Friday, January 13
Fayetteville, Ark.
7 p.m. CT
University of Missouri
at
Arkansas
No. 6 @MizzouGym Set for Two-Meet Road Trip This Weekend
1/12/2017 9:32:00 AM | Gymnastics
| No. 6 Missouri (0-0) MEET DAY - Friday, Jan. 13 // Sunday, Jan. 15 | ||||
| OPPONENT | LOCATION | DAY | TIME | MEDIA |
| No. 12 Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark. | Friday | 7 p.m. | Live Stats SEC Network + |
| Lindenwood/SEMO | St. Charles, Mo. | Sunday | 3 p.m. | Live Stats FloGymnastics (Fee) |
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 6 Missouri gymnastics team hits the road for a pair of meets this weekend. First, Mizzou heads to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face No. 12 Arkansas on Friday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. CT in a meet broadcast live on SEC Network + and WatchESPN. The team then travels to St. Charles, Missouri, on Sunday, Jan. 15 to take on host Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri in the State of Missouri Meet at 3 p.m. CT.
- Missouri and Arkansas are tied 6-6 iall-time in regular season series history, while Mizzou owns a 7-0 mark against Lindenwood and is 30-6 all-time against Southeast Missouri in the regular season.
- Mizzou is ranked No. 6 in this week's RoadToNational's rankings, the highest ranking program history, surpassing the old high of No. 7 set on Jan. 30, 2006
- The Tigers opened the 2017 season with a score of 196.225 and wins over then-No. 24 Illinois (194.200) and Ball State (193.625) on Jan. 6. Missouri's score stands as the highest opening-meet score in Tiger history, besting the old high of 195.350 set in 2016 and 2004.
- Mizzou's 2017 slate is ranked the fourth-toughest in the country entering the season, behind only SEC foes Georgia, Auburn and Alabama.
- Missouri returned every single routine from the 2016 season. Last year, the freshman class led the way with 181 total routines, followed by the sophomore class with 108 and the junior class with 23.
- Head Coach Shannon Welker enters his fourth season at the helm of the Tiger program. In his first three years in Columbia, Welker has Mizzou back in the national spotlight. In 2016, the Tigers posted their highest NCAA Regional finish (third) since 2010 and finished the season ranked 19th nationally, ahead of Southeastern Conference foes Arkansas and Kentucky. Additionally, Missouri recorded three scores of at least 196.625 or higher during the year in 2016, only the second time Mizzou accomplished that in the 37 year history of the program.
LAST TIME OUT
- Missouri opened the 2017 season with a bang as the team erupted for a 196.225 to defeat No. 24 Illinois (194.200) and Ball State (193.625) on Jan. 6. The Tigers' score was the highest opening-meet score in program history, easily surpassing the 195.350 recorded in 2016 and 2004
- Juniors Kennedi Harris and Becca Schugel, sophomores Madeleine Huber and Britney Ward and freshman Aspen Tucker all earned wins on the night
- Huber tied for the fifth-highest bars score in Mizzou history with a 9.925 to take the victory on the apparatus, besting her old career high of 9.875. Harris and Schugel each tallied 9.850s on floor to share the win and Ward took top honors on vault with a 9.825. In her first collegiate meet, Tucker earned the all-around victory with a total score of 39.175
- As a team, Mizzou tallied scores of 49.200 on bars, 49.175 on beam, which tied the 10th-best score in team history, and a 49.075 on floor
MISSOURI RANKED SIXTH NATIONALLY TO EARN HIGHEST-EVER RANKING
- Missouri clocks in at No. 6 in the first in-season RoadToNational's national rankings, released on Monday, to earn the team's highest ranking in program history
- The current ranking surpasses the program's old high of No. 7 set on Jan. 30, 2006
- Mizzou, which entered the season at No. 19 in the preseason rankings, shot up to No. 6 following Friday's wins over Illinois and Ball State
- In addition to its total team ranking, Missouri also ranks tied for fifth nationally on floor, seventh on bars, tied for seventh on beam and tied for 16th on vault
MIZZOU OWNS NATION'S FOURTH-TOUGHEST SCHEDULE
- Heading into the season, the Tigers' schedule was rated the fourth-toughest in the nation
- The strength of schedule was calculated by reverse assigning points to each team based on their final 2016 final ranking (example: No. 1 Oklahoma is worth 82 points, No. 2 LSU 81 points, etc.). Additionally, only the highest-ranked team at each meet is used to assign points for that particular meet
- Every single home meet features at least one opponent ranked in the preseason top 25
- Missouri's schedule ranks behind only Southeaastern Conference foes Georgia, Auburn and Alabama
TIGERS OPEN SEASON IN RECORD-SETTING FASHION
- Mizzou opened the 2017 season in incredible fashion on Jan. 6 as the Tigers posted a score of 196.225 to earn wins over then-No. 24 Illinois (194.200) and Ball State (193.625)
