Karen StegerWed, November 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM UTC·13 min readGoing into the team’s Nov. 22 intrasquad and in conjunction with winter sports presser day, the media got a chance to talk with Mizzou Gymnastics head coach Shannon Welker, who was joined by sophomore Kaia Tanskanen and super senior Grace Anne Davis about all things gymnastics and their new home venue, the Happiest Place on Earth— Mizzou Arena.
When Columbia Tribune writer Calum McAndrew asked how the move sort of came to fruition, Shannon said, “It’s been an ongoing process… I mean, this is something we have been striving for for probably almost 10 years, quite honestly. So I think we just had to have enough of a track record of success, along with partnering with some great administrators and people that saw the vision.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“This [Mizzou Arena] is really the standard of facility that we see in the SEC week in and week out,” he said, “and I think our athletic director recognized that and felt like it was the right time to make a move.”
The best team at the school needs a premier venue indeed, and five of the Tigers’ six home meets will be at Mizzou Arena in 2026. Only the team’s March 1 finale against rival Arkansas will be held at Hearnes due to a scheduling conflict with women’s hoops. I also cannot help but think that showing the team is comfortable here and the atmosphere is top notch puts them in a good spot to host an NCAA regional in the future.
When Calum referenced moving across the street as kind of a symbolic step for the program, Shannon agreed. “Absolutely. I think it signifies a lot of things, hopefully to not only our sports media people and our current team, but our alums, the city of Columbia and recruits, too, quite honestly… and I think we’re looking for investments. In our program, I think this is a time when we’re seeing this separation, not just in gymnastics, but I think we’re seeing it sports across the country. There’s people that can compete, teams that can compete, and there’s teams that are going to struggle. They just need those investments, and this was a huge investment for our program.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen you’ve got a team coming off such an immensely successful season, I wondered how you keep the team from getting too focused on that end result and stay in the present.
“Good question,” Shannon said. “We have to make sure that we’re focused on the process. I think we talk about it all the time, and that’s something we hammer home with our own team… the scores and the outcomes, those will take care of themselves. If you’re doing a good job day to day and making sure that you’re doing all those things that got you to the point in the first place. I think we just have to keep going back to that and those things. And that doesn’t mean that it’s not challenging, but we do try and stay focused on those from day to day, and that’ll help get us where we need to go.”
“Last year’s success is this year’s opportunity,” he said after the Halloween weekend intrasquad.
On that note, let’s get to the recent intrasquad, shall we? It was another chance for the team, which has MANY new faces, to perform in front of a crowd (this time, the gymnastics boosters and their guests). After the October intrasquad, Shannon said he was really pleased with some development there and walked away from that intrasquad pleased with what he saw versus what he thought we were going to see.
VAULTAs I have previously mentioned, the vaulting squad, who finished 11th nationally a season ago, is returning some good 10.0 SV vaults in Kaia, Hannah and Elise, and will be complemented by a slew of talented athletes capable of pulling out a gorgeous Yurchenko Full (9.95 SV) or a Yurchenk0 1.5.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I just thinking you’re going to see a lot of new people this year on that event,” Shannon said.
While Elise had a bit of trouble landing her 1.5 on Saturday, Shannon singled the senior out as one of the ones to watch at the aforementioned presser. “I think Elise Tisler has made a lot of improvements on control. I think we’ll see that 1.5 [Yurchenko 1.5] that’ll be back to where I feel like it was at the beginning of last season, and where it’s going to be this year.”
Kaia, though she didn’t compete vault in this intrasquad — she just got her finger stitches out Wednesday! — actually has three 10.0 SV vaults in her arsenal— the Tsuk Full she competed last year, a Y 1.5 she learned for Elite mainly, and then the Pike Front Half.
“I think we’re seeing Kaia is going to make, hopefully, a nice change,” Shannon said. “We got a little bit of a different vault with the Pike Front Half. That’s going to look nice.” Indeed, it will. It’s just a cool vault looking vault that has become increasingly more popular in the NCAA’s upper echelon. For more on what makes it a good (and great) one, visit here.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementShannon also said not to leave out Railey Jackson or Olivia Kelly, either. “Railey Jackson,” he said, “has made some nice strides in the last week or so… I think she’s really been much more consistent this year… Olivia Kelly’s got an opportunity to make some strides over there, too.”
