March 3, 1999

Tigers Are Back Home to Host 5th Annual Corvette Cup

The 27th-ranked Missouri Tigers (7-9) return home to Hearnes Center this weekend to host the 5th annual Corvette Cup. No. 23 Central Michigan (11-1), Iowa (5-8) and Texas Woman's University (5-11) will provide the opposition. The meet begins Sunday at 2 p.m., but the event includes far more than the gymnastics competition. The meet is paired with a Corvette show, and nearly 250 cars are registered. On Saturday, the Corvettes will head out from Columbia's Ramada Inn at 3 p.m. for a "road tour" on the back roads of Central Missouri. That evening, the drivers and the gymnasts will be treated to a barbecue and dance in the Hearnes Fieldhouse beginning at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, the cars will be judged in the morning, with the Corvette display opening to the public at 12 p.m. Tickets to the gymnastics meet are also good for admission to the car show. Tickets are on sale at the MU Athletic Ticket Office - $5 for adults and $3 for students.

Mizzou Takes Second at Oklahoma

Missouri placed second in a three-team meet at No. 11 Oklahoma on Sunday, falling to the host Sooners, 193.325-192.15, but bettering Southern Utah (191.425). The Tigers scored a season-best 48.975 on balance beam - the second-best mark in school history - and were led by junior Alison Akers who tied her own school record with a 9.875. She was followed by Shannon Brown, Jessica Haag and Amanda Peterson, who each tallied 9.8, and Meggen Smiley (9.7). "We really hit on beam," Coach Jake Jacobson said. "Thank goodness, because we fell all over the place on bars." Ultimately it was the bars that cost the Tigers first place. Their score of 46.6 was a season-low. It was an uncharacteristic performance for Mizzou. The Tigers have put up four of the top seven bars scores in school history this season, including the top two - 49.075 vs. Nebraska and 48.85 in the Cat Classic.

About the Field

CENTRAL MICHIGAN is ranked 23rd in the nation and is enjoying its finest season in school history. Coach Jerry Reighard's Chippewas are coming off a Mid-American Conference record score - 195.0 - in a dual meet victory over Bowling Green. Earlier this season they won the Michigan Invitational, beating No. 6 Michigan in the process. Two weeks ago, CMU lost its top gymnast, Amber Gaskill (the defending MAC all-around champion and an at-large qualifer to last year's NCAA Central Regional along with Mizzou's Shannon Brown) to a torn Achilles tendon. But Central has been bolstered by top performances from freshman Bethany Couturier, junior Nicole Liphardt and junior Nicole Bills. All three scored over 39 in the all-around in last week's meet against Bowling Green. IOWA was defeated by Iowa State on Feb. 25, 194.85-189.7. Only six Hawkeyes competed against the Cyclones and due to injuries, Iowa competed one gymnast short in three events. They were led by Courtney Burke who scored 38.825 in the all-around. Corynne Cooper, Julie Matolo and Shrutika Sulkar were also all-around entrants. Iowa has been especially missing sophomore Giselle Boniforti, last year's Freshman of the Year in the Big 10, who hasn't competed since the Hawkeyes' second meet, Jan. 17, when she was injured dismounting the balance beam. Iowa hosts No. 14 Minnesota in Iowa City on Friday night before journeying south to Columbia. TEXAS WOMAN's is the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II, and are paced by senior Kim Koenig. She owns the Pioneers' best marks in the all-around (38.975), vault (9.75), bars (9.75) and beam (a school-record tying 9.95).

Series Records

Missouri leads the series with Iowa, 14-3, and Texas Woman's, 7-0, and will be competing against Central Michigan for the first time. The Tigers will see Iowa again next week, when they travel to Iowa City for a dual meet that begins March 13, at 7 p.m. This will be Iowa's third straight appearance in the Corvette Cup. Coach Diane DeMarco brought her Hawkeyes here for the meet in 1997 when they placed fourth (189.8) and '98 when they were third (191.25).

