University of Missouri
Arkansas
No. 23 Missouri Defeats Arkansas
3/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
March 14, 2003
Fayetteville, Ark.-In another heated battle against the Arkansas Razorbacks, the meet came down to the heated competition came down to the final event. After falling to Arkansas by just .075 of a point at the Auburn Invitational, the Mizzou Tigers were ready to redeem themselves taking a slim 195.875-195.375 victory over the Razorbacks. The win boosts Missouri's season record to 10-6 overall.
The Tigers opened their first rotation with a scare, freshman Jodie Heinicka suffered a knee injury during her bars dismount and was removed from the floor for medical attention. Despite the shock, the Mizzou team pulled together to amend the score sheet and encourage its sidelined teammate its three remaining routines. Fellow freshman Katie Roets scored a 9.825 to post a career-high on the event. She led way to sophomore Alisha Robinson's 9.875 and junior Andrea Nervig's 9.850. Also adding to the Mizzou scoring tally, junior Lindsay Davis posted a 9.800 on her first event. Despite the loss of Heinicka during the round, Mizzou managed to post a 48.625 cumulative.
Missouri continued to rebuild during its second event as the Tigers rallied to score a 48.900 on the vault. Freshman Lauren Schwartzman joined Robinson to lead the team and win the vault title scoring a 9.875-the mark is a career-high for Schwartzman. Also boosting the Tigers, Roets scored a 9.775, junior Rachel Bridges scored a 9.700 and senior Alina Hamm posted a 9.675.
Seeing Heinicka recuperating on the sideline following the first two events, the Tigers charged onto the floor exercise with a renewed vengeance. Veteran's Hamm and Davis opened the round scoring 9.800 routines to open the gates for Nervig's electrifying 9.900 event winning routine. The mark ties her career-mark on the floor and the junior record in addition to tying the third-highest score in Mizzou program history. Backing up the routine, Bridges tied a career-mark of her own scoring a 9.850 that was then duplicated by Schwartzman. Rounding out the rotation, Robinson scored a 9.800 to bring the Tigers to a 49.200 team tally and push the Tigers to take their first lead over Arkansas, 146.725-146.075.
The Tigers summed up a powerful meet scoring a 49.150 on the balance beam to tie the second-highest all-time team score to shuffle past the Razorbacks 195.875-195.375. Helping Mizzou to its final round victory, Bridges led the Tigers off scoring a 9.800, Dombart posted a 9.850 and Davis put up a 9.775. Shining on the event, both Robinson and Schwartzman paired up to score consecutive 9.875 routines.
Robinson won the all-around competition scoring a 39.425 to earn her highest mark of the year, set a new sophomore all-around record and tie Mizzou's second highest four-event total. Joining Robinson on the podium, Davis scored a 38.650 in her first all-around since the Cat Classic.
Bolstered by their 10-6 mark, the Tiger looks to take their winning streak to Brigham Young University next weekend. Mizzou faces BYU on Fri., March 21 at 7:00 p.m., in Provo, Utah. Following their final regular season meet, the Tigers return to the Hearnes Center to host the Big 12 Championships Sat. March 29 at 7:00 p.m.
