No. 12 Missouri Gymnastics Ranked First Nationally On Beam
3/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
March 6, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 12 Missouri gymnastics team ranks as the nation's best beam team in this week's national rankings. Tied for first with No. 1 Georgia last week, the Tigers pulled ahead of the Gym Dogs this week to take sole custody of first. Mizzou's strong beam squad is led by senior Lauren Schwartzman, who ranks as the nation's top beam worker for the second week this season.
With the regular season winding down, thoughts now turn to NCAA postseason competition. A total of 36 teams will qualify for six different NCAA Regionals, with Arkansas (South Central), Georgia (Southeast), Iowa State (North Central), LSU (Central), Michigan (Northeast) and Stanford (West) serving as hosts. The nation's top 18 teams will be seeded as shown:
Region 1: No. 1, No. 12, No. 13
Region 2: No. 2, No. 11, No. 14
Region 3: No. 3, No. 10, No. 15
Region 4: No. 4, No. 9, No. 16
Region 5: No. 5, No. 8, No. 17
Region 6: No. 6, No. 7, No. 18
Joining the three seeded teams in each Regional will be the top three unseeded teams from that region for a total of six teams. The top two teams from each Regional will then qualify for Nationals, to take place in Corvallis, Ore., on April 20-22. Based solely on this week's rankings, Missouri would travel to the Southeast Regional in Athens, Ga. to face No. 1 Georgia, No. 13 Auburn and the Southeast region's top three non-seeded teams. The NCAA will announce the official Regional pairings on Monday, March 27.
This week marks the fourth time in Schwartzman's career she ranks as the country's best beam worker. She also held the top spot the week of Feb. 20 of this year and twice in 2004. In addition to Schwartzman, senior Jodie Heinicka is tied for fourth nationally on bars and freshman Adrianne Perry ranks 16th in the all-around and is tied for 16th on beam.
The Tigers travel to Iowa City, Iowa for a meet against No. 36 Iowa on Saturday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in the University of Iowa Field House. Mizzou then returns to the Hearnes Center for the regular season finale on Friday, March 17 in the last home meet of seniors Jodie Heinicka, Lauren Schwartzman and Sarah Zigler's career.
Players Mentioned
