Tigers On The Rise! Previewing Mizzou With Jocelyn Moore And Kennedy Griffin

By Nate Salsman

Tigers on the Rise

Over the last three years Mizzou gymnastics has been on a breakthrough. In 2022 they qualified to the NCAA National Gymnastics Championships. In 2023 and 2024 they came up short in qualifying to nationals after being eliminated in the regional final. This season, the Tigers have added many new faces to their roster. Four transfer athletes including Elise Tisler from Towson, Amy Wier from Oklahoma, Lauren Macpherson from San Jose State and Abby Mueller from Illinois. Mizzou is also entering the season with the sixth ranked freshman class. The class includes Ayla Acevedo, Railey Jackson, Olivia Kelly, Lisa Szeibert and Kaia Tanskanen. Missouri gymnastics superstar Helen Hu is also returning to the roster despite initially retiring after the 2023 season. These new additions as well as returning stars such as Jocelyn Moore, Amari Celestine, Kennedy Griffin and many others are why Missouri will be one to watch in the 2025 season. 

Getting back to Fort Worth 

Despite their absence from the last two National Championships, Mizzou has one main goal on their mind.

“We want to be the final four teams competing in the NCAA,” said Senior Jocelyn Moore. “I think that is one thing that we really want to accomplish and it’s because we can.” 

For Moore making it back to Nationals would be a full circle moment, the last time Missouri appeared at Nationals was during Moore’s freshman year. Moore can feel a difference in the pre-season preparation compared to previous years. 

“This year, we are really trying to work on doing things sooner, so that’s focusing on sticks sooner, or focusing on the small details sooner, because the earlier we can get to those things, by the time that they really matter, they’ll be second nature,” Moore said.

Team Camaraderie 

While adding new members could be a challenge on the team dynamic, the Tigers have had no problem welcoming more members to the family. Mizzou’s team dynamic is key to the team’s success. 

“We’ve really enjoyed bringing in the freshmen and the transfers,” said Sophomore Kennedy Griffin. “These girls are more than my best friends, they’re my sisters. We talk about everything. So while there are new people that have come and joined the team, we all feel like just one big family and like we’ve been here all together the whole time.”

Another key way Mizzou keeps their team dynamic up is by having great leaders in the gym. The younger athletes are able to look up to their experienced upperclassmen teammates whenever they need support navigating the challenges of being a college athlete. 

“I would say a lot of the upperclassmen have all kind of stepped into the role of being a leader. It’s not necessarily one person,” Griffin said. “So I would say Amari, Joci and Elise [Tisler]  have done a great job, and Kyra [Burns]  just kind of rallying our team together, and kind of got the team dynamic to where it is.” 

Moore has enjoyed being in a leadership role and building up her teammates. 

 “It’s so nice to be able to encourage and empower other athletes,” Moore said. “It’s easy to take those rough days and internalize them too much and focus on them, but really you have so many good days that outweigh the bad days that you have. And honestly, most people’s bad days aren’t even bad. They’re just mediocre, which seems to be bad, but when you look at it in a grand scheme of things, it’s really not a bad day, so just reminding them and encouraging them that this is not the end, and you can always go up from.”

Moore may be one of the leaders of Mizzou gymnastics, however there are still many people who she can look to for advice. One of those athletes is teammate Mara Titarsolej. 

“We have very similar values and morals.” Moore said. “So it’s really easy to talk about things and just know that we’re on the same page about just a lot of, like, different aspects of life, but also gymnastics too.”

Fab Floor

Mizzou may be laser focused on getting back to Fort Worth, but they also want to continue to have fun and enjoy each and every experience. One of the ways the Tigers have fun is by their high energy floor routines. Since the introduction of assistant coach and choreographer Jackie Terpak last season, each gymnast’s floor routines are matched with a theme. Both Moore and Griffin are ready to showcase their new routines. 

Griffin will be continuing her Beyoncé floor routine tradition. Last year, her floor routine was set to music during Beyoncé’s Destiny Child’s days and this year Griffin will perform to music from Beyoncé’s first solo albums, including “Crazy in Love.” 

“Jackie did a great job, working with me, choreographing it to something that I am really going to feel comfortable doing, but also just having a lot of fun and kind of stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit and kind of engaging with the crowd,” Griffin said, 

Moore’s floor routine will be a tribute to her first ever competitive floor routine when she was 8 years-old. Both set to music by Missy Elliott. 

“The theme is that I’m running late for school,” Moore said. “It’s senior year. We gotta go. Gotta get going, get to class, get all of it. So I’m really excited to showcase this floor routine this season.” 

Individual Goals

While as a team Griffin and Moore want to contribute as much as possible in order for the team to return to nationals, both gymnasts have individual goals they would like to accomplish this year. 

“I want to be an All-American or get a 10.0,” Griffin said. 

While Griffin’s goals are clear cut, Moore’s goals are more focused on enjoying her final year as a gymnast.

 “I really want to not focus on the scores,” Moore said. “I think when you focus on the scores it’s really hard to have fun. I really just want to go out there, have a good time and just give it all I’ve got.”

Griffin and Moore have been putting in the work in the gym preparing for the season. Griffin has been training heavily on vault, beam and floor. She is even training to upgrade her vault. Working on both a Tsuk full and Yurchenko 1.5, but for now she is focused on perfecting her Yurchenko full. Moore is working on becoming an all-arounder this season. She has added beam to her repertoire and is hoping to leave the sport with no regrets. 

Leaving a Legacy 

Moore is looking to leave the sport with a legacy of leadership, resilience and support. 

“I want to be remembered as a person who not only worked hard, but also uplifted their teammates,” Moore said. “It’s so nice to be in a space where everyone feels valued and I would love to be that person that helps make sure people feel heard, seen and valued. So I would just like to leave behind a culture that embraces teamwork, kindness and a shared commitment to excellence.”

It is safe to say that Mizzou gymnastics is setting their eyes on Fort Worth, accomplishing this goal would be proof of the hard work and dedication each team member makes. 

“It would just mean the entire world,” Griffin said. We know how hard we’ve worked, whether it’s meetings, whether it’s working with our mental performance coach, whether it’s working on little things like hydration. Like, we’ve known everything that people maybe don’t see, that it has taken to get there. And I think it would just mean the world for us, just all that hard work to really make it to that goal because of a goal that we’ve had for so long.” 

Mizzou will kick off their season in a quad meet that includes Ball State, Illinois State and SEMO on Jan. 3.

Photo Credit: Lloyd Smith and Grace Ainger

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