Feb. 3, 2005

Complete Release in PDF Format

Penn State Invitational Live Scoring Link

#27 Missouri Travels to Pennsylvania
Jumping back on the road, Mizzou heads to Pennsylvania to compete in the Penn State Invitational on Saturday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m. (EST). The Tigers face #14 Penn State, #36 New Hampshire and #64 Cornell.

The Tigers return home next week to host Illinois on Friday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m., in the Hearnes Center. For ticket information, please call the Missouri Athletic Ticket Office at 884-PAWS.

Mizzou Adopt-a-Gymnast
Pairing with various student organizations at Missouri, the Mizzou gymnastics team is participating in the Adopt-a-Gymnast program aimed to increase excitement and awareness of women's sports at Missouri.

Bolstering the cheering section, adoptive "families" attend all Mizzou home meets and create decorative signs to inspire their gymnast's performance. Seeing great support across campus, 12 of Mizzou's 16 gymnasts have already been adopted.

Scouting #14 Penn State
Penn State is 4-5 on the year owning a #14 GymInfo ranking. The Nittany Lions average a 194.494 team total and top the national top 25 on each apparatus. Penn State is ranked 12th on floor (48.919), 14th on vault (48.831), 16th on bars (48.531) and 18th on balance beam (48.212).

Last season, the Lions finished with an 11-6-2 record going 5-1 to finish second in the Big 10 Conference. Rounding out the year ranked 18th, Penn State finished fourth at the Northeast Regional.

Facing the Lions twice last season, Mizzou went 1-1 against Penn State. The Lions topped the Tigers at the Northeast Regional 196.074-194.400 while Mizzou bested PSU at the Cat Classic 197.350-195.575. Penn State owns the MU-PSU series 13-4.

Scouting #36 New Hampshire
New Hampshire is 4-2 on the season aranking 36th in GymInfo standings. The Wildcats average a 191.375 team total showing their highest marks on vault with a 19th ranking (48.669). The Wildcats are also ranked 40th on bars (48.669), 41st on floor (48.106) and 49th on beam (47.569).

The Wildcats rounded out the 2004 season with a 10-5-1 record and a 33rd-place national ranking. Seeing New Hampshire twice last season, the Tigers were 2-0 against the Wildcats topping UNH at the Northeast Regional 194.400-194.125 and in dual meet competition 196.050-195.600. Mizzou owns the MU-UNH series record 9-3.

Scouting #64 Cornell
Ranked No. 64 in this week's GymInfo standings, Cornell is 1-6 on the season heading into the Penn State Invitational. The Big Red average a 183.632 team total. Cornell ranks 65th on vault (46.775), 66th on bars (45.067, 67th on floor (46.383) and 69th on beam (45.308).

This marks the first meeting between Mizzou and Cornell.

Tiger Rankings
Mizzou ranks in as the 27th team in the nation this week owning a 192.900 average. A national headliner, Mizzou ranks 17th on vault (48.681), 23rd on floor (48.625), 25th on beam (48.137) and 44th on bars (47.456).

In the South Central Region, Mizzou comes in as the seventh ranked team overall. The Tigers rank third in the region on vault, fifth on floor, seventh on beam and come in eighth on the uneven bars.