Helen Hu, a two-time NCAA All-American and three-time All-Southeastern Conference gymnast, has returned to the University of Missouri gymnastics team and will participate in the 2025 season, head coach Shannon Welker said Monday morning.
The redshirt senior has achieved career highs of 9.975 on the balance beam three times and 9.950 twice on the bars, tying her for third and second in the program’s record books for the respective events. Hu has gotten a 9.900 or higher 36 times in the two competitions.
“When weighing my options, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I have more to give, and that belief that I could do more,” Hu said. “I wanted to continue helping the program grow and be a part of this really special sport. It felt like I would be missing out on a special opportunity that people don’t get or can’t achieve. So, I felt like I owe it to myself, the sport and the team to come back for a year because I knew that I could.”
Hu has spent the last year backpacking across European and Asian countries.
“We are so honored to welcome back Helen as a member of our program,” Coach Welker said. “She is an exemplary student-athlete and a joy to be around. Helen is scattered in our record books for a reason – she’s a hard worker and a very skilled leader. This team is already incredibly special and adding her onto the roster will only make us better.”
Hu participated in all 13 events during her most recent competition season, the 2023 campaign, and achieved a beam score of 9.900 or above in ten of them. In the event, she was named to the Second squad All-American and was a member of the All-SEC squad at the end of the season. Notably, on March 10 during the team’s quad meet, she achieved a score of 9.975 on the beam for the third time in her collegiate career. On March 18, at the SEC Conference, she added another nearly flawless performance on the bars, scoring a score of 9.950. The native of Chicago tied for the season’s top team bars score of 9.950 and tied for the highest team balance beam score of 9.975, both in 2023.
As a redshirt sophomore, Hu scored a nine.nine or higher on beam in seven of 12 occasions at the season, posting a season-first-class nine.ninety five 4 instances to assert the second-excessive occasion rating at the group. She additionally earned a nine.nine on bars to assist the Tigers put up an NCAA Regional program-excessive rating of 197.425, in the end punching their price price tag to the NCAA Championship. Hu tied for 1/3 withinside the SEC and fourth nationally on beam and turned into identified as each a member of the competition`s Post-Season All-American and the All-SEC Team in 2022.
Prior to her sophomore season in 2021, Hu sustained a preseason harm that stored her sidelined for the yr and pressured her to redshirt. This turned into following a a success freshman yr, in which she notched a plethora of awards – All-SEC Team, Second Team All-American on bars, SEC Event Specialist of the Year, a -time SEC Event Specialist of the Week, SEC All-Freshman group and a 4-time SEC Freshman of the Week. She competed in the all-around, posting a rating of 39.525 at No. 19 Nebraska on March 7, 2020, and set the mark for her non-public bests in her most important occasions of bars and beam.
Hu excelled academically as well as a student-athlete. She was listed on the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for 2019–20, as well as the SEC Academic Honor Roll for 2022–2023 and 2021–2022.
Welker signed four transfers ahead of the 2025 campaign: Elise Tisler from Towson, Lauren Macpherson from San Jose State, Abby Mueller from Illinois, and Amy Weir from Oklahoma. The Tigers also signed Ayla Acevedo, Railey Jackson, Olivia Kelly, Lisa Szeibert, and Kaia Tanskanen, among other famous people, in their freshman class.
Mizzou finished the 2024 gymnastics season with a final national ranking of 11th, according to RoadToNationals.com. The team ended the season at the NCAA Gainesville Regional Final, marking the Tigers’ fourth consecutive season in a regional final. MU returns 12 members from its 2024 team: Kayla Barnes, Amari Celestine, Jessa Conedella, Grace Ann Davis, Kennedy Griffin, Hannah Horton, Addison Lawrence, Rayna Light, Kylie Minard, Jocelyn Moore, Mara Titarsolej and Courtney Woods.
Season ticket renewals for the 2025 Mizzou gymnastics season are on sale now at MUTigers.com/Tickets. The Tigers will host Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Auburn before traveling to Oklahoma, LSU, Florida and Arkansas for eight conference contests. Detailed dates will be announced at a later date.