Feb. 26, 2009
Columbia, Mo. -
After two straight weeks of his 13th-ranked squad surpassing the 196.000 mark, Head Coach Rob Drass believes the Tigers are finally hitting their stride.
But that doesn't mean the team can't improve on their best, he said.
“At this point, we've settled into a nice rhythm, I think we have confidence,” Drass said. “But, I think the Top 10 teams in the country are all right there. Those teams aren't giving up and they're ahead of us, so we've got to continue to push.
“We're not where we want to be yet, we've got a couple more tenths to squeak out. When we go head-to-head with these teams, we end up doing a lot better than the rankings show. We took Oklahoma to a tenth-and-a-half in their home arena (last week), that says a lot about the talent of our team.”
Missouri will be looking to do just that on the biggest home stage of the season: the 29th annual Cat Classic. The yearly invitational, one of the oldest in the country, has played host both to some of the best teams in the country and to some of Missouri's biggest all-time records, including attendance.
Drass is hoping the event will bring both, as a larger crowd fires up the gymnasts to perform their best.
“We're always excited for the Cat Classic. We always want to win it — it's a great honor to be a Cat Classic champion,” he said. “If we can go out there and perform and get the crowd excited, that helps us score better. The bigger the crowd, the better performance they'll get.”
This year, fans will see the Tigers take on No. 23 Michigan State, Western Michigan and Cal State Fullerton. Like last year, the invitational only includes Friday night's team competition. The meet starts at 6:30 p.m.; doors open at 5 p.m.
Missouri has history on its side; the Tigers have taken the Cat Classic title ten times, the most of any team, including five years in a row from 2003 – 2007. Last year, Missouri took second with a score of 195.275 behind No. 4 Michigan's 196.200.
Stay with mutigers.com for news and results from the Cat Classic, as well as updates after the meet.
Scouting the Cat Classic contenders...
No. 23 Michigan State: The Spartans are ranked seventh in the Big 10 conference and No. 23 in the nation with an average score of 194.182 this season. Last week, MSU posted a season-high score of 194.900 in a win over Pittsburgh. Sophomore Kelsey Morley has broken out as the gymnast to watch for the Spartans — she set a new school record on the balance beam with a 9.975 two weeks ago. Head Coach Kathie Klages is in her 19th year at the helm of the squad. The Tigers previously defeated MSU at a quad meet in Ohio this year — MU took first, while the Spartans took third with a score of 194.500.
Western Michigan: The Broncos are ranked seventh in the Mid American conference after a 1-10 start to 2009. WMU is averaging 187.904 per meet this year. Their season high of 191.875 came in a win over Illinois-Chicago. One of their brightest gymnasts has been senior all-arounder Andrea Perini, who most recently notched a 38.525 against Ball State. She is sixth in the conference with an average of 39.362. Thirteen-year head coach Terry Karwoski leads the squad. Mizzou is 2-0 against the Broncos all-time, with their last meeting being in 2000.
Cal State Fullerton: The Titans are ranked fifth in the Western Athletic conference with a season average of 192.886. CSU most recently defeated in-state rival Sacramento State by a score of 193.375-192.900. The Titans look to sophomore all-arounder Alaina Baker, who is from Oak Grove, Mo. and trained at GAGE in Kansas City, where several Tigers also originated. Baker has won the all-around title twice this season, most recently as last week by a score of 39.050. The Titans are coached by Jill Hicks, who is in her third year. The series between MU and CSF is tied at 1-1, with their last meeting being a Tiger win in 1997.
The last time...
...the Mizzou Tigers posted a score of 196.000-plus two weeks in a row was 2006. MU scored a 196.000 in a loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 17, then followed that with a first-place Cat Classic finish by a score of 196.025. The last time the Tigers put up a 196-plus three weeks in a row was 2004, when MU did it twice that season.
Reviewing the 2008 Cat Classic
No. 14 Missouri took second place behind a score of 195.275 as they beat both No. 22 Ohio State and Cal-Berkeley. The Tigers could not catch No. 4 Michigan, who scored a 196.200 to take the top spot. Then-junior Adrianne Perry won her third straight all-around title of the season with a 39.300, just ahead of Michigan's Sarah Curtis, who notched a 39.275, in front of a crowd of 2,851 fans.
Big scores, big crowds
Missouri's top team floor total, and individual floor and all-around scores came at the 2004 Cat Classic. Alisha Robinson contributed a 9.975 on floor and a 39.650 in all-around during the junior-campaign meet. The floor score contributed to the Tigers' 49.575 team score on the event, also tops all time. And some of the Hearnes Center's biggest crowds have turned out for the Cat Classic — the record stands at 10,562, set in 1987. The top 11 crowds all time belongs to the 29-year-old tournament.
