No. 15 Tiger Gymnastics Heads to Illinois to Face Illini
3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
March 6, 2008
Columbia, Mo. - Looking to continue their recent success against the Illini, the 15th-ranked Missouri Gymnastics squad will travel to Champaign, Ill. to take on their rival from across the river on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Huff Hall. The Tigers have won the previous three meetings with the Illini while the Illini have not beaten the Tigers since 1999.
The Tigers lead the all-time series 14-7 with 11 of those wins coming in the regular season. The Illini are the third Big 10 Conference team that the Tigers will face in two weeks.
No Tiger has been better over the last three weeks than junior Adrianne Perry (Columbia, Mo.), who looks for her fourth consecutive all-around title this weekend. Despite dropping the team competition to Oklahoma and Michigan, Perry proved once again that she is one of the top gymnasts in the nation as she topped three top-10 all-arounders in each of the last two weeks, Kiara Redmond-Sturms of Oklahoma and Lindsey Bruck and Sarah Curtis of Michigan. Perry has tallied a 39.300 or better in each of the last two meets and while scoring a 39.250 at SEMO.
For her efforts against Michigan, Ohio State and Cal at the Cat Classic last Friday, Perry war rewarded by the Big 12 Conference as its Gymnast of the Week for this week. The honor was the third of her career and first this season. She is also the third Tiger to earn a Big 12 honor this season.
Perry is not the only gymnast that has been flipping into form for the Tigers. Sophomore Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) has put up scores of 39.225 or better in the all-around in her last four performances as an all-arounder. The streak was punctuated by a 39.500 against Centenary which earned her Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors. Shire also leads the Tigers with 18 event titles on the season and ranks second in the Big 12 Conference. With both Perry and Shire on the roster, the Tigers have had two of the best all-arounders in the nation over the last four weeks.
The Illini enter the contest with a 2-9 record but boast one of the nation's most difficult schedules as they have clashed with seven teams that are currently ranked in the top 20, including Stanford, UCLA and Alabama, all teams that rank in the top 10. Led by two underclassmen, freshman Allison Buckley and sophomore Nicole Cowart, Illinois has managed to see some time in the top 25, but are currently just on the outside at No. 28. Buckley currently ranks 31st in the all-around while Cowart ranks 42nd, showing a bright future for the Illini.
The meet is the Tigers fourth road meet and starts a stretch of two consecutive weeks on the road before coming home to close out the season on March 21 when they will close out the regular season against Arizona State on senior day. Live scores for Saturday's meet will be provided online. Stay tuned to www.mutigers.com for all the latest on Tiger Gymnastics.
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