would need to be the routine that was dropped, and it also would put extra pressure on the rest of the team, as they knew they could NOT count that and still advance (and they’d gone the entire season without counting a miss)!

“When you’re that number one on beam,” Shannon said, “It can be a tough event anyways — but then you lead off and Amy’s been so great for us. And she just had a little mistake there, and she recovered. But we had a mistake and then for the next five to go up and really do very good routines the whole way with some tough scoring, too, quite honestly.”

Amari was next up, and I’m actually so glad it was her, as she’s a vet and has been in this situation before. She delivered, scoring a 9.825 (seemed low for no mistakes), before Railey followed with an awesome routine, showcasing not one nerve in such a highly charged situation. For her efforts and stuck landing? A 9.85 (low). Something Shannon wanted everyone to be aware of — Nate and I saw this in their postseason intrasquad — the freshman incorporated a whole new dismount at Regionals. “(This week) we changed her beam dismount from a round off one and a half to a gainer pike, and she went out and stuck that thing today, right? Kudos to her; that was impressive right there.”

So impressive.

More on the team being prepared for this. “Our team is really great at staying in the moment and having fun genuinely throughout the competition, and something Whitney really focused on before was saying that we don’t have to be perfect, that we just have to go up and do our normal and that’s what we did,” Helen said. “This meet was very similar to our Georgia meet earlier in the season. It came down to the very last routine for the outcome.”

Addi followed with a 9.85 of her own. She took a step on her landing but looked pretty great overall, before Olivia followed with a 9.825 — I read somewhere her wolf turn was a bit more unwieldly than normal, and she seemed a bit hesitant — so that score wasn’t too far off.

And then came Helen, who quite literally extended the Tigers’ season in under 90 seconds. It was gorgeous and she deserved a higher score given than that, but honestly, all that matters is that they advanced.

From an outsider’s perspective we asked Mara to describe on Wednesday what it was like watching those last five beam routines. “I think that took 20 years off my life,” she said, laughing. “That was so nerve wracking. I mean, obviously we’ve been seeing those girls so I had a lot of trust in them, but I didn’t see Amy’s routine (the fall), so I didn’t know what happened. And so I came back and I asked Amy, like, ‘Oh, how did it go?’ and she was like, ‘I’m okay. I had a little mishap.’ Then I walked back to the corral, and we were all just holding hands and screaming our lungs out for everybody else to come. It was just really exciting to see them all go up there and absolutely kill it. Those were great routines, and maybe that’s what we needed. Maybe we just needed that little bit of extra excitement, you know?”

It was a little too much excitement for me, but sure, sure, Mara. That’s what they needed.

As for the others, Auburn took to the floor and received some completely – sorry – bullshit – scores. Olivia Ahearn led off with a massive tumbling mistake and still earned a 9.800, if that tells you how it would go. They did drop that one. Zancan also had some troubles and went out of bounds but wasn’t counted as such, and still earned a 9.85, before Sophia Bell’s uncontrolled landing earned her a team-high 9.925. Greaves was awfully close to going out of bounds as well, but she might have been on the line, earning a 9.875, before McLaughlin underrotated on one of her passes, yet still earned a 9.875. It was at that point that the Tigers & Tigers were dead even, with just Helen on beam and Groth on floor to go.

From the All Things Gymnastics 2025 NCAA Regionals Recap episode:

“In general, these scores for Aubern were high. I was watching this unfold and I was like, oh my God, Auburn is going to advance because of this overscoring on floor. These judges really wanted Auburn to be there, is what it felt like. And it was a doable score in the end. Like, Sophia Groth getting a 9.95 was very possible, but not with the routine she did.”

After Helen earned her 9.925, Groth would need a 9.95 to tie it up, and she did not get it done, squatting badly on one of her landings, earning just a 9.85.

Exhale. Release your breath. It’s okay, everybody. (this is basically what I had to tell myself)

Auburn earned a 49.375 on floor, which gave them a 197.325, just a tenth under Mizzou for the second spot.

Two other teams went on the fourth rotation as well, but I wasn’t focused on them, as we all knew OU was winning this thing, and that Arizona’s season would be coming to an end. For what it’s worth, Arizona had a really nice bars routine, beating their Round 2 score by almost three full tenths. Alysen Fears, who was rock solid all meet for the Cats, earned a team-high 9.90. They also counted a 9.80, a couple of 9.825 scores, and a 9.85, getting to drop the leadoff’s 9.775. (side note: it seemed like the leadoff was the score to drop all night). As for Oklahoma, they finished out on vault, where Bowers picked up an obnoxiously scored 10 on a vault THAT WASN’T EVEN A STICK. As for the others, they counted a 9.90, 9.875 and three 9.85 scores. The team’s 49.475 was basically all thanks to that “10.”

AFTER FOUR: OU 198.450 (ADVANCES) | MIZ 197.425 (ADVANCES, +0.100) | AUB 197.325 | AZ 196.250

The Moment

When asked how the seniors felt in the moment, finding out they’d be going back to nationals, Helen said, “It’s in those extreme moments of emotion. It’s really hard to put it into words, because, you know, I’m jumping up and down and crying. There’s not really articulate thoughts happening, but I can tell you that I was really proud of everyone on our team, and I was really proud of our program, and I felt so lucky to be a part of this program again. This year has been a dream come true that I didn’t know I even had.”

Amari was succinct. “I’ll tell you why I didn’t cry. Because I knew what was going on. I already knew I had two more routines left in me. I told my body, my brain, that I had two more routines left in me. So I think what was going on in my mind at the time, for lack of a better term was, ‘I told you so.’.. We’re ready. We are so ready. We knew this was going to happen.” (side note: she meant like, she would do beam twice more in her career, in the Elite 8 and at Four on the Floor.)

When we talked to Mara on Wednesday, she had a bit of a different take. “We couldn’t really see the scores,” she said, “So we weren’t sure, like, what Helen needed exactly, but we knew it was close. So it just took forever and we were all just like, ‘Oh my gosh. Let us see it! Let’s make it official!’ The parents were like, ‘Oh, I think you’re good. I think you’re good.’ but we’re like, ‘What do you mean? You think?’ So once the scores came up, it was just so much relief. It was just so exciting.”

Celebrate good times, come on

(Yes, that’s reference to the 80s classic from Kool & The Gang)

As for how they’d celebrate this massive accomplishment, Shannon called out the athletic department for getting them a charter flight so they got to go home that night, and said he was sure there would be some celebrations — “Ice cream!” Amari interjected — that yes, would include ice cream, before saying they’d get a couple days off. As for fun activities, he said he’d, “have to check with the games committee, which is our coaching staff” to figure out some fun activities to do, explaining that they do what they can to balance the fun with the hard work.

“But listen,” he said. “Our job’s not done though, either. We feel like, and I said it the other night, I think if we are at our best, I think we can make a run at that Final Four. I think we’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders, but I think this a team that’s got the talent and got the heart to do it.

“This was not our best meet, but we adapted,” Amari said. “I feel like going into Fort Worth, we know that we are so capable of so much more in our gymnastics and our abilities and each other. So knowing that today wasn’t our best meet, but we still got it done? Like we have the ability to go to Fort Worth and really show people why we’re there. We have the ability to really be competitive with other people.”

Next up, Mizzou will head to Dallas-Forth Worth for the National Championships on Wednesday. They’ll compete on Thursday at 3pm CST on ESPN 2 against an SEC slate of Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama. And oh yeah, they’ll start on Floor again.

I’ll have PLENTY more content coming in the next week, but for now, this is good bye. M-I-Z.