Texas native is Gold for Tigers
Sophomore Alex Gold (Plano, Texas) has quietly become one of the Tigers' go-to gymnasts on vault and floor. She smashed her career high on the vault last week with a 9.925 — the highest score by any gymnast on any event that night — to take the event title. She is ranked 26th in the country on the event and second in the Big 12 with a 9.750 average. Gold has also been a steady member of the floor lineup, where she averages a 9.736. She has hit a 9.725 or better on that event in every meet but one.
Mizzou finds success in multiple meets
The Tigers have now participated in 33 multiple team meets since Head Coach Rob Drass took over in 2000. In those meets, Missouri has an impressive record — 65-32, including 14 outright wins. Those 14 wins include six Cat Classic titles. Last season, the Tigers were 3-3 in regular season multi-team meets — they finished second at the Cat Classic and third at the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational in Corvallis, Ore. This year, they have taken first place in a quad meet at Ohio State, and took second just last week in a quad meet at Oklahoma.
Tigers push record books on vault
Missouri is ranked 11th nationally on the event with an average of 49.007, second highest in the Big 12. The Tigers have now cracked the 49.000 mark on the event four times this year, with the first time coming at Arizona State in the second week of the season. Mizzou's season high on the event came just three weeks later when the Tigers posted a 49.250 against SEMO, the fifth highest score in program history and the highest since March 2007.
Missouri breaks out on bars
The Tiger squad added the uneven bars to their list of events where they've broken the 49.000 mark in the fourth week of the season — Missouri posted a 49.150 on the event at Ohio State, still a season high. Their previous high had been 48.725, set the week before. Leading the pack was junior Sarah Shire, who broke her career high on the event with a 9.900. Senior Adrianne Perry (9.875) and freshman Mary Burke (9.850) also posted season highs that week.
Tigers light up the floor
Choreographer Amy Smith and the Tiger squad have been working hard on floor routines, and it shows. Missouri is ranked No. 11 nationally on the floor with an average of 49.000. That's also good enough for third in the Big 12, just over seven-hundreths of a point behind second-place Nebraska. Contributing to that total in a big way have been senior Adrianne Perry and junior Sarah Shire. Perry is ranked fifth (avg. 9.875) on the event, while Shire is ranked 24th (avg. 9.832). Perry is first while Shire is fifth in the Big 12.
Sarah Shire is three-time Big 12 Gymnast of the Week
The junior was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 17 by the conference office, the third time this year Shire has claimed the honor.
The awards come after a series of dominating performances in the first half of the season by Shire, capped by the past weekend's 39.525 career-high all-around win against Illinois. At the time, she had won the all-around title in five of six meets this year, and had taken 12 individual event titles. Shire was named Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Week in January with Nebraska's Kylie Stone, and won the award outright the week before. Senior Alicia Hatcher (Blue Springs, Mo.) was also named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week that week.
This is the fourth weekly award for Shire — along with last week's award, she was named Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Week after putting up a 39.500 against Centenary in February 2008. Shire was also named the Big 12's Newcomer of the Year for 2008, and was picked for the first-team All-Big 12 on vault and for the All-Big 12 Championship team on beam.
Some facts on the Tigers' scores vs. Illinois...
Team (196.625): Seventh-highest score in program history; second-highest all-time at home; highest score in two years (196.675 at Michigan, 3/16/07); season-high team score; Beam (49.250): Third-highest beam score all-time; highest score in four years (49.325, 2/11/05). Floor (49.300): Sixth-highest floor score all-time; fourth-highest score at home; highest score in two years (49.350, 3/16/07).
Finding their footing
After struggling on beam to start the 2009 season, the Tigers made a statement on the event against Illinois, going 49.250 on the night. And that's an understatement — it was the third-highest beam score all-time, and the highest score on the event in four years (49.325, 2/11/05). Missouri has now cracked the 49.000 mark on all four events this year.
How to break records
Through the first seven meets, it's already been a big year for the Tigers, as eight career-best records have fallen already this year. Junior Sarah Shire has set four new career highs in the all-around (39.525), and on vault (9.950), bars (9.900) and beam (9.925), and senior Alicia Hatcher set a personal best on floor (9.775) against SEMO one week after tying it. Junior Brooke Boehmer set a new personal best on the balance beam against Illinois with her 9.875. Tiger sophomores have been bringing the heat, too — Lauren Stephenson posted a new career high on beam (9.725), while Alex Gold shattered her career high on vault (now 9.925) last week after breaking it with a 9.900 earlier this year.