COLUMBIA, Mo. — Mizzou rules the mats. That was the case in 2021-22, an otherwise unsteady year for sports at the University of Missouri, a school year defined more by personnel turnover and disappointment than grand results.
There were two exceptions to the trend: a breakthrough gymnastics season and another championship for the wrestling program.
Shannon Welker’s gymnastics team made its first appearance at the NCAA Championships in more than a decade then pulled off its best finish in team history, taking fifth at the national meet. On the wrestling mats, Brian Smith’s vagabond Tigers left the Mid-American Conference to rejoin old friends in the Big 12 then promptly won the conference championship on their way toward another top-10 finish at the national meet.