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2024 in review: Here are the Tribune’s top five Mizzou student-athletes of the year
- Story byColumbia Daily Tribune
- 2024 in review: Here are the Tribune’s top five Mizzou student-athletes of the year
The New Year's bells are fast approaching.
But who answered the bell most in the world of Missouri athletics in 2024?
With 2025 fast approaching, the Tribune took a peak back at the year that was and the top Mizzou student-athletes over the past 12 months. We decided to take a maximum of one athlete per sport, and to be considered, the athletes, obviously, had to be active for the Tigers this year.
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The MU sports calendar isn't quite finished. Missouri football takes on Iowa in the Music City Bowl on Monday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee, and later in the day, Missouri basketball will close its nonconference slate with a home game against Alabama State.
With what we've seen so far in 2024, here is who we selected as Missouri's top five student-athletes of the year:
Brady Cook, Missouri football, quarterback
Oct 19, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook (12) runs the ball against Auburn Tigers nose tackle Jalen McLeod (35) and defensive lineman Philip Blidi (96) during the first half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Where to start with Brady Cook's 2024 …
He led a fourth-quarter comeback over Auburn a couple hours after going to the hospital for a high-ankle sprain. Cook likely played through that and a potentially more serious injury to his throwing hand over the final three games of the season. The quarterback clutched up at South Carolina and versus Arkansas for late touchdown drives, although the Tigers weren't able to see the USC game through.
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Missouri football went 9-3 in the regular season and will face Iowa in the Music City Bowl on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. For some, that'll be a disappointment. The College Football Playoff was an extremely attainable destination for the Tigers this year.
But you simply have to sit back and marvel at what Cook accomplished this season, his third as the Tigers' starter, and the obstacles he had to overcome to get there.
Cook is a win away from moving to solo second all-time in wins as a starting Missouri QB, behind only Chase Daniel. He needs to throw for 73 more yards to move ahead of Brad Smith into third all-time in career passing yards. He'll finish his career fourth all-time for total offense as a Tiger, and needs just 119 more total yards to eclipse the 10,000-yard mark for his career.
It didn't come easy this year. There were hiccups and low moments along the way. But Cook will end his career as a Mizzou great.
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More: Missouri football QB Brady Cook: From hospital to win over Auburn in one crazy afternoon
Laurin Krings, Missouri softball, pitcher
Missouri softball ace Laurin Krings reacts after a play during an NCAA Columbia Super Regional game against Duke on Sunday in Columbia, Missouri.
Missouri softball was a win away from reaching the Women's College World Series. The Tigers also faced elimination from the postseason five times in May.
The reason Mizzou survived and advanced? That starts and ends with Laurin Krings.
The ace started seven straight games for the Tigers in regionals. She threw an otherworldly 364 pitches and gave up just two earned runs over four games in two days as Mizzou kept on avoiding an early end to its season.
She finished the 2024 season with a 2.38 ERA with a 17-10 record. Krings surpassed 500 career strikeouts midseason and ended her career sixth in program history with 599 Ks, with 147 of those coming in her final season.
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More: How Laurin Krings fought, scrapped and carried Missouri softball to NCAA Super Regional
Tamar Bates, Missouri basketball, guard
Dec 8, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Tamar Bates (2) celebrates after a play against the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
For most of 2024, there weren't many bright spots for a reeling Missouri basketball squad.
Tamar Bates often was the exception.
The Kansas City, Kansas, native took a 40-50-90 shooting mark into the final game of the season — the same season Mizzou failed to win an SEC game.
This year, with Missouri bouncing back with a 10-2 record to date in nonconference play, Bates took control of the Tigers' Border War win over then-No. 1 Kansas, which automatically seals his spot in Mizzou lore. He is averaging 12.7 points per game with a 52% mark from the field and a 96.9% clip from the free-throw line this season.
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If Mizzou is going to make an NCAA Tournament run this year, Bates is likely going to be part of the backbone of those efforts.
More: Tamar Bates wrote himself into Border War legend. Here's how the Missouri basketball star did it
Jocelyn Moore, Missouri gymnastics
Missouri gymnast Jocelyn Moore competes on the floor during the SEC Tournament on March 24 in New Orleans.
Jocelyn Moore recorded the second perfect score of her Missouri gymnastics career this year, earning a 10 for her floor routine at a meet at Illinois in March. She's the only Mizzou gymnast to ever record a perfect score on the floor and is the only athlete in program history to now hold 10s in multiple disciplines.
Moore was a WGCA regular-season All-American second-team honoree and was named the SEC Event Specialist of the Year. She scored a 9.900 or higher in 13 or her 14 floor routines across the season and recorded 9.9s or higher in both the vault and the bars during the season.
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The Tigers finished fifth in the SEC Championship and advanced to the NCAA regional final in Gainesville, Florida.
More: Broken lamps and smashed records: The story of Missouri gymnastics star Jocelyn Moore
Maya Sands, Missouri volleyball, libero
Maya Sands was named the SEC Libero of the Year as she helped Mizzou reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers were competitive in the conference title race until the final week of the regular season. They went on to beat Texas State in straight sets and tournament No. 2-seed SMU on its home court to set up a match with SEC-champion Kentucky in the third round, where their season ended.
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Mizzou has seen a remarkable rise under second-year head coach Dawn Sullivan, who joined the Tigers from UNLV. She brought along one of her players from Las Vegas — Sands, who led the SEC in digs per set with 4.71 and played the third most sets on the Mizzou roster this year.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's who we picked as the top 5 Mizzou athletes of the year
