Feb. 25, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 19 Missouri Tigers (7-2) are taking the positives from last weekend's hard fought loss and are looking to rebound against Illinois State (5-3) this Friday in the Hearnes Center. The Tigers have finished regular-season conference competition and will see a string of non-conference opponents, including Illinois State, in the next few weeks.
As the Tigers head into the home stretch of the regular season, Head Coach Rob Drass is looking at correcting the little things.
"We are making sure that errors that occurred at the last meet don't happen again," Drass said. "We continue to work on the details and are looking to go out there and hit all 24 of our routines. Once we do that good things will follow."
Missouri recorded their second loss of the season last Friday against top-ranked Oklahoma 197.050-195.500. The Tigers had the lead after the first rotation, but after stumbling on bars in the second rotation they were not able to make up the difference. However, Missouri posted its highest beam score of the season (49.075) against the Sooners and saw new career and season highs from several gymnasts on almost every event.
"As it turns out, we saw the No. 1 team in the country in Oklahoma last week and I think we stacked up well with them," Drass said. "Unfortunately we had some errors on bars that we have now corrected. I think we are on track to do the things we want to do. This is a very talented team."
Senior All-American Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) set a new personal best in the all-around with a 39.625, which earned her a fourth Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honor this season. Shire is now tied with former Nebraska gymnast Emily Parsons for the most Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors in conference history at 11.
The Tigers' meet against the Redbirds is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m in the Hearnes Center. Stay tuned to mutigers.com for news and results.
News and Notes
Scouting Illinois State (5-3)
The Illinois State Redbirds may have started the season 0-2, but they have gone 5-1 since the second week of the season to give themselves their current record of 5-3. The team hit their highest score of the season (194.150) on Feb. 5 against Ball State, when they also notched a 48.750 on bars with four scores of 9.800 or above. Junior Erica Schick has been the consistent all-around competitor for the Redbirds with a season high 38.875. Schick has earned 11 individual and all-around titles so far this season and has twice earned the conference's Athlete of the Week award. Missouri leads the all-time series 16-4.
Shire ties Big 12 Conference Record
The Big 12 Conference named senior All-American Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week for the fourth time this season on Feb. 23. It is the 11th time Shire has received the weekly honor and has now tied Nebraska's Emily Parsons with the most Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors in conference history. Shire posted a new career-high score against Oklahoma last weekend of a 39.625 to win her fifth all-around title of the season. She won the vault title with a new season high 9.925 and tied for the bars title with another 9.925. Shire also posted strong marks on beam (9.900) and floor (9.875) to help her to the 18th all-around title of her career. The Missouri native ranks ninth nationally in the all-around and is tied for sixth on beam.
Highs matched and set against Oklahoma
The Missouri Tigers set several new career and season highs last week against Oklahoma. Mary Burke set a new season high and tied her career high on vault with a 9.850, while Sarah Shire posted a new season high of 9.925. Although it was an exhibition, Tara Foster recorded a new personal best for herself with a 9.700 on bars. On beam, Danielle Guider posted a season and career high 9.825, which helped Brooke Boehmer earn a new season high 9.800. Brittany Bendoff had only exhibitioned every meet of the season on floor prior to the Oklahoma meet. Her hard work finally paid off as she was granted a place in the lineup for the first time last week and proved why she deserved to be there with a 9.825 on the event. Sarah Shire gave herself a new career high in the all-around of a 39.625, which moves her even closer to the Missouri all-around record of 39.650.
Watch the Tigers at home
Tiger fans that were not able to attend the Oklahoma meet can catch the meet on tape delay broadcast in the upcoming weeks. The meet is scheduled to air on Metro Sports in the Kansas City area twice and four times on Fox Sports Midwest.
Metro Sports
Feb. 27 - 9 p.m.
March 7 - 1 p.m.
Fox Sports Midwest
Feb. 26 - 6 p.m.
Feb. 27 - 11 p.m.
March 4 - 2 p.m.
March 10 - 12 p.m.