COLUMBIA, Mo. — Amari Celestine remembers where she was when she realized the narrative around Missouri gymnastics was changing. Someone shouted “M-I-Z” to her in the airport. At the nail salon, somebody else offered a raving review of the team that finished fifth in the nation the season before.
That was in the summer of 2022, when the Tigers were fresh off, yes, a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Tournament. As a freshman, Celestine was a two-event All-American that season, an immediate contributor as part of a recruiting class that was ranked fourth in the nation before they ever swung around a collegiate set of uneven bars or charged toward a vault.