At the intrasquad, we saw really nice looking Yurchenko 1.5 vaults from both Liv and Railey. Interestingly enough, Olivia’s is in the tucked position, whereas the majority of NCAA athletes (including Mizzou’s vaulters) do the laid out version. I also was super excited to see Ayla’s bonus 1.5 (she stuck her first vault, the YF, cold).
Here’s who we saw at the intrasquad and their scores (if I saw them) and some notes I made on rewatch:
Yurchenko 1.5: Hannah (9.90— amazing, small step), Railey (9.85— great body position, maybe a bit off directionally), Olivia (9.80— great block, large step), Ayla (9.75— bonus vault! bit close to horse, step forward), Dakota (9.70— short on landing, lots of steps), Elise (9.60— not much distance(?), short on landing)
Yurchenko Full: Ayla (9.85— stick!), Kennedy (9.80— small step back), Bryce (9.65— big hop back, not a ton of height, good form), Hayli (missed her score, great form, big hop back)
Last time out, we also saw YF vaults from Makayla Green and Sara Wabi, along with Y 1.5s from Lisa Szeibert, Kennedy Griffin, and Kimarra Echols (she sat out this meet), so yeah… lots of options here.
BARSI continue to love what this extremely deep bars squad has put together. “I think we have a lot of people stepping up over there,” Shannon said. That, as a reminder, is absolutely necessary given that the Tigers lost bars mainstays Mara, Amari, Jocelyn AND Kyra to graduation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn Saturday, we saw routines from freshmen single bar release queens Maiya Terry (that gienger!😲) & Hayli Westerlind (the deltchev! 😍), sophomores Lisa Szeibert, Olivia Kelly (that church! 🤩) and Ayla Acevedo (who was competing a new routine), juniors Hannah Horton and Dakota Essenpries, and seniors Addi Lawrence, Makayla Green, Sara Wabi, and Lauren Macpherson. Missing from the action were Kimarra Echols (out this meet), Rayna Light (family wedding in London), and Kaia Tanskanen (finger).
When asked about the aforementioned high bar release and if she trained any other releases, she said, “I actually did. It started with the tkatchev, and then it kind of started getting weird and stuff, and we switched the deltchev. It just immediately clicked, and I’ve done it a few years now.”
“Bars is looking good. Hannah Horton’s going to score a 10 this year, mark my words,” Shannon said. “I think that’s gonna happen this year.” She was well on her way to a great score on Saturday until she held one of her handstands a bit too long and had to go back around. However, Whitney said afterwards that she’d rather the team be aggressive than hold back and be short.
What stuck out to me the most were some great height on releases and dismounts from Addi, Ayla, Lisa, Dakota, Lauren, Sara, Maiya and Olivia, and some notable beautiful handstands from Hayli, Maiya, Ayla, Dakota and Makayla. And the sticks— from Add*, Ayla, Sara, and Hannah!
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLooking back at my early bars preview, Whitney had told me that Addi was working on a front 1.5 twist dismount and Ayla was training a toe front half, but we haven’t seen them yet so I’m interested in finding out if either is still a possibility.
**apologies to Ayla— her bars video on my phone was blurry as hell so I cut it from my highlights**
BEAMThe beam queens weren’t looking as queen-like on Saturday… maybe more like beam princesses? There were a few oopsies, and while the whole “falls are contagious” superstition was in full effect for the first flight of competitors, I didn’t see it as anything to really worry about moving forward.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhy? #1— it is November. #2— they were falling on what I would characterize on some more minor sorts of skills.
Some notes: I know my colleagues hate wolf turns, but Olivia’s double wolf turn is lovely, and her dismount was superb. Lisa’s triple series was great and so was her landing. Hannah’s tumbling didn’t have anything to do with her fall, which was after a split(?) jump. Maiya’s front tuck was great, but had an issue with the side somi. Amy looks awesome, great front tuck and landing. Railey had not a single wobble; it was amazing. Kennedy only had a slight bobble on her front toss series, but her back handspring series was great and she executed like four different jumps at the end, which was fun. Grace Anne was great. Lauren was very good. Hayli’s front toss was great but maybe stepped out of it. Kaia, in her routine to beam looked good. She just took an extra step on her triple series and on her landing.
