April 5, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 13 Missouri Tigers travel to Athens, Ga., as the third-seed in the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday, April 8 at 6 p.m. ET at the University of Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum. Mizzou will face off against No. 1 Georgia, No. 12 Nebraska, No. 22 West Virginia, No. 23 North Carolina and No. 29 North Carolina in search of the school's first NCAA Championship appearance since the 12 team format was introduced.
The Tigers earned the No. 3-seed in the Region. Top ranked Georgia earned the No. 1-seed in the region and Nebraska is the No. 2-seed. Seeds four through six were awarded to West Virginia, North Carolina and North Carolina State, respectively.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Corvallis, Ore., April 20-22, hosted by Oregon State University. Event winners at the regional championships will also advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.
In addition to Missouri's chance to qualify for the National Championships as a team, a number of Tiger gymnasts are capable of qualifying as individuals.
Freshman Adrianne Perry, the 2006 Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year, ranks 24th nationally in the all-around. On beam, senior Lauren Schwartzman ended the season tied for second in the country on the event with Georgia's Courtney Kupets. Fellow senior Jodie Heinicka ranks as the nation's fourth-best bars competitor but will have to go against the No. 2 and No. 3 bars workers in the nation Georgia's Courtney Kupets and Kelsey Ericksen.
Fans unable to attend the 2006 Southeast Regional can follow live scoring on Georgia's official website.
Missouri received a favorable draw in the meet, as the Tigers follow the other two seeded teams, Nebraska and Georgia. Mizzou starts the meet with a bye before starting competition on floor in the second rotation. The squad then moves to vault, has another bye in the fourth rotation before concluding the meet on bars and beam, arguably the squad's two strongest events.
Tigers earn 19th NCAA Regional trip...
For the 19th time in school history, the No. 13 Missouri Tigers earned a trip to the NCAA Regionals. This year, the Tigers will square off against No. 1 Georgia, No. 12 Nebraska, No. 22 West Virginia, No. 23 North Carolina and No. 29 North Carolina State for one of two spots to the 2006 National Championships.
Last time at the NCAA Regionals...
The Tigers finished last season ranked No. 19 and narrowly missed getting seeded into an NCAA Regional. Mizzou earned the fourth seed in the South Central Regional with top-seeded Nebraska, No. 2-seed Michigan, No. 3-seed Arizona, No. 5-seed Arizona State and No. 6-seed Illinois.
With their highest regional score ever, the Tigers upset Arizona and finished third with a 195.100 to narrowly miss qualifying for Nationals.
Perry is Big 12's top newcomer...
At the conclusion of the Big 12 Championship on March 25, freshman Adrianne Perry was named the 2006 Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year, as voted on by the leauge coaches. Perry's award marks the second time a Tiger has earned the award, after former Mizzou great and two-time All-American Alisha Robinson picked up the honor in 2002.
The freshman was one of Mizzou's top competitor's all season, as she enters the Southeast Regional ranked 24th in the all-around, tied for 34th on beam, tied for 55th on floor and tied for 92nd on bars in the nation.
Schwartzman earns All-Big 12 honor...
At the March 25 Big 12 Conference Championships, senior Lauren Schwartzman recorded a 9.850 on the balance beam to tie for third place on the event and earn All-Big 12 beam honors. The accolade was the fourth of the senior's career, as Schwartzman won the 2004 beam title, tied for fourth on vault the same year and tied for fourth on floor in 2003.
Mizzou vs. the Southeast competition...
The Tigers have faced and lost to Nebraska three times in 2006 to put the all-time series at 7-58 overall and 4-29 in the postseason.
Mizzou is 0-4 against the Georgia GymDogs and 0-2 in postseason competition while the Tigers an 0-1 against North Carolina and 1-2 versus West Virginia.
North Carolina State is the only squad Missouri enjoys a winning record against, as the Tigers lead the all-time series, 2-1.
NCAA Regional rotations announced...
Event rotations for the 2006 NCAA Southeast Regional were announced on Monday, March 27. Missouri will open the competition with a bye before moving to the floor exercise in the second rotation. The Tigers then go to vault, have a bye before bars in the fourth rotation, then move to bars and end the night on beam. Throughout the meet, Mizzou will follow top seed and No. 1 Georgia.
Schwartzman one of nation's best...
Senior Lauren Schwartzman enters the NCAA Regionals tied for second in the nation on the balance beam with Georgia freshman sensation and 2004 Olympian Courtney Kupets with a 9.920 RQS.
Throughout her stellar senior season, Schwartzman ranked first in the country on beam four times (Feb. 20 and March 6, 13 and 20). She also topped the beam rankings twice in 2004.
Heinicka breaks onto national scene...
Senior Jodie Heinicka ranks fourth in the nation on the uneven bars with a 9.910 RQS. The lowest Heinicka ranked all season long was ninth in the first ranking of the season while the senior has ascended to second twice (Feb. 6 and 27). She has also ranked as the South Central Region's top bars performer all but the first week of the season.
