COLUMBIA − Amari Celestine is a force on the floor. She has been a part of Mizzou Gymnastics all four years of her college career.
She has been involved with gymnastics since she was a toddler.
“I really don’t consider myself good at any other sport,” Celestine said. “Gymnastics has always just been innate to me its just been natural.”
Celestine’s ultimate goal that drove her was getting to college. Now, after helping her team place third at the NCAA Championship final, Celestine will graduate on Saturday.
Celestine helped her team score the highest floor score in Mizzou Gymnastics program history. She has scored 9.900 or higher on floor in 10 of 16 meets this season. She recorded five-straight scores of 9.900+ on bars.
After Mizzou gymnastics earned a third place finish at the NCAA Championship final, Amari talked about the doubters that did not think the team would make it that far. She is a crucial part of uplift to the team, and was determined to leave a mark at Mizzou.
“We can’t let what they feel about us define our efforts,” Celestine said. “We want to say, okay, well this is gonna be the sweetest ‘I told you so’ in the world. Like, you’re gonna see, you’re gonna learn, so I think that’s been really helpful,” Celestine said.
Since being at Mizzou, Amari has earned a handful of awards, earning WCGA Vault Floor First Team All-American in 2022, WCGA All-Around Second Team All-American and WCGA South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year this year. She was also named the 2025 NCAA Seattle Regional Outright Vault Champion.
Celestine has been on the All-SEC team four times. She is only one of two Mizzou gymnasts to earn four All-American honors in four years.
With being on the team for four years, Celestine serves as a leader and a player her teammates can count on. “If I could describe Amari in one word, it would be inspiring,” fellow Mizzou gymnast, Kennedy Griffin, said.
Griffin is a sophomore gymnast who has been under Celestine’s wing. She said she appreciates how Amari genuinely cares for her and her team as teammates and as people outside of the sport.
“She is someone I can come to with something even outside of gymnastics, like helping me apply to an internship that I’m currently doing,” Griffin said.
Post graduation, Amari will be an intern at Rich Paul’s sports agency in Los Angeles, Klutch Sports Agency. She will also be a graduate assistant in southern Alabama this coming fall.
(Including back-to-back-to-back homers!)
