Jan. 6, 2000
Tigers Host Iowa State To Open Season
The Missouri Tigers open the 2000 gymnastics season on Sunday, hosting the Iowa State Cyclones at Hearnes Center. The meet begins at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the MU Athletic Ticket Office - $5 adults, $3 students. Call 1-800-CAT-PAWS, or 884-PAWS (locally) or stop by the Hearnes Center to purchase tickets. Season tickets are on sale as well, at $30/$15. It's the dawn of a new era for Mizzou, as first-year coach Rob Drass makes his head coaching debut. He took over in June for Jake Jacobson, who retired after founding the MU gymnastics program and directing its maturation for 20 years. Iowa State is ranked 22nd in the GymInfo Coaches Pre-Season Poll, while Mizzou is among the teams receiving votes. On their last trip to the Hearnes Center, the Cyclones placed second at the Big 12 Conference Championships, last March.
Coach Rob Drass
First-year Tigers head coach Rob Drass spent the last eight years as an assistant coach with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who have won the last six conference championships. He's a 1990 graduate of Penn State, where he was a NCAA qualifier on the men's gymnastics team from 1987-90. Also new to the MU coaching staff is Kansas City native Karen Tierney, who was a top gymnast at Arizona, and spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach there. Mizzou's other assistant coach is Eric Geren, now in his third year with the Tigers.
Missouri In Opening Meets
This is the first time Missouri has opened its season at home since 1994, when the Tigers beat Michigan State at Hearnes Center, and it's the first time since 1982 that the Tigers have competed against a conference opponent (beat Oklahoma) in a season opener. Missouri's all-time opening meet record is 18-10. Last year, Mizzou opened at Michigan State against the Spartans, Iowa and Ball State and placed third, but its score of 190.925 was the highest opening score in school history. MU's highest home opening score is 191.45, in the 1997 Shakespeare's Festival.
Missouri vs. Iowa State
Missouri leads the series, 22-13, but the Cyclones have beaten the Tigers 10 straight times. Last season, ISU beat Mizzou, 191.925-191.675 in Columbia, and 194.625-193.15 in Ames. The Tigers will make two trips to Ames in March - for a dual meet on March 7, and for the Big 12 Conference Championships on March 18.
Coach Drass Says
"I'm probably a little more stressed about this meet than I normally would be, because I just haven't seen us compete yet. We did well in an intrasquad meet on Sunday, but this is a different story."
"Iowa State is probably the best opponent we'll face at home this season. They're certainly a tough team to open against."
About The Tigers
Missouri returns six letterwinners from last year's 9-12 unit, led by senior Shannon Brown, a two-time NCAA Regional all-around qualifier and the defending Big 12 Conference tri-champion on balance beam. Four other seniors will figure prominantly for Drass' first team at Mizzou - Alison Akers, Katie Cole, Chandra Harlow, and Meggen Smiley. Also back is junior Ann Gietler. MU's experience is countered by a six-member freshman class: Laura Anson, Terri Baker, Jacqueline Coatsworth, Laura Forbes, Leah Gremaud and Alina Hamm. Coatsworth signed with the Tigers in November, graduated form high school in Las Vegas in December, and joined the team last week. She won't be eligible to begin competing until school starts next week.
Scouting The Cyclones
Iowa State returns 12 letterwinners from last year's 10-5 team, and the Cyclones been bolstered by the arrival of Betsy Hamm, a junior transfer from Florida who was the NCAA balance beam co-champion in 1998. Also returning for Coach Amy Pyle's Cyclones are sophomore Sissy Huey, last year's conference co-champion on uneven bars and the Big 12's third-place finisher in the all-around, senior Kelli More, who tied with MU's Brown and Nebraska's Courtney Brown for the Big 12 balance beam title and placed second on floor, and vaulting aces Shelly Kringen and Jessica Smith.
Up Next For Mizzou
The Tigers host the five-team Mizzou Gymnastics X-Treme on Sun., Jan. 16, at 2 p.m. Illinois State, Kent State, Michigan State and Western Michigan will compete against the Tigers in the first of three multi-team home events for MU. Missouri will take its first road trips of the campaign on Jan. 22 and Jan. 29, when they travel to Central Michigan and Nebraska, respectively.
COACHES PRE-SEASON RANKINGS RANK/TEAM PTS. (1st-place votes) 1. Georgia 854 (17) 2. Alabama 825 (7) 3. UCLA 816 (6) 4. Michigan 806 (5) 5. Utah 770 (1) 6. Nebraska 680 7. Arizona State 644 8. Penn State 590 9. Florida 584 LSU 584 11. Stanford 577 12. Oregon State 431 13. North Carolina St. 354 14. Minnesota 345 15. Denver 315 16. Arizona 283 17. West Virginia 276 18. Maryland 264 19. Washington 250 20. Ohio State 245 21. Utah State 241 22. Iowa State 189 23. BYU 108 24. Auburn 97 25. Oklahoma 70OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Boise State, Kentucky, Central Michigan, Towson, Illinois, Michigan State, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Ball State, Massachusetts, MISSOURI, Pittsburgh, Illinois State, George Washington, Bowling Green, California, Cal State-Fullerton, Illinois-Chicago, Sacramento State, SE Missouri State