March 5, 2014
Missouri Meet Notes at Auburn
COLUMBIA, Mo. - After a successful month of February, the Missouri gymnastics team looks to carry their momentum into the month of March beginning this Friday at No. 11 Auburn. With their last regular season road trip of the year, Missouri is in search of their first SEC meet victory of the 2014 campaign.
Friday's dual meet at Auburn, Al. inside Auburn Arena begins at 7:00 p.m. CT. Fans can follow along with live results through www.AuburnTigers.com. The meet will also be nationally televised through Comcast Sports South, and will be aired on Tuesday, Mar. 11 at a time TBD.
Missouri vs. Auburn Quick Facts
Mizzou returned to SEC action this past Friday, Feb. 28 with a road trip to No. 1 LSU. The visiting Tigers entered the meet at Baton Rouge, La. riding six consecutive victorious meet decisions, but the host LSU Tigers proved to be too much after recording a 198.050 to 194.825 team victory.
Despite the dual loss in Baton Rouge, Mizzou ended the month of February with an impressive 6-2 record. The positive month came after a rough start to the season, as the Tigers began 2014 with three consecutive meet losses.
A bevy of Mizzou gymnasts enjoyed a nice night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center last Friday evening, led by freshman Alyson Heimsath and junior Laura Kappler. Heimsath tallied scores of 9.725 or higher in all three of her events (vault, beam and floor), while Kappler established new career-highs on bars (9.800) and vault (9.850).
For the third consecutive meet, Mizzou's bars lineup turned in the most successful event after finishing with a 48.950 event total. The Tigers' 48.920 RQS score on bars currently ranks them 27th in the country.
Auburn returns home Friday against Mizzou, after suffering a loss on the road at No. 24 Kentucky last Friday, Feb. 28. The Tigers from Auburn, Al. struggled out of the gate on their opening rotation, and could not recover in time en route to a 196.275 to 194.825 team loss. Caitlin Atkinson turned in an impressive performance for Auburn despite the loss, with a 39.475 all-around score.
Last Time Missouri and Auburn Met
(Feb. 1, 2013) For the first time, the two Tigers programs met as conference opponents with the SEC. Auburn traveled to mid-Missouri last year, and earned a 196.725 to 194.575 team victory.
Auburn joined the annual "Beauty and the Beast" meet at Mizzou, in front of the event's largest ever crowd of 6,486 fans. The crowed also ranked as the 10th all-time largest crowd in Missouri gymnastics history.
Despite the loss to then No. 17 Auburn, Mizzou gymnasts recorded an array of new personal bests at the meet. Senior Tori Howard placed first on beam with a career and season high score of 9.900. Sophomore Rachel Updike also hit her then career-high on beam with a 9.875 score.
Missouri vs. Auburn History
In 26 all-time meetings with Auburn, the Mizzou Tigers hold a 7-19 (.269) record. Breaking down their historic meetings, Mizzou holds a 7-12 (.368) record in regular season matchups and a 0-7 (.000) mark in postseason play.
Although the two programs were not conference foes until this past year, the pair of Tigers have shared a rich history with each other. Mizzou and Auburn met in five consecutive NCAA Regionals back in the early 90's (1990-94) and also paired up in several popular themed meets in Columbia, Mo.
Auburn was a frequent visitor to one of the popular former events at the University of Missouri, the "Cat Classic." Beginning in 1987 and ending in 2002, the Auburn Tigers made nine total appearance in the Cat Classic, which included six consecutive trips from 1991-96. Auburn also joined Mizzou at the Corvette Cup back in 1998.
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