Welker & Co. sweeeeeeep WCGA Coach of the Year awards

It’s almost like, Amari said… they belong here

A season of wonderment continues for the Mizzou Gymnastics team, who is fresh off a third place finish — the best finish by any women’s program EVER — at the NCAA National Championship Finals last weekend. We talked about it online and in Chad’s Wednesday Morning Commute, but this season truly was one for the record books.

Not only was the finish the best in program history, but it also marked the highest team finish for any Tiger sport (men or women) since 2007, when the wrestling team placed third.

The history books will reflect that Mizzou has won only two team national titles (can you say, overdue?) – in 1954 (baseball) and in 1965 (men’s indoor track). Baseball came close to winning another Natty but ended as runners-up in the College World Series three other times in the span of 13 years (1952, 1958 and 1964).

Crazy, right? Well, the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) decided to add to the already historic season on Thursday when they announced their national coaching awards. You guys, the Tigers SWEPT THEM.

Let’s start with the man in charge, the Shan Man. Head Coach Shannon Welker, in his 12th year at the helm, added to his suddenly overflowing trophy case with a WCGA National Head Coach of the Year honor. Per the MUTigers.com release, he is the first Mizzou head coach to earn national coach of the year honors since Tiger Style’s Brian Smith in 2017. This follows his WCGA South Central region Coach of the Year honors, as well as his second SEC Coach of the Year award. Get that man a statue and an unlimited contract!

Amari and Shannon met with the media on Thursday morning and said, “I feel like that just proves how much we can out-heart each team. Honestly, I feel like people have tended to sleep on Mizzou Gymnastics for whatever reason. And this year, that’s just a testament to how hard we work and how we have just as much talent as any other team in the SEC in the country, but we can really outwork and out heart them. We are really able to adapt to those tough challenges throughout the meet, but not letting ourselves kind of dwell on those but moving on from event to event, just starting over you got to meet.”

As for what the Tigers have done this season under his leadership, it’s… a lot.

• .500 record in Southeastern Conference, with the inclusion of Oklahoma. The team took wins at Arkansas, vs. Alabama & Georgia (neutral site) and at home vs. Kentucky, Georgia and Auburn.
• Undefeated record at home for the first time in program history
• Two events in top 4 nationally, and all ranked in top 11 for first time ever (highest apparatus ranking before was 8th on FX in 2023)
• Qualified for first evening session of SEC Championships, finishing fourth (ties best finish), earned program high SEC Champs score, 197.400
• Program high National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 197.510
• Broke the elusive 198 team score barrier at home on Senior Night vs. Auburn with a 198.10, something only seven teams did this season
• Highest regional score in history in Session I of Washington (197.650, beating 2023’s 197.600)
• Advanced to team’s second NCAA national semifinal (Elite 8)
• Advanced to team’s first NCAA national final (Four on the Floor)
• Three different gymnasts earned perfect 10s, five total 10s (Titarsolej, Griffin, 3x Hu)
• Postseason event titles: Mara Titarsolej (SEC bars co-champ) | Helen Hu (SEC beam champ, Regional beam champ, National Champion, national final event champ) | Amari Celestine (Regional vault champ) | Hannah Horton (Regional bars co-champ)
• All-SEC: Mara Titarsolej (bars), Helen Hu (beam, Specialist of Year), Amari Celestine (all-around, floor), Jocelyn Moore (floor)
• A record 6 (!) WCGA Regular Season All-Americans: First Teamers Helen Hu (beam) & Mara Titarsolej (bars); Second Teamers Amari Celestine (Floor, all-around), Jocelyn Moore (Floor), Kennedy Griffin (floor)
• A record 9 (!) WCGA All-Americans: Helen Hu (First Team, beam), Olivia Kelly (Second Team, beam & bars), Addison Lawrence (Second Team, beam), Elise Tisler (First Team, vault), Mara Titarsolej (First Team, bars), Hannah Horton (Second Team, bars), Amari Celestine (Second Team, all-around), Jocelyn Moore (Second Team, vault)
• Gymnast of the Year honors: Helen Hu (SEC Specialist of the Year), Amari Celestine (WCGA South Central co-Gymnast of the Year)

Of course, a team is more than just the guy in charge. And as someone pointed out on twitter on Thursday afternoon, none of these staff members were on board yet when the Tigers last headed to the 2022 Elite 8 where they’d ultimately finish 5th (one spot out of the national finals). The WCGA also announced that Mizzou’s staff, made up of Whitney Snowden, Jackie Terpak and Lacey Rubin, were honored with National Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

Well-deserved honors for the best coaching staff in the country.