Heinicka's dominance is even more amazing considering she concluded 2005 tied for 155th in the nation on bars. She is, however, tied as Mizzou's uneven bars record holder. Heinicka set the mark at the 2004 Cat Classic with a 9.950 on the event after battling back from an ACL injury her freshman year.
The beam team...
Entering the 2006 campaign with four newcomers to the lineup, head coach Rob Drass expected the balance beam to be the Tigers' weakest event. However, anchored by the second ranked beam worker in the nation, the opposite is true.
The Tigers rank fifth nationally on the balance beam with a 49.105 RQS and led the country on the event on Feb. 27 and March 6. All this success was done without sophomore Julie Abaray, the 2004 Junior National beam champion. Abaray sprained her ankle before the season started and has competed on beam just once this campaign.
Bars not bad either...
With a 48.675 on bars at the Super Six Challenge on Jan. 6, Missouri recorded the highest bars score in a season opener in program history. Always an achilles heel for the Tigers in years past, the bars team has enjoyed unprecedented success this season.
With an average score of 48.862, the uneven bars have been Mizzou's most consistent event all year. Additionally, all six members of the lineup rank in the top 50 in the South Central Region.
Bunny hops all over record books...
Since she put on a Mizzou leotard in 2003, senior Lauren "Bunny" Schwartzman has scattered her name all over the Mizzou record books. She stands as the only Tiger in program history to earn a perfect 10, which Schwartzman accomplished twice on beam in 2004. She holds the top seven and 16 of the top 22 beam scores in Missouri history and also is tied with the program's floor record with a 9.975.
So close yet so far...
Four times during the 2006 season senior Sarah Zigler tied her career-high on bars with a 9.875. Zigler scored her personal best against Nebraska, Iowa State, at the Cat Classic and against Centenary but has yet to score a 9.900 or higher.
Tigers excell in the classroom...
Eight members of the squad were named to the 2006 All-Big 12 Academic teams. Seniors Jodie Heinicka, Lauren Schwartzman and Sarah Zigler, juniors Alicia Gilmore and Amanda Pezzullo and sophomores Julie Abaray and Katie Kluga were named to the first team while sophomore Nicole Bowman earned a spot on the second team.
Heinicka and Schwartzman made the first team for the third-consecutive year while Pezzullo is a two-time selection. The eight selections led the league and is twice as many as the next school.
Mizzou classroom success continues...
The Mizzou gymnastics team earned a perfect 1000 in the NCAA's Athletic Progress Rate, released March 1, which marks the second-straight year the squad recorded a perfect score. At the time of the APR release, only two gymnastics teams earned a perfect score and were ranked in the top-10: Missouri and Iowa State.
Tigers win eighth Cat Classic title...
For the fourth consecutive year, the Missouri Tigers won the 26th Annual The Callaway Bank Cat Classic on Feb. 24. The Tigers scored a season-high 196.025 to finish in front of Pittsburgh (192.050), Northern Illinois (191.225) and Ball State (187.900). With the team title, Missouri has now won eight in the Cat Classic's history.
Individual Tigers rule the Classic...
After the team competition on Friday night, the Tigers dominated the individual portion of the 26th Annual The Callaway Bank Cat Classic on Feb. 25.
Freshman Adrianne Perry picked up the all-around title Friday night in the team competiton with a career-high tying 39.300 while four different Tigers claimed the individual event titles. Senior Jodie Heinicka won the vault title with a 9.800, senior Sarah Zigler finished first on bars with a 9.850, junior Amanda Pezzullo scored a 9.825 on beam to take top honors and junior Whitney Crater won floor with a 9.875. Missouri's dominance at the Cat Classic marked only the second time a team won the team, all-around and all four event titles, as Arizona also accomplished the feat in 1997.
Tigers Pink Out Arkansas...
On Jan. 13 against Arkansas, Missouri hosted its Second Annual Pink Out, a meet aimed to raise breast cancer research and awareness. The Tigers teamed up with the University of Missouri Health Care Ellis Fischel Cancer Center for the event and helped raise over $1,600 for breast cancer research.During the meet, Mizzou gymnasts donned pink leotards instead of the usual Old Gold and Black in honor of the event.
And the winner is...
Seniors Jodie Heinicka and Lauren Schwartzman are nominees for this year's prestigious AAI American Award, which is college gymnastics equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. The award is given to a senior student-athlete whose career reflects a true leader in all that she does both inside and outside the gym.
Columbia Crazy for Tigers...
In the Tigers' home opener on Jan. 13, the program set a new non-Cat Classic attendance record with 2,897 fans against then-No. 17 Arkansas. The meet also marked the first time since 2003 that Mizzou drew over 2,000 fans for a meet other than the Cat Classic.