- Missouri's score was the highest opening meet score in program history by almost a full point, as the previous best was 195.350, accomplished in both 2016 and 2004
- The Tigers were one of only six teams nationally to post a score over 196 in the first week of the season
- On individual events, Mizzou posted tallies of 49.200 on bars, 49.175 on beam, 49.075 on floor and 48.750 on vault
HUBER RANKED THIRD NATIONALLY ON BARS
- Sophomore Madeleine Huber is ranked third nationally on bars following the first meet of the season
- Huber scored a career-high 9.925 on the event in the season opener to claim her first-ever event title
- Her score ties her for fifth all-time at Mizzou on the apparatus
- Additionally, freshman Aspen Tucker is tied for 19th nationally in the all-around and juniors Kennedi Harris and Becca Schugel are tied for 22nd on floor
SCHUGEL STELLAR IS SEASON DEBUT
- Junior Becca Schugel was Missouri's most consistent competitor against the Fighting Illini and Cardinals on Jan. 6
- Schugel tallied scores of 9.850 on all three of her events, bars, beam and floor, and tied teammate Kennedi Harris for the floor title
- Schugel was a mainstay on bars and beam a season ago but the season opener marked her first time in the floor lineup since her freshman season, when she competed on the event in 11 meets
- Her beam and floor scores from Friday were just shy of her career highs of 9.875 on the events
TIGERS RETURN EVERY ROUTINE FROM 2016
- Being one of the nation's youngest team's in the nation a season ago has its benefits, as the Tigers return every single routine from 2016
- Last year, the then-freshman class led Missouri with a total of 181 routines, or 58 percent of its lineup
- The sophomore class contributed 108 routines (34.6 percent), while the junior class accounted for 23 routines
- (7 percent)
MISSOURI CONTINUED TO RISE IN 2016
- The Tigers continued impressive improvements in 2016 in Head Coach Shannon Welker's third year with the program
- Top highlights during the season included
- Finished third at the NCAA Minneapolis Regional, the team's highest finish since 2010
- Britney Ward earned NACGC/W regular season All-America second team honors on beam, the first Tiger to claim regular season honors, which was first awarded in 2013
- Morgan Porter became the first Mizzou gymnast to earn Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors
- Porter notched one of the top performances in program history on March 4, 2016, when she tallied an 39.675 all-around score, which is tied for second on Mizzou's all-time list
- Missouri scored a 196.625 at Auburn on Feb. 26, the team's highest away score since 2007
- A 195.800-165.350 win over No. 9 Georgia on Jan. 22 was the team's first win over a top-10 opponent since 2010 and the team's first-ever SEC dual victory
- The Tigers recorded three scores of at least 196.625 in a season for only the second time in the 37-year history of the program
- Porter qualified for the NCAA Championships as an all-around competitor and was the first Mizzou gymnast to qualify for NCAAs since 2012
LOOKING AT THE OPPONENT...ARKANSAS
- The Razorbacks are ranked 12th in the first in-season rankings of the 2017 season
- Arkansas suffered a close 195.700-195.350 road loss at then-No. 4 UCLA on Jan. 7
- The squad notched event scores off 48.900 on beam, 48.875 on vault, 48.825 on bars and 48.750 on floor
- Amanda Wellick tied for the vault title with a 9.900 against the Bruins and put up a 39.300 in the all-around
- Head Coach Mark Cook, who started the Arkansas program in 2004, is in his 14th season as at the helm of the Razorbacks
LOOKING AT THE OPPONENT...LINDENWOOD
- Lindenwood is the two-time defending USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Champions, with titles in 2015 and 2016
- The squad opened the season with a 192.075 against Iowa, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan
- The Lions ended 2016 with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 194.310
- Sophomore Katey Oswalt claimed Midwest Independent Conference Specialist of the Week honors on Tuesday
- Head Coach Jen Kesler is in her fourth season at Lindenwood
LOOKING AT THE OPPONENT...SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
- Sunday marks Southeast Missouri's 2017 opener as the team did not compete last weekend
- Last season, the Redhawks finished second in the Midwest Independent Conference and concluded the year with a regional qualifying score of 193.225
- Junior Alexis Brawner is the reigning MIC Gymnast of the Year and competed in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional as an all-around competitor
- Kristi Ewasko is in her seventh season as the head coach of the Redhawks
Players Mentioned
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