Tigers Hope to Return to Winners Circle

Missouri won the first Corvette Cup in 1995, topping North Carolina State, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, but has finished second the last three years - to Alabama, Minnesota and Auburn. The only current Tiger who has won an individual title at the Corvette Cup is senior Amanda Peterson, who claimed the beam championship in 1997.

Jake Will Be A Driver, Too

For the first time since he began the Corvette Cup in 1995, Missouri Coach Jake Jacobson will be interested in more than just the gymnastics competition. He's now the proud owner of a 1990 Corvette, which will be one of the 246 cars entered in the car show, and he'll be leading the way on Saturday afternoon's road tour.

Akers Takes the Beam

Alison Akers tied her own school record on the balance beam last week, scoring 9.875. The junior from Springfield got off to a slow start this season but has hit her stride, scoring 9.75 or better on the beam in five consecutive meets.

Haag's Been a Winner the Last Three Meets

Tiger senior Jessica Haag has won the vault in three straight meets for the Tigers, giving her five vaulting titles this season. She tied for the vault championship at Oklahoma, on Sunday, scoring 9.775. Haag, an all-Big 12 vaulter last season, has been below 9.75 on the vault only twice this season and is averaging 9.764 in the event. She ranks third in NCAA Region 3 and tied for 31st in the nation. The Newmanstown, Pa., native also leads the Tigers in the all-around with a RQS score of 38.643 which ranks 37th nationally and sixth in the region. Haag has set or tied her career highs in every event this season: 9.825 - vault, 9.825 - bars, 9.8 - beam, 9.85 - floor, and 38.85 - all-around. Put all of those events together in one meet and you have an all-around score of 39.5 which would represent the Missouri school record by a wide margin.

Missouri Records Set in 1999

TEAM Highest Meet Score - 194.825, Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Highest Meet Score in 1st Home Meet - 191.65, Shakespeare's Festival, Jan. 17

Highest Meet Score vs. Nebraska - 192.575, Jan. 29

Highest Meet Score vs. Iowa State - 193.15, Feb. 12

Highest Floor Exercise Score - 49.05, Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Highest Uneven Bars Score - 49.075, Nebraska, Jan. 29

INDIVIDUAL All-Around- 39.175, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Uneven Bars- 9.9, Shannon Brown, Jan. 29 vs. Nebraska & Feb. 5, Cat Classic (ties record)

Floor Exercise - 9.9, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 5, Cat Classic (ties record)

Balance Beam - 9.875, Alison Akers, Feb. 28 at Oklahoma (ties record)

CLASS RECORDS Vault by a Senior - 9.825, Jessica Haag, Jan. 9 at Michigan State

All-Around by a Senior - 39.175, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Balance Beam by a Senior - 9.85, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 21, at SE Missouri State

Uneven Bars by a Senior - 9.85, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 6, Cat Classic (ties record)

Floor Exercise by a Senior - 9.9, Amanda Peterson, Feb. 5, Cat Classic (ties record)

Uneven Bars by a Junior - 9.9, Shannon Brown, Jan. 29 vs. Nebraska & Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Balance Beam by a Junior - 9.875, Alison Akers, Feb. 28, at Oklahoma

Floor Exercise by a Sophomore - 9.875, Ann Gietler, Feb. 5, Cat Classic

Missouri Coach Jake Jacobson

The only gymnastics coach in school history, head coach Charles "Jake" Jacobson began MU's gymnastics program in 1979. Now in his 33rd season overall, he has a career record of 359-220-1. He's in his 20th season with the Tigers where his mark is 227-195-1. In his career at MU, Jacobson has guided the Tigers to one Big Eight Conference championships (1992), three second-place conference finishes (1981-82-90) and a NCAA Central Region championship (1981). In addition, he has coached 29 all-conference gymnasts and five regional champions. In 1981, his team placed 16th at the national championships. Jacobson's 33-year tenure makes him the nation's most veteran coach of a women's athletic program at the Division I level. He's second in tenure to Norm Stewart on the Mizzou coaching staff. At this year's Cat Classic, more than 50 former MU gymnasts staged a surprise reunion in honor of Jacobson. At the post-meet get together, Jacobson said he was considering retirement from the Mizzou post and would make a final decision within the next month.

