Feb. 22, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
25th Annual Mizzou Cat Classic
The #24 Mizzou Tigers return to Columbia this weekend to host the nationally acclaimed Mizzou Cat Classic sponsored by Callaway Bank.
Celebrating a quarter century of success, the Mizzou Cat Classic welcomes the Illinois State Redbirds, #31 New Hampshire Wildcats and #36 Towson Tigers to the Hearnes Center.
Unique among in-season competition, the two-day event mimics the NCAA Championship featuring team competition on Fri., Feb. 25 and an individual championship final on Sat., Feb. 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 #31 UNH
New Hampshire is 8-5 on the season ranking 31st in national GymInfo standings. The Wildcats own a 191.775 Regional Qualifying Score showing their highest marks on vault with a 15th-place ranking (48.750). The Wildcats are also ranked 34th on beam (74.405), 35th on bars (47.645) and 39th on floor (47.405).
Facing New Hampshire at the Penn State Invitational earlier this season, the Wildcats bested the Tigers 192.275-191.925.
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 9-4.
Scouting #36 Towson
Towson is 9-5 on the year picking up consecutive quad meet titles at Cornell's Big Red and the Towson Invitationals.
Ranking 36th nationally, the Tigers own a 190.905 Regional Qualifying Score. Towson is also ranked 35th on beam (47.385), 36th on vault (47.970), 37th on bars (47.580) and 43rd on floor (47.890).
Last season the Tigers finished with a 14-11 record. Towson leads the MU-TU series 2-1. In their last meeting, the Towson Tigers defeated the Mizzou 191.850-187.400 during the 1994 season.
Scouting Illinois State
Illinois State is 2-13 on the season and 0-3 in Midwest Independent Conference action.
Last season the Redbirds finished with a 4-21 record going 2-8 in league competition to finish fourth overall.
Leading the MU-ISU series 14-3, the Tigers last faced the Redbirds in 2003 when Mizzou topped Illinois State 196.475-193.600.
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.
Tiger Rankings
Mizzou ranks in as the 24th team in the nation this week owning a 193.325 Regional Qualifying Score. A national headliner, Mizzou ranks 21st on floor (48.645), 22nd on vault (48.610), 24th on beam (48.155) and 29th on bars (47.950).
In the South Central Region, Mizzou comes in as the seventh ranked team overall. The Tigers rank fifth in the region on vault, sixth on floor and seventh on beam and bars.
RQS Rankings
Regional Qualifying scores are calculated using a team's top three away and top three home scores. Of the six totals, the high and low are both dropped. The four remaining scores are then averaged to find an RQS total.
Making the transition from event averages to RQS, fans may ask why some gymnasts have dropped off the rating charts. Utilizing the same calculations for individual rankings, only gymnasts owning three home and three away scores on each apparatus are included in the event rankings. As Mizzou continues to compete this season, fans can anticipate seeing additional Tigers in the rankings.
Oklahoma Recap
Seeing their finest road performance of the season, the #29 Mizzou Tigers scored a 193.625 to finish second at the Oklahoma Invitational. #9 Oklahoma won the event scoring a 196.500, while Centenary finished third (102.075) and Texas Woman's finished fourth (191.350).
The Tigers opened the meet scoring their second-highest road scores of the season on both bars and beam. Mizzou rallied to a 47.975 uneven bar performance and scored a 48.225 on beam. Moving to floor, the Tigers scored their third-highest floor score of the year tallying a 48.725. Rounding out the meet on vault, Mizzou saw its highest mark of the competition delivering a 49.000 performance to tie its season high.
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, Julie Abaray, Rachael Dombart, Jodie Heinicka and Amanda Pezzullo have each been selected during the winter semester.