Feb. 10, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
#31 Missouri Hosts #27 Illinois
#31 Mizzou returns to the Hearnes Center this week to host #27 Illinois. The Tigers take on the Illini in dual meet competition on Friday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Jumping back on the road, Mizzou heads to Oklahoma to resume Big 12 Conference competition. The Tigers face the Sooners on Sunday, February 20 at 2:00 p.m., in the Lloyd Noble Center.
The Tigers return the following week to host the nationally acclaimed Mizzou Cat Classic. Missouri welcomes Illinois State, New Hampshire and Towson to the two-day event featuring team competition on Friday, February 25 and an individual championship final on Saturday, February 26. Both sessions of Cat Classic competition begin at 7:00 p.m. For ticket information, please call the Missouri Athletic Ticket Office at 884-PAWS.
Scouting #27 Illinois
The Fighting Illini square off with the Tigers as the #27 ranked team in the nation owning a 193.395.
Illinois is ranked 22nd on bars (48.370), 24th on beam (48.195), 28th on floor (48.420) and 30th on vault (48.410).
Matching up in the South Central Region, the Tigers and Illini are neck-and-neck keeping within one ranking on each apparatus.
Last season, Illinois recorded a 10-7 record and a sixth-place finish in the Big 10 Conference. Competing in the South Central Regional, the Illini placed fifth (195.400) to round out the season with a 22nd-place ranking.
Mizzou leads the Tiger-Illini series record 7-5. In the last meeting, Illinois defeated Missouri 194.300-193.375 during the 1999 season.
Tiger Rankings
Mizzou ranks in as the 31st team in the nation this week owning a 192.075 average. A national headliner, Mizzou ranks 24th on vault (48.570), 24th on floor (48.530), 29th on beam (47.960) and 39th on bars (47.645).
In the South Central Region, Mizzou comes in as the seventh ranked team overall. The Tigers rank fourth in the region on vault, fifth on floor, seventh on beam and come in eighth on the uneven bars.
Mizzou Live Scoring
To access live scoring of Missouri gymnastics meets, log onto the official website of the Mizzou Tigers at www.mutigers.com.
Navigate to the Mizzou Gymnastics home page and select Schedule/Results from the tabs across the top of the screen. To access a particular meet, scroll down to the competition and click on the underlined Live Scoring link.
Penn State Invitational Recap
Competing in the Penn State Invitational, the #27 Mizzou Tigers finished third scoring a 191.925. #14 Penn State won the event scoring a 193.575 followed by #36 New Hampshire (192.275) in second and #64 Cornell finishing fourth (187.100).
Taking the hardest rotation of the quad, the Tigers opened the meet on beam scoring a 47.250. Building momentum on the floor exercise, Mizzou saw solid performances across the board to count a 48.150 team total. The Tigers shined on vault scoring their highest score of the night with a 48.125 and finished up the meet with a strong showing on bars scoring a 48.400 to tie for top honors.
Mizzou Adopt-a-Gymnast Program
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.
Tiger Honors
This season, the Tiger gymnastics squad has received unprecedented acclaim for their work outside of the arena, including the recognition of four gymnasts as Lathrop & Gage Student Athlete of the Week honoring a student-athlete's pursuit toward academic excellence.
Highlighting for the gymnastics team, freshman Julie Abaray, senior Rachael Dombart, junior Jodie Heinicka and sophomore Amanda Pezzullo have each been selected during the winter semester.