This is the fourth time this year Shire has been named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, tied for most in the conference.This is the fourth time this year Shire has been named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, tied for most in the conference.
Gymnastics

Shire is Four-Time Gymnast of the Week

March 3, 2009

Columbia, Mo. - The Big 12 Conference has named junior Sarah Shire as Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, marking the fourth time this season the Columbia native has taken home the honor. She is now tied with Nebraska junior Kylie Stone for most weekly awards garnered this season.

Shire received the honor just two weeks ago after another career high performance, a 39.525 all-around win at the Beauty and the Beast meet. She was also Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Week in January with 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.

The awards come after a season of dominance in the all-around -- she has now won the top title in seven of eight meets this year, and has taken 15 individual event titles.

Her all-around win this past weekend marked a career and season high for the junior. She won the vault and floor titles, and matched her career high of 9.950 on vault for the second time in February. The all-around score tied for second-highest in program history, and was the third-highest score in the nation this week. It's also the fifth-highest score nationally this year.

This is the fifth career weekly award for Shire -- in addition to the awards earlier this year, 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.

The performance last Friday pushed Shire to No. 7 in the country, third on the beam, seventh on vault and No. 20 on the floor. She is first overall in the Big 12, and also ranks first on the vault and beam. She is fourth in the conference on the floor and uneven bars.

Shire will be in action again this weekend and hoping to lead the No. 13 Tigers to another victory, this time in Ypsilanti, Mich. where Missouri will take on No. 24 Kent State, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. That meet starts at 7 p.m. CT on Sat., March 7.

Stay with mutigers.com for news and updates throughout the week.