Gymnastics Set to Begin 2025 Campaign Friday at #9 Missouri

Meet #1
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Missouri Quad-Meet
 
Teams: 
Southeast Missouri (0-0)
Missouri (0-0)
Ball State (0-0)
Illinois State (0-0)
 
Meet Information: 
Date: Friday, January 3, 2025
Time: 6:00 P.M., CT. 
Location: Columbia, Mo. 
Venue: Hearnes Center
 
Head Coaches:
SEMO: Ashely Lawson (Seventh Season, 40-89-1)
Missouri: Shannon Welker (12^th Season)
Ball State: Joanna Saleem (12^th Season)
Illinois State: Bob Conkling (20^th Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks: 
X: @SEMOGymnastics
Live Stats: MU Athletics
Watch: ESPN+
 
Gymnastics Begins 2025 Campaign Friday at Missouri
Southeast Missouri Women’s Gymnastics will begin the 2025 season on Friday, January 3, at the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Quad-Meet hosted by Missouri. Competition is slated to begin at 6 p.m., CT. from the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. 
 
Who We Face
The Gymhawks will be one-of-four teams at the meet on Friday night, headlined by the host and #9 ranked Missouri. The Tigers are one of seven SEC members ranked inside the WGCA Top 10 Preseason Poll. 
 
Ball State and Illinois State also received votes in the preseason campaign. The Cardinals just missed out on cracking the top 36 with 136 points in the poll. 
 
Fellow Midwest Independent Conference member Illinois State received 35 points in the WGCA Preseason Poll. 
 
2025 Outlook
The 2025 season marks the seventh for head coach Ashley Lawson in control of the program that finished a season ago with a 7-17-1 overall record and a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Midwest independent Conference Championship meet. 
 
The 2025 squad will be made up of 13 returnees and six newcomers. 
 
Seniors
The senior class is made up of Nyah Reader, Lindsay Ockler, Janelle Lopez, and Madison Greene. 
 
Juniors
Juniors Sydney Crouch, Kailyn Hamilton, Taylor Ingle, and Ailey Kuehn all return after making significant contributions a season ago. 
 
Sophomores
Sophomores Ava Johnsonton and Jordan Napolitano headline the second-year Gymhawks as they were the only two who compete last season. Amelia May, Courtney Henry, and Savannah Poulos are the returnees while newcomers Leah Parton and Jaidan Kossuth both look to make an impact after transferring from Lindenwood. 
 
Freshman
Four new gymnasts call Cape Girardeau their home after signing with the Redhawks in 2024. Joselene Hernandez, Olivia Heubach, Gracie Jones, and Anna Lee Phillips will all don the Gymhawks leotard in 2025. 
 
Coaching Staff
The seventh campaign for head coach Ashley Lawson will feature two new assistant coaches on her staff. Assistant coach and former Redhawk gymnast, Lydia Test, was hired on after serving as the student assistant coach a season ago. The 2025 campaign will mark the third for her on staff within SEMO Gymnastics. Test will oversee the vault and floor routines for the Gymhawks. 
 
The newest addition to the coaching staff is first year assistant coach, Keira Boetel. Boetel will handle the beam rotation and in-gym conditioning for the Gymhawks. Boetel graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2024 where she competed for the UWL gymnastics team during her freshman and sophomore seasons (2021 & 2022) before medically retiring from the sport. She graduated from UWL with a degree in Exercise & Sports Science with a minor in Nutrition in 2024.
 
2024 Season Highlights
–Set program record team score of 197.050 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic
-Senior Lindsay Ockler became just the second Redhawk to register a perfect 10.000 on the bars at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic
-Former Redhawk Lydia Webb surpassed former Redhawk and current head coach Ashley Lawson‘s all-around record with a 39.575 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic
-Swept the SEMO Tri-Meet versus Winona State (189.025) and Talladega College (190.175) with a 195.625
-Defeated Sacramento State at the Air Force Tri-Meet with a 194.575-194.475 victory
-Beat fellow MIC member Illinois State, 194.375-193.650, at the University of Nebraska Quad-Meet. 
 
All-Conference Gymnasts
Last season, four Redhawks finished the 2024 campaign with All-Midwest Independent Conference honors headlined by Taylor Ingle who finished the meet with a 39.100 in the all-around, placing her on the first team.
 
Madison Greene picked up second team honors for her floor routine, finishing with a 9.850. Sophomore Ava Johnston also finished with second team honors with a 9.775 on the bars. 
 
The Schedule
The 2025 schedule features four home meets for the Redhawks beginning on Friday, January 31st, as Illinois State comes to Cape Girardeau. Friday, February 14, will be the SEMO Tri-Meet featuring Centenary (MIC) and Northern Illinois. Two weeks later another tri-meet will feature Bridgeport and Fisk and will conclude home meets inside Houck Field House. All home meets will be held at 6:30 p.m.
 
The final home meet of the season will be on Saturday, March 8, when SEMO welcomes in Greenville. The meet will take place in the Show Me Center and will begin at 6:30 p.m.
 
The Missouri Quad Meet will mark the first-of-five road meets for the Gymhawks to begin the season as SEMO will travel to Muncie, Indiana on Sunday, January 12, to take on Ball State. 
 
Five days later, the Gymhawks will face off with their second MIC foe of the season on January 17 at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Three days later, SEMO will travel to Centenary (Jan. 20) for a tri-meet with the host and West Chester. 
 
Sunday, January 26, the Redhawks will travel to Bowling Green, Ohio for a dual meet with Bowling Green from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) at 2 p.m.
 
SEMO will round out the road schedule beginning with a dual meet at Central Michigan (Feb. 6). The Gymhawks will then take place in a quad-meet at the Metroplex Challenge on Friday, February 21st. Oregon State, Arizona, and Arkansas will feature with the Redhawks in Fort Worth, Texas. 
 
The final road meet of the season will be the final meet of the regular season and will be a dual meet at Illinois State on Friday, March 14. The competition will begin at 7 p.m. in Normal, Illinois. 
 
This season’s Midwest Independent Conference Championship will be at Centenary, in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Friday, March 21. The competition will begin at 5 p.m.