The Final Countdown: 24 routines to go

Honestly, they’ve already won.

24 routines.

That’s how many times we will watch the Mizzou Tigers, our most favorite team in the universe, perform today, on the final day of the 2025 season. At the conclusion of this meet, it is officially over. Who honestly thought that, at the beginning of the season, after the Tigers scored a 196.700 in Week 1 and a [shudders] 196.125 in Week 2 that they would be here? In Fort Worth. Not as spectators watching like, Mara or Helen performing individually, but AS A TEAM. COMPETING FOR A NATIONAL FREAKING TITLE. It’s honestly insane. And I love it so much I could just burst.

We know how they got here. By building a cohesive team and out-culturing everyone.

“We’ve earned the right to be here by what has happened from August 28 to this point, and that daily commitment level has been the highest I’ve ever seen,” Shannon Welker told us via Zoom on Friday AM. “And so not only do we have the talent, but they have worked hard enough, because we’ve had talented teams before, but the level in consistency with which they’ve put in the work and the buy in and just the communication and everything it takes to get to this point has been at the highest level I’ve ever seen, and I’m excited for how this will impact future teams as well.”

Let’s take a look at that checklist again, shall we?

.500 record in SEC? Check. Undefeated at home? Check. Score a 198? Check. Set program highs on multiple events? Check. Finish regular season with two events in Top 4 nationally? Check. Make evening session of SEC Championships? Check. Return to Dallas? Check. Cement selves as best team in program history? Check. Advance to team’s first NCAA Championship Final? Check.

My colleague and fellow gymthusiast Nate Salsman were talking about our expectations late Friday evening and decided we didn’t have any. Not that they’re low and we expect nothing, but rather, the team does best when they’re loose and not thinking about the stakes. That’s how they got here.

Helen basically said the same thing when we talked to her on Friday morning.

“We didn’t go in thinking that there’s a lot of pressure on us,” Helen said. “I think we went in doing our normal, and we still have room to grow. We keep breaking these records and doing amazing things, and we thinking, ‘Man, we didn’t have, like, our best day on every event. You know, we still have room to grow, but we’re just going out and doing what we do every day in the gym,” Helen said.

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Meet Info

When: Saturday, April 19, 2025

Where: Dickies Arena | Fort Worth, Texas

Time: 3 p.m. CST

TV: ABC!!!!

Stats: Virtius (please visit this site. it’s so cool)

MIZZOU ORDER OF EVENTS: OLYMPIC ORDER, BABYYYYYY. Vault —> Beam —> Bars —> Floor.

“My floor team is excited,” Shannon said on Friday. “They’re like, ‘This is better for us, right?’ …I think we’re excited to start there and then get to just do Olympic order, I think that’ll be a nice change for us. We’ve capitalized all year long, especially at home. When you go undefeated, you gotta be good on that last event, rigth? That been a great event for us to close on all year long, and I’m excited to see them get that opportunity.”

About the Venue: Dickies Arena has been the home of the NCAA National Gymnastics Championships since 2018. Prior to this, it was St. Louis, Mo for two years. I will never forgive my hometown for giving up this event. NEVER. Operation “Bring NCAA Gym Back to The Lou” begins now. The arena seats somewhere between 12,200 and 13,550 for hockey/basketball, so I’d estimate the gym capacity to be somewhere in that range.

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Last Time On The Mats

You’re just going to need to read my recap, titled “These Tigers will not be denied.” It came out around 10pm on Friday, so yeah… just go read that.

This meet also was a real barn burner, and it quite literally came down to the final performance in the final rotation. I think I prayed during Helen’s routine, and I am not a pray-er. So quick wrap up, the Tigers persisted, and they are one of the final four teams left standing.

As for the other semi, defending champ LSU was knocked out by UCLA in the final performance of the night. I was going to try and get an AI-generated recap here to save time, but turns out AI isn’t better than real human writing — SUCH A SURPRISE — so here’s ESPN’s highlight video and interview with Ms. “That Girl,” Jordan Chiles, and Aly Raisman’s reaction.

