March 4, 2004
Final Home Meet ...
The #18 ranked Mizzou Tigers wrap up the 2004 home season hosting the Mizzou Invitational. The Tigers welcome Centenary, Illinois State and Northern Illinois to the quad meet scheduled for Saturday, March 6 at 2:00 p.m., in the Hearnes Center.
Rounding out the 2004 regular season, the Tigers travel to Denton, Texas to compete in the Texas Woman's Invitational. TWU and Mizzou join Kentucky and Pennsylvania on Fri., March 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Scouting the Opposition
Centenary comes to Mizzou toting a 5-4 season record. In their last meet, the Ladies' fell to Auburn 196.725-195.375. Despite the loss, the score marks Centenary's highest team total this year.
Missouri owns the MU-Centenary series record 5-0. In their last meeting during the 2003 season, MU defeated Centenary 194.900-192.375.
Illinois State joins the fray owning a 2-12 season record with an 0-3 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Redbirds scored their highest season score against SEMO posting a 193.975 tally.
The Tigers own the MU-ISU series record with a 13-3 dual meet mark. Mizzou defeated Illinois State last year setting a 196.475-193.600 meet record.
Northern Illinois is 4-6 on the year owning a 2-4 record in the Mid-American Conference. The Wildcats' scored a 195.100 season high in a loss to Kent State on Feb. 1.
Mizzou owns the MU-NIU series with a 7-1 record. The Tigers last faced the Wildcats during the 2000 season, when Missouri defeated NIU 193.800-188.475.
Tiger Rankings
Missouri is currently ranked 18th in the nation owning a 196.330 Regional Qualifying Score.
Keeping in the national top-30 in each event, Mizzou ranks seventh on vault (49.240), 13th on beam (49.130), 16th on bars (49.070) and 26th on floor (49.155).
In the South Central Region, the Tigers are tabbed the fourth-finest team overall. Mizzou is also ranked second of vault, third on beam, fifth on bars and sixth on floor.
Tiger Tidbits
In nine meets this season, Mizzou's standard vault lineup of Rachel Bridges, Whitney Crater, Amanda Pezzullo, Alisha Robinson and Lauren Schwartzman have scored a 9.8 or above on 30-of-34 vaults.
In six consecutive meets this year, Missouri has recorded one of the program's top-12 vault totals, including its 49.350 all-time high scored at the Cat Classic.
Mizzou defeated Oklahoma for the first time since 1996 claiming just its second Big 12 victory. In addition, the 197.000-196.750 victory ranks as the Tigers' second highest team total.
Besting Oklahoma, Missouri set the program balance beam record scoring a 49.325. The Tigers also tied their second highest mark on bars (49.250) and third highest on floor (49.350).
Entering the 24th Annual Cat Classic ranked #12, Missouri bested #18 Penn State, #25 BYU and Kentucky to claim its second consecutive Cat Classic title.On their way to the Cat Classic championship podium, the Tigers brought down three team records and won each team event title. Mizzou smashed the program's all-time team total scoring a 197.350 at the Cat Classic--its first 197+ mark.
The Tigers scored Mizzou's top-four all-time uneven bars scores this season including their 49.325 record against Arkansas.
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
Sophomore Lauren Schwartzman was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week after tying for first-place honors scoring a 9.950 on beam and floor to help the Tigers upset #8 Oklahoma.
Missouri is third in the Big 12 Conference owning a 9-3 season record and an 1-2 league mark. The Tigers top Oklahoma's 0-3 league record to finish third for the second consecutive season.