We saw routines from freshmen Bryce Kupbens, Maiya Terry and Hayli Westerlind, sophomores Olivia Kelly, Lisa Szeibert, Kaia Tanskanen and Railey Jackson, juniors Hannah Horton and Kennedy Griffin, and seniors Amy Wier, Lauren Macpherson, Grace Anne Davis and Addi Lawrence. Only missing here were Kimarra (out) and Rayna (out of town, also not sure if she’s training beam this year).
“I think beam is our deepest event,” Shannon said last week. “Obviously, getting Grace Anne (Davis) back and Lauren (Macpherson) back, and so I think they’re looking really good over there.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFrom the looks of the intrasquad, you’d never know either GAD or LMac had any sort of medical procedure. I asked the former about her decision to return at media day.
“It was a really hard to decision to ultimately come back,” she said. “I know exactly what I want to do with my career [she’s going into the medical device field], and you know, with gymnastics, it’s hard on your body, and so it was kind of figured out, well, what should I do in that situation? And so it was right before senior night, I went to Shannon’s office and was like, ‘I think I want to take a fifth year.’ And he was like, ‘Are you sure?’”
She described going through all the pros and cons with him about like, what would happen if she didn’t make a lineup, and what if she didn’t get this or that. “At the end of the day,” she said, “it didn’t really matter because all I wanted to do was just see how much I could contribute, and whether that’s on an event or just being a better teammate every day and boosting this program in any way I can… I think there are ways that you can be a part of a team, whether you’re in a lineup or not… That’s kind of how I made my decision.”
FLOOR“On floor, I think we look pretty solid over there across the board. I think Sara Wabi is going to be big over there for us. Kaia is one of our better floor workers, so we’re excited about her.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhile we didn’t see Kaia on floor on Saturday, we DID see the aforementioned Sara Wabi, and her routine is looking quite good, as are the routines of all the other Tigers, including Railey, Ayla, Dakota, Kennedy, Elise, Maiya, Olivia and Hannah. As reiterated previously, Kimarra and Rayna, floor aficionados, were out this meet.
Hannah’s new double layout dismount, which I briefly discussed after the last intrasquad, was on display again, and while her full-in, Shannon said, is ready if they need it, he felt like with the double layout on bars that it was a good move to put it on floor, too.
“Our coaches really try to see how they move and just some innate qualities they have, and then we try to attack those areas and exploit their strengths there,” he said.
Referencing Hannah’s DLO, he said, “She’s made a lot of big improvements in the last, I would say, even 10 days with that.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe best part of this section of the program was seeing some FULL routines, as only Dakota and Olivia did side passes. Railey and Elise looked great. Their leaps were strong and their landings were controlled. Their energy was incredible. Loved the passes and landings from Ayla, Dakota, Kennedy (her double pike is so good), Maiya and Hannah, in particular. Dakota’s choreo with the alternative music (my favorite genre) worked in is one of my faves, as well as Railey’s which they called the “water bender.”
Odds n’ Ends
Overall, it was another successful weekend for the Tigers heading into the break and a final tune up in front of a crowd leading into Black & Gold on December 12. My overall MVGs were Railey Jackson, Addi Lawrence and Ayla Acevedo, and close behind were Elise’s floor, Maiya’s bars, Hayli’s beam & bars, and Hannah’s vault & floor.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHeading into this intrasquad, Shannon said the focus was on those small details, like attacking the landings. “I think we’re ahead of schedule,” he said after the meet. “Jump series on floor and beam, those are some areas we’re trying to be a little sharper on as well. But yeah, we’re all pleased.”
At this point in the season, he estimated that they are about 95% of the way there and are trying to be ready for the season by Thanksgiving. That way, when they come back from their time off that it’s just kind of getting back to what they were doing, versus having to really forge ahead as much with finals week and Christmas break rapidly approaching. The season is so close, you guys!!!
If you’re interested in watching a long twitter thread of (I think) everyone’s intrasquad routines, click here!
And if you’re interested in learning more about the National Qualifying Score (NQS) changes that were announced on Nov. 26, click here for the latest from CGN.
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