March 6, 2009
Columbia, Mo. -After a few stumbles in last week's Cat Classic, the No. 13 Missouri Tiger gymnastics squad will be pushing for a return to form in this weekend's Eagle Invitational in Ypsilanti, Mich. The push is especially important as Missouri hopes to edge up in the rankings in preparation for the postseason beginning next month.
Eastern Michigan hosts the invitational, which also features No. 24 Kent State and Central Michigan. The meet starts at 7 p.m. from Warner Gymnasium. The Tigers will try out a new rotation this weekend, as well, starting the night on beam, then proceeding to floor, then vault and ending on the uneven bars.
Missouri returns to Columbia next weekend for the final home meet of the year and Senior Night. The Tigers will take on Oregon State at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13. Tickets are just $2; doors open at 5 p.m.
Stay with mutigers.com for news and updates from the meet on Saturday.
Eastern Michigan (6-6) The Eagles are in fifth place in the Mid American conference with an average score of 191.859 this season. This is their final home meet of the year; the squad will say goodbye to five seniors, including Duyen Zu Vuong, who was named the MAC Specialist of the Week earlier this year. EMU is coming off a West Coast road trip, where they finished fourth in the Washington Invitational before twice defeating Seattle-Pacific, with one of those wins coming just a hair under their season high of 192.925. Head Coach Steve Wilce leads the squad. The Tigers are 4-0 against the Eagles, with their last meeting coming at the Cat Classic in 2007.
No. 24 Kent State (9-3) The Golden Flashes are on top of the Mid American conference and ranked 24th in the country; they average 193.916 per meet this year. The squad has been on a tear recently, scoring 196-plus in two of their last three meets. The Flashes are lead by senior Rachel Stuck and junior all-arounder Lydia Barrett, who both clamined MAC Gymnast of the Week honors this past week. Seventeen-year head coach Bruce Biggin leads the squad. Mizzou is 1-0 against the Flashes all-time, with their last meeting coming at NCAA Regionals last year. This will be Kent State's second competition in a row against a Missouri team — the Flashes topped S.E. Missouri State, 196.025-194.075, last weekend.
Central Michigan (9-2) Just behind the Golden Flashes for second place in the MAC, the Chippewas are averaging 193.912. CMU has posted back-to-back season high scores of 195-plus in the last two weeks. The Chippewas look to sophomore all-arounder Andrea de la Garza, who won the all-around title last week with a 39.075 vs. Bowling Green. CMU is coached by Jerry Reighard, who is in his 26th year at the helm of the squad. MU leads the series 3-1, with their last meeting being a Tiger win in 2007.
Sarah Shire is four-time Gymnast of the Week
The junior was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week on March 3 by the conference office, the fourth time this year and second time in three weeks that Shire has claimed the honor. She is now tied with Nebraska junior Kylie Stone for most weekly awards garnered this season.
The awards come after a series of dominating performances in the first half of the season by Shire, capped by the past weekend's 39.575 career-high all-around win at the Cat Classic. At the time, she had now won the all-around title in seven of eight meets this year, and had taken 12 individual event titles. She was Gymnast of the Week just two weeks ago, 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.
This is the five 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.
Shire, Tigers crack the Top Ten
Junior Sarah Shire landed at the No. 7 spot in the national all-around rankings after taking her seventh title of the year with a 39.575 at Friday's Cat Classic. She is also ranked third on the balance beam, seventh on vault and No. 20 on floor. Those same numbers have earned her first place in the Big 12 in the all-around, and on beam and vault. She is fourth in the conference on floor. Shire is 51st in the nation on bars, fourth in the conference.
This is Shire's second showing in the national top ten. She was ranked No. 5 in the country after opening week in a 39.350 showing in the season opener at Iowa State.
Shire is far from the only Tiger to make an appearance in the rankings. Senior Adrianne Perry (Columbia, Mo.) is ranked No. 22 overall, including a team-high seventh on the floor exercise. She is also No. 55 on vault, seventh in the Big 12, and No. 45 nationally and eighth in the conference on beam. Sophomore Alex Gold (Plano, Texas) is No. 32 nationally and third in the Big 12 on vault.
Senior Alicia Hatcher (Blue Springs, Mo.) is No. 40 on the beam, good enough for sixth in the conference. As a team, the Tigers are No. 13 nationally for the sixth week this season with an RQS of 195.535. They are tenth on vault, 15th on bars, 19th on beam and 12th on floor.
We're halfway there...
One of Missouri's team goals was to average a 49.000 or better on all four event this year. The Tigers are halfway there — they average a 49.034 on vault and a 49.013 on floor. The team is close on bars and beam, as well, where they average a 48.725 and 48.700, respectively.
A quick note about Shire's 39.575
Sarah Shire's all-around score tied for second-highest in program history, and was the third-highest score in the nation that week. It's also the highest score in the Big 12 this year, fifth-highest score nationally.
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. Junior Sarah Shire continued that tradition last week with her 39.575 in the all-around — the second-highest score in program history.
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 32nd in the country on the event and third in the Big 12 with a 9.759 average. Gold has also been a steady member of the floor lineup, where she averages a 9.744. 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 34 multiple team meets since Head Coach Rob Drass took over in 2000. In those meets, Missouri has an impressive record — 68-32, including 15 outright wins. Those 15 wins include seven Cat Classic titles, including last week's. 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 10th nationally on the event with an average of 49.034, second highest in the Big 12. The Tigers have now cracked the 49.000 mark on the event five 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. 12 nationally on the floor with an average of 49.013. That's also good enough for second in the Big 12, just six-hundreths of a point behind first place Oklahoma. Contributing to that total in a big way have been senior Adrianne Perry and junior Sarah Shire. Perry is second in the Big 12 and seventh nationally (avg. 9.880) on the event, while Shire is ranked 20th (avg. 9.837) and fifth in the Big 12.
How to break records
Through the first eight meets, it's already been a big year for the Tigers, as ten career-best records have fallen already this year. Junior Sarah Shire has set four new career highs in the all-around (39.575), 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, while classmate Danielle Guider's 9.850 on the floor at the Cat Classic was a new personal best. 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) at Oklahoma after breaking it with a 9.900 earlier this year.