Peterson Was Big 12 Gymnast of the Week

Senior Amanda Peterson was never better than during the two-night Cat Classic, Feb. 5-6, and she was rewarded with the Big 12 Conference "Gymnast of the Week" award on Feb. 9. On the event's first night, she set the Missouri all-around record for the second consecutive week, scoring 39.175 (second best in the Big 12 this season) to top her 39.1 performance of the previous week. Included in her score was a 9.9 on floor that tied the school record. Ironically her floor routine was choreographed by former Tiger Charise Schrupp, who set the record in winning last season's Cat Classic. Schrupp is now working at Thompson's Academy of Gymnastics in Apple Valley and Edina, Minn. Peterson qualifed for the individual finals in all four events, and scored a 39.05 in an "unofficial" all-around on Saturday. She placed second on floor at 9.85 and scored a career-high 9.85 on bars.

Tigers Need to Score

One of the Tigers' goals for 1999 is to make a team return to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 1994. But to do so, they are going to need some big scores the rest of the season. Illinois and Illinois-Chicago leapfrogged the Tigers in the NCAA Region 3 standings this week. Mizzou currently stands in a qualifying position, but will have to hold off Arizona and SE Missouri State. The regional qualifying score is derived by taking a team's best six scores, two of which must be at home and two of which must be on the road. You then throw out the high score and the low score and average the remaining four. If the Tigers can continue scoring in the 193-194 range, they stand an excellent chance of qualifying. This year, the NCAA Regional format has changed. In the past seven teams qualifed in each of five regionals and Missouri was in the nation's biggest area - the 20-team Central Region. This year, though, there are six regionals that will each be contested by six teams. MU is now in the 11-team Region 3. The nation's top 12 teams by Regional Qualifying Scores will be seeded among the nation's six regionals. Presently three teams from Region 3 - Arizona State, Nebraska and Oklahoma - rank in the Top 12. That would leave three remaining open spots in Region 3.

Tigers Quickly

Although the Tigers slipped in the national rankings this week, from 23rd to 27th, they climbed in the individual events. Mizzou ranks 11th in the nation on floor, 18th on bars, and 18th on beam Missouri has had three 9.9 performances this season - two on bars by Shannon Brown and one on floor by Amanda Peterson. Prior to this season there had only been two 9.9s recorded in school history Missouri's team averages on bars (48.075), floor (48.528) and total score (192.266) are all above the school season records.

