March 20, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. – After four successful years, the No. 14 Missouri gymnastics team (10-3) will say goodbye to four outstanding seniors that have made a lasting impact of the Tiger program. Seniors Brooke Boehmer (Overland Park, Kan.), Danielle Guider (Nutley, N.J.), Becky Scholle (Chesterfield, Mo.) and All-American Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) will compete for the last time in the Hearnes Center in a regular-season meet this Sunday, March 21, at 2 p.m against Centenary College (0-10).
“I think this senior class has really helped elevate us into a consistency level to make a run at the national championships each and every year they have been here,” Missouri Head Coach Rob Drass said. “Before them we hadn't really had a class that had been able to say that every single year. That's evidenced by how competitive we have been and by some of the rankings we have accomplished on the different events. They have just done very, very well.”
The most talked about and recognizable senior is Shire, who currently holds the No. 1 ranking in the all-around. Her accomplishments and career at Missouri speaks for themselves, but she has not gotten to the top alone. Boehmer, Guider and Scholle have been there recording high scores every step of the way and have put themselves in position to leave Missouri with a 50-17 regular season record.
“The whole team pushes each other and has made Sarah a better gymnast because of the three other seniors,” Drass said. “They helped her feel comfortable when she transferred here and accepted her with open arms. They made her transition to Missouri a lot smoother and easier and in turn that helped the team do better as well. This group of seniors are close and they have each other's back.”
Sunday will be the second time this season Missouri has competed against Centenary College. The Ladies hosted the Tigers back on Feb. 14 in a meet that Missouri won 195.000-189.800. Even with the win, Missouri left Shreveport, La., a little disappointed.
“I think we are a lot more solid now than the last time we competed against Centenary,” Drass said. “We were kind of going through a little slump last time and I think were on more of an upswing now. We are getting fine tuned for the Big 12 Championship and for regionals, so I think the team is operating on a finer-detail basis right now than we were the last time we competed against them.”
Missouri recorded just its third loss of the season last week to No. 13 Illinois in a meet that was neck-and-neck through three rotations. The Tigers held the lead the whole meet before stumbling on the beam that cost them their sixth straight win over the Illini with a final of 196.200-195.500.
The team will look to rebound with solid performances from all six competitors on the four events this weekend before heading to the Big 12 Championships on March 27 in Lincoln, Neb. The Tigers will be competing for their first Big 12 Championship in gymnastics against stiff competition in No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 11 Nebraska and No. 16 Iowa State.
Stay with mutigers.com for live stats, updates and complete results from Sunday's meet with Centenary.
News and Notes
Scouting Centenary College (0-10)
Centenary College of Louisiana had their best meet of the season on March 14 when the scored a 190.350 against SEMO. The Ladies hold their best average and RQS on vault with a 47.818 and a 47.910, respectively. The team has been making strides on beam and posted their highest event score of the year last week on the event with a 48.275. Two freshmen have made a big impact for the Ladies on vault and beam. Amanda Holt is tied for 11th in the MIC with a high of 9.725 and Jessica Lieblich ranks 17th in the conference with a high of a 9.800 on beam. Juniors Makensie Lant and Marisa Schneider have been the standouts on bars and floor. Lant has a season high of 9.700 on bars while Schneider holds a high of 9.725.
Shire ranked No. 1
Sarah Shire moved into the top-spot in the all-around in the latest GymInfo rankings released Sunday evening. After winning the 21st all-around title of her collegiate career with a 39.550 at No. 13 Illinois on March 13, Shire moved up from second to first in the national rankings. This is the first time in program history that a Missouri gymnast has held the No. 1 ranking. Shire also ranks in the top-20 on all four events. She is tied for 16th on vault, fifth on bars, fourth on beam and 10th on floor. The all-around score of 39.725 that Shire posted in the Feb. 26 meet against Illinois State still stands as the highest all-around mark posted this season. Shire has won eight all-around titles this season along with 29 event titles.
Tigers remain at No. 14
The Missouri Tigers maintained their spot at No. 14 in the GymInfo rankings released on Sunday, March 14. Missouri is ranked in the top-20 on all four events as well. The Tigers rank 15th on vault and bars, 17th on beam and 14th on floor. Although their highest ranking comes on floor, Missouri holds its highest average on vault with a 49.018.
Big 12 Championship set for next week
The Tigers will move on to post-season competition beginning next week with the Big 12 Championship. The University of Nebraska will host this year's conference championship in Lincoln, Neb., on March 27 at 2 p.m. The Missouri gymnastics' team will look to win its first ever Big 12 Championship, while Sarah Shire will compete to defend her 2009 title of Big 12 All-Around Champion. Tickets for the championship are available through the Nebraska Athletics ticket office. The meet will take place in Nebraska's Devaney Center – the site of last year's national championship.
Mizzou to host NCAA Regional Championship
Missouri will return to the Hearnes Center on April 10 for its last true meet in the building this season. Mizzou is one of the host sites for the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Regional Championships where six teams (including the Tigers) will compete for the chance to move on to the National Championship. Tickets for the regional event, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., are available through the Mizzou Ticket Office. The two practice sessions that will take place on Friday, April 9 from 2 – 5:40 p.m. are free and open to the public. The top two finishing teams at the regional will advance to nationals, which will be held in Gainesville, Fla., on April 22-24.