March 25, 2004
#16 Missouri Faces Regional Lineup
The #16 ranked Mizzou Tigers join #4 Georgia, #9 Iowa State, #19 Michigan, #28 Penn State and #33 New Hampshire competing in the 2004 Northeast Regional Championship on Sat., April 3 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Looking to make their third time a charm, the Tigers' NCAA Regional appointment is the team's third consecutive berth. Seeded third in the Northeast Regional this season, Mizzou travels to University Park, Penn., toting its highest seeding to date.
Livestats for the Northeast Regional Championship will be updated following each rotation on the Penn State website at www.gopsusports.com.
Northeast Regional Information
#16 ranked Missouri is seeded third in the Northeast Regional. It is the third consecutive season the Tigers have earned berth to an NCAA Regional meet as a team.
Last season, Missouri finished fifth overall scoring a 194.825 at the South Central Regional.
Missouri has only advanced to the NCAA Championship one time during the 1981 season where they finished 16th overall.
All-Around competitor Alisha Robison advanced as an individual contender to the National meet in 2002 and 2003. She finished seventh on vault in 2002 to become Mizzou's second All-American in program history.
Tigers in the Rankings
Missouri is currently ranked 16th in the nation owning a 196.850 Regional Qualifying Score.
Keeping in the national top-20 in each event, Mizzou ranks 15th on vault (49.285), 16th on beam (49.210), 17th on bars (49.215) and 18th on floor (49.390).
In the South Central Region, the Tigers are tabbed the third finest team overall. Mizzou is also ranked second on beam, third on vault and bars and fourth on the floor.
Missouri is the only school from the South Central Region competing in the Northeast Regional bracket.
Tiger Tidbits Finishing the 2004 regular season owning a 15-3 record, the Tigers turned in their most successful year to date. Winning 83 percent of its meets, Mizzou also picked up three quad-meet titles.
For the second consecutive year, Missouri finished third at the Big 12 Championship--it's highest finish in league history.
The Tigers scored a 49.200 on vault to set a new Mizzou conference championship record. Helping Mizzou, Alisha Robinson scored a 9.950 to set a new conference championship individual vault high.
Joining Mizzou's highest conference championship balance beam performers, Lauren Schwartzman tied the Tigers' all-time high scoring a 9.925.
In 11 regular season meets this year, Mizzou's standard vault lineup of Rachel Bridges, Whitney Crater, Amanda Pezzullo, Alisha Robinson and Lauren Schwartzman scored a 9.8 or above on 45-of-52 vaults.
Missouri recorded nine of the program's top-12 vault totals in 2004, including its 49.375 all-time high scored at the Texas Woman's Invitational.
Setting Mizzou's all-time team total at the Texas Woman's Invitational, the Tigers tallied a 197.475 to win the quad-meet.
In addition to a team total and vault record, Mizzou also scored the program's highest uneven bars score throwing a 49.400 at Texas Woman's.
The Tigers have recorded the program's top-five team totals on vault, bars, beam and floor during the 2004 season.
Missouri scored a 49.575 floor high twice this season winning both the Cat Classic and Mizzou Invitational titles. Likewise, the Tigers also own two 49.325 beam record performances.
Mizzou defeated Oklahoma for the first time since 1996 claiming just its third Big 12 victory. In addition, the 197.000-196.750 victory ranks as the Tigers' third highest team total.
Besting then #8 Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the program's second highest beam score with a 49.325. The Tigers also tied the third highest bar (49.250) and fifth highest floor (49.350) scores.
Entering the 24th Annual Cat Classic ranked #12 Missouri bested then #18 Penn State, #25 BYU and Kentucky to claim its second consecutive Cat Classic title.
Stepping up to the CC podium, the Tigers brought down three previous team records and won each team event title.
Mizzou scored the program's first 197+ mark. The Tigers rallied a 197.350 to score the team's second highest all-time score.
MU kicked off the year scoring its highest season opening score in the program's 25-year history posting a 195.350 against Iowa State.
Continuing their opening stanza, the Tigers took their feat a step further scoring a 196.500 against Southeast Missouri State and a 196.050 against New Hampshire. Prior to that, the Tigers' had only tallied two 196+ team scores in program history during the 2003 season.
Mizzou in the Big 12
Missouri summed up the 2004 conference season owning a 1-2 record -- its most successful Big 12 season to date.
The Tigers finished third at the Big 12 Conference Championship scoring a 196.425 to best Nebraska for the first time as a Big 12 program.
Picking up their only league victory over Oklahoma during the regular season, the Tigers have now claimed at least one victory over each conference opponent.
In individual event highs, Lauren Schwartzman was the only gymnast in the conference to score a 10.000 on beam. She performed flawless routines against both Iowa State and at the Texas Woman's Invitational.
She joins Alisha Robinson and ISU's Erin Detholf scoring a league high 9.975 on floor this season.
Jodie Heinicka and Alisha Robinson tie to lead the Big 12 with a 9.950 bar high.
Scoring a 9.975 vault twice in 2004, Alisha Robinson ties the league's third highest score.
Alisha Robinson and Lauren Schwartzman both received Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors during the 2004 season.
Tiger Big 12 Honors
Lauren Schwartzman scored a 9.925 to win the 2004 Big 12 beam title. She also scored a 9.850 on vault earning two All-Big 12 first-team nods.
Alisha Robinson tied to win the Big 12 vault title scoring a 9.950. She also scored a 9.900 on floor to earn dual All-Big 12 first team recognition.
Winning the beam and vault titles, Schwartzman and Robinson are Missouri's first gymnasts to win simultaneous Big 12 titles since 1999.
Scoring a career-high 9.900 on the balance beam, freshman Miranda Boeckman tied for second-place to also earn All-Big 12 recognition.