MU BESTS IN 1999
VAULT
9.825 	Jessica Haag (Michigan State)
9.8 Jessica Haag (Shakespeare's)
9.8 Jessica Haag (at Iowa State)
9.8	Jessica Haag (at SE Missouri)
Team	48.25 at Cat Classic
BARS
9.9 Shannon Brown (Nebraska)
9.9 Shannon Brown (Cat Classic)
9.85	Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
9.825 Jessica Haag (Nebraska)
9.825 Amanda Peterson (Nebraska)
9.825 Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
9.825	Chandra Harlow (Cat Classic)
9.8 Chandra Harlow (Nebraska)
9.8 Shannon Brown (at Iowa State)
9.8	Shannon Brown (at SE Missouri)
Team	49.075 vs. Nebraska
BEAM
9.875	Alison Akers (at Oklahoma)
9.85	Amanda Peterson (SE Missouri)
9.8 Amanda Peterson (Nebraska)
9.8	Amanda Peterson (at Oklahoma)
9.8 Shannon Brown (Cat Classic)
9.8 	Shannon Brown (at Oklahoma)
9.8	Jessica Haag (at Oklahoma)
9.9 	Alison Akers (at Iowa State)
9.8 	Alison Akers (Cat Classic)
Team	48.975 at Oklahoma
FLOOR
9.9 	Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
9.875 Ann Gietler (Cat Classic)
9.85 Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
9.85 Jessica Haag (SE Missouri)
9.85	Shannon Brown (SE Missouri)
9.825 Ann Gietler (Shakespeare's)
9.825	Ann Gietler (SE Missouri)
9.825 Meggen Smiley (Shakespeare's)
9.825 Amanda Peterson (Nebraska)
9.8 Ann Gietler (Cat Classic)
9.8	Kelly McKinnie (SE Missouri)
Team	49.05 at Cat Classic
ALL-AROUND
39.175	Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
39.1 Amanda Peterson (Nebraska)
39.05	Amanda Peterson (Cat Classic)
38.85 Jessica Haag (Nebraska)
38.825	Jessica Haag (SE Missouri)
38.75 Jessica Haag (Cat Classic)
38.725 Shannon Brown (at Iowa State)
38.65	Meggen Smiley (at Iowa State)
38.55 Jessica Haag (Michigan State)
38.55	Shannon Brown (SE Missouri)
Team	194.825 at Cat Classic
MU LEADERS BY AVERAGE SCORE
VAULT
9.764	Jessica Haag
BARS
9.597	Shannon Brown
BEAM
9.684 Meggen Smiley
FLOOR
9.738	Ann Gietler
ALL-AROUND
38.484 	Jessica Haag
38.386 Amanda Peterson
NATIONAL RANKINGS
BY REGIONAL QUALIFYING SCORE
RANK/TEAM	REGION	AVG
1. Georgia	6	196.956
2. Alabama	4	196.712
3. Utah	 2	196.231
4. Penn State	5	195.662
5. LSU	 4 	195.412
6. Michigan	5	195.231
7. Arizona St.	3	195.112
8. Nebraska	3	194.912
9. Maryland	6	194.368
10. Ohio State	4	194.312
11. Oklahoma	3	194.281
12. W. Virginia	6	194.231
13. Oregon St.	1	194.193
14. Minnesota	2	194.162
15. Stanford	1	194.150
16. Utah State	2	194.037
17. UCLA	1	194.025
18. Florida	6	193.956
19. Illinois	3	193.462
20. Iowa State	3	193.387
21. Denver	2	193.375
22. Kentucky	4	193.350
23. C. Michigan	4	193.287
24. N. Car. St.	6	193.237
25. Ill-Chicago	3	193.075
26. Washington	1	193.031
27. MISSOURI	3	192.812
28. Boise State	1	192.781
29. N Hampshire	5	192.693
30. Arizona	3	192.537
MU RANKINGS BY EVENT
BY REGIONAL QUALIFYING SCORE
Event	 Avg.	Region	Nation
VAULT	 48.093	6th	35th
Jessica Haag	9.793	3rd	t-31st
BARS	 48.518	4th	18th
Shannon Brown	9.818	7th	t-40th
BEAM	 48.281	5th	18th
Alison Akers	9.756	10th	t-59th
FLOOR	 48.8	4th	t-11th
Ann Gietler	9.775	t-13th	t-76th
ALL-AROUND
Jessica Haag	38.643	6th	37th
TEAM SCORE	192.812	6th	27th
NCAA REGION 3
School		 RQS
1.	Arizona State	195.112
2.	Nebraska	194.912
3.	Oklahoma	194.281
4.	Illinois	193.462
5.	Illinois-Chicago193.075
6.	MISSOURI	192.812	
7.	Arizona		192.537
8.	SE Missouri St.	191.750
9.	Illinois State	188.896
10.	Texas Woman's	188.206
11.	N. Illinois	187.718