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A Closer Look

data via Road to Nationals / Karen Steger Designs

Vault:

• BATTLE OF THE 10.00s: Jordan Bowers (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.975s: Makenna Smith (Utah) vs. Jocelyn Moore (MIZ) vs. Faith Torrez & Elle Mueller (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.95s: vs. Ashley Glynn & Avery Neff (Utah) vs. Jordan Chiles (UCLA) vs. Hannah Horton (MIZ) vs. Keira Wells & Lily Pederson (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.925s: Ella Zirbes (Utah) vs. Chae Campbell & Mika Webster-Longin (UCLA) vs. Amari Celestine (MIZ) vs. Audrey Davis (OU)

Bars:

• BATTLE OF THE 10.00s: Grace McCallum (Utah) vs. Jordan Chiles (UCLA) Mara Titarsolej (MIZ) vs. Jordan Bowers (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.975s: Frida Esparza (UCLA) vs. Audrey Davis (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.95s: Ashley Glynn & Makenna Smith and Ella Zirbes (Utah) vs. Amari Celestine & Jocelyn Moore & Hannah Horton (MIZ) vs. Faith Torrez & Lily Pederson (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.925s: Avery Neff (Utah) vs. Emma Malabuyo & Mika Webster-Longin (UCLA) vs. Kyra Burns (MIZ) vs. Dani Sievers & Addison Fatta (OU)

Beam:

• BATTLE OF THE 10.00s: Grace McCallum (Utah) vs. Ciena Alipio (UCLA) vs. Helen Hu (MIZ) vs. Faith Torrez (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.975s: Emma Malabuyo (UCLA) vs. Jordan Bowers (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.95s: Makenna Smith & Camie Winger & Avery Neff & Ana Padurariu (Utah) vs. Chae Campbell (UCLA) vs. Addi Lawrence (MIZ) vs. Lily Pederson (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.925s: Amelie Morgan (Utah) vs. Emily Lee & Katelyn Rosen & Jordan Chiles (UCLA) vs. Audrey Davis & Ava Siegfeldt & Addison Fatta (OU)

Floor:

• BATTLE OF THE 10.00s: Jordan Chiles & Brooklyn Moors (UCLA) vs. Kennedy Griffin (MIZ) vs. Jordan Bowers & Faith Torrez (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.975s: Grace McCallum & Makenna Smith (Utah) vs. Chae Campbell (UCLA) vs. Amari Celestine (MIZ)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.95s: Jaylene Gilstrap (Utah) vs. Emma Malabuyo & Macy McGowan (UCLA) vs. Jocelyn Moore (MIZ) vs. Addison Fatta & Elle Mueller (OU)
• BATTLE OF THE 9.925s: Camie Winger & Ella Zirbes (Utah) vs. Hannah Horton & Rayna Light & Railey Jackson & Elise Tisler (MIZ) vs. Audrey Davis & Dani Sievers & Lily Pederson (OU)

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Closing Thoughts

This is simultaneously an incredibly awesome day for this program while also being a sad as hell end of many our most treasured Tigers’ careers. Today we will wave fond farewell to Kyra Burns, Amari Celestine, Helen Hu, Jocelyn Moore, Abby Mueller, and Mara Titarsolej. And then there’s Grace Anne Davis and Lauren Macpherson, who have been out all season with injuries. Do they return for one last show? TBD.

“We’ve got an opportunity and we’re going to seize the day here, because this is tough to get to this point, right?” Shannon said during media availability last week. “I think you just, you got to capitalize on every opportunity. And I think this is a huge opportunity from a personal standpoint, but also from a program. And for these young ladies that have worked so hard to get there.”

Alexa, play Mr. Brightside.

GO MIZZOU! GO MIZZOU!