No. 25 Kentucky Drops Nailbiter to No. 7 Missouri, 196.825-196.800
LEXINGTON, Ky. – By the smallest margin possible in collegiate gymnastics, No. 25 Kentucky (1-7, 1-3 SEC) dropped a 196.825-196.800 decision to No. 7 Missouri (6-3, 2-3 SEC) at Historic Memorial Coliseum on Friday night. Despite the defeat, four Wildcats earned individual event titles and Kentucky posted its highest home score of the 2026 season.
Delaynee Rodriguez led the way for Kentucky once again, scoring career high marks of 9.950 on bars and floor and posting a 39.500 all-around score. The junior from Las Vegas won the event title on all three of those events, bringing her season total to 11 victories.
Chesney Bennett and Gabby Van Frayen were also victorious on the night, with both Cats matching their career high of 9.900 on beam. The win was the first in Bennett’s collegiate career and the second beam win in two weeks for Van Frayen.
Kentucky posted the highest score of the night on both balance beam and floor exercise, nearly surging to a comeback victory in the second half of the meet. Trailing by over two tenths at the halfway point and by four tenths after three rotations, the Wildcats surged in the final rotation and made up .375 of the four tenth deficit. Needing a perfect 10.0 to earn the team victory, Creslyn Brose delivered another stellar floor routine for her third consecutive 9.950 score and individual event victory.
Kentucky started the night on the vault, scoring a 49.150. Addisyn Hofseth led off the meet with a career high score of 9.800, followed by identical marks of 9.825 from Cecily Rizo and Callie Gardner—with the latter matching her season high. Ryan Noonan posted a 9.775, followed by Rodriguez with another 9.825. Anna Flynn Cashion ended the rotation with the highest score for the Cats, posting a 9.875.
On the uneven bars, the Cats rallied through a couple mistakes to still post a team total over 49 points, scoring 49.050. Isabella Rivelli fell in the leadoff position, scoring a 9.275. Freshman Sabrina Nemcek delivered in response, surpassing her stellar debut from a week ago to score a 9.925. Van Frayen missed a connection on the transition to the low bar and Kentucky was forced to count her 9.450. The back half of the lineup helped salvage the rotation, with Bennett matching her career high of 9.850, Noonan scoring a new career high of 9.900, and Rodriguez equaling her career high of 9.950 in the anchor position.
On the balance beam, Kentucky matched its season best score with a 49.200 for the second week running. Rizo led off with a 9.750, followed by Brose matching her season best of 9.875. Sharon Lee suffered a fall and scored a 9.100. Once again, the Kentucky back half responded. Bennett and Van Frayen performed back-to-back 9.900 routines, posting the highest scores of the night. Rodriguez closed the rotation with a 9.775.
Moving to the floor, Kentucky scored a 49.400—the third consecutive meet with at least a 49.350 on the event. Van Frayen matched her career high in the leadoff position, scoring a 9.850. Bennett followed with a 9.800 and Gardner posted a 9.850—the third straight week the sophomore has scored that standard or higher. Rizo scored a 9.750, setting up Rodriguez and Brose for back-to-back 9.950 performances.
The Cats will hit the road next weekend, traveling to Fayetteville for a showdown against No. 8 Arkansas. The meet from Bud Walton Arena will begin at 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday, February 20 and will be streamed on SEC Network +.
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