Shannon said on Thursday, “You know, from a resources standpoint, listen, I always feel like from my aspect (as a coach), I just need to be close enough. And maybe it’s egotistical, maybe it’s not, but I feel like I can out coach people quite honestly, but I gotta be close enough… You know, maybe Florida’s got a little bigger budget than we do, but if we’re close enough, I think I can out-coach them quite honestly. And I think our staff can out-coach them, and I think our team can outwork them on that end, but we just got to be close enough.”

Whitney Snowden, Associate Head Coach, Uneven Bars- Whitney was hired in July 2022 after three seasons at Michigan State where she was named the 2022 WCGA Region 4 Assistant Coach of the Year and was a member of the 2022 WCGA Coaching Staff of the Year. Under Whit’s leadership, the team finished with its highest bars finish ever (no. 4), and the Tigers’ bars workers were ridiculously consistent this season, earning 49.40-plus scores in nine meets, including three scores at 49.55-plus. Their NQS was 49.470, with a 49.367 average score.

10 Tigers either earned or tied their career-bests on bars this season (2 were freshmen), and two Tigers were ranked in the NQS top 25 by season’s end, Mara at no. 4 and Amari at no. 24. Mara earned back-to-back SEC titles to go along with a bronze medal at the national championships, and freshman Olivia Kelly, doing collegiate bars for the first time, earned WCGA Second Team All-American honors. She was joined by Mara (First Team) and Hannah Horton (Second Team).

Jackie Terpak, Assistant Coach, Choreographer, Floor Exercise- Jackie joined the staff in June 2023 and working at Arkansas in the same role, and has played an absolutely crucial role in the Tigers’ floor success this year. They are the Fab Floor because of her choreography; it is truly outstanding and Mizzou is widely known as having one of the best and most fun floor routines nation-wide. It’s a party every time they’re out there! Jackie, with the help of Shannon, who also works with the floor squad, led the Tigers to their top two floor scores of the season — a 49.725 at February’s Zou to the Lou and a 49.700 against Auburn in March (tying the 2024 program high)— while earning a no. 4 national rank on the event at season’s end (tied with bars for the best in history). They averaged an astonishing 49.458 and had a 49.575 NQS. Six times this season they scored 49.45 or higher, including three times at 49.600-plus.

The Tigers earned three WCGA Regular Season All-American honors from sophomore Kennedy Griffin (who also earned her first 10 this season and a bronze in the national final) and seniors Amari Celestine & Jocelyn Moore.

Seven different Tigers either tied or earned career-best floor scores under Jackie & Shannon’s leadership, including four Tigers who made their first appearances on floor this season. Many got their best score more than once. Three Tigers were ranked in the NQS top 25 by season’s end, including Joci at no. 10, Jackie at no. 11 and Kennedy at no. 14.

Lacey Rubin, Assistant Coach, Balance Beam- That four-inch wide apparatus was definitely the most improved event for the Tigers this year.

Under Lacey’s leadership, the Tigers twice broke the program record this season, earning 49.575 scores on two occasions— at Arkansas and in NCAA Semis, and finishing with their highest national ranking since 2021 when they finished 10th. They averaged a 49.254 score and a 49.370 NQS. Five times this season they scored a 49.400 or above, and twice hit 49.500-plus, including a whopping 49.500 in the national semis with six(!) judges on hand. Perhaps most awesome, the Tigers never counted a fall this season, and only once dipped below a 49.100 (redacted score at Denver).

Six Tigers earned (or tied) season high scores on beam this year, which also includes three beam first-timers. As Amari reminded us throughout the season, she was the team’s ONLY returning beamer from last season (Hu & Lawrence were beamers in 2023). Three earned WCGA All-American honors— Olivia, Helen Hu and Addison Lawrence)

And then, of course, Lacey oversaw the development of “The Helenator,” Helen Hu, who earned three of four possible postseason beam titles, was awarded SEC Specialist of the Week a record high five times, awarded SEC Specialist of the Year, thrice earned perfect 10s, finished second nationally on beam, and was crowned the Tigers’ first national champion.

Per the release, Missouri AD Laird Veatch said, “This national recognition for Shannon and our entire gymnastics coaching staff is incredibly well deserved and a testament to the championship culture they’ve established at Mizzou….We’re so proud of how they represent Mizzou and excited for what’s ahead.”

“It’s super rewarding to beat teams that you know have national team members on them, that have Olympians on them, right? I think that says a lot about the preparation that we did all the way from the summer through,” Shannon told us on Thursday morning before the news was released. “It says a lot about the buy in, you know, commitment level from from the young ladies on our team, yeah. But it, you know, it really, it transforms what our expectations can realistically be moving forward.”

Can’t wait to see what’s next. I’ll have more on Mizzou Gym soon, don’t you worry. There’s news on the horizon.

If you’re interested, here’s the recording from Thursday’s post-NCAA media availability.