No. 8 Gymnastics goes 195.500 in SEC Opener

Friday, January 10

Lexington, Ky.

5 p.m. CT

University of Missouri

195.500

196.525

#10 Kentucky

1/10/2020 7:07:00 PM | Gymnastics

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 8 Mizzou gymnastics team opened Southeastern Conference action with a 196.525-195.500 loss at No. 10 Kentucky on Friday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Freshman Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) won her second beam title in as many weeks with a 9.95 on the apparatus.

BARS

Mizzou opened the night with a 48.750 on bars in the first rotation. Freshman Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) posted a career-best 9.875 to lead the Tigers and tie for second overall on the event. Redshirt senior Morgan Porter (Overland, Mo.) scored a 9.75, and sophomore Alisa Sheremeta (Circleville, N.Y.) and freshman Sienna Schreiber (Cumming, Ga.) added 9.75s.

VAULT

Three Tigers earned scores of 9.8 or better as Mizzou went 48.850 on the event. Freshman Kambrie Brandt (Adkins, Texas) paced the squad with a 9.825, just ahead of 9.8s for Porter and freshman Sienna Schreiber (Cumming, Ga.).

FLOOR

A 49.025 on floor in the third rotation extended Mizzou's streak of consecutive meets with a 49 or higher to 16, dating back the final meet of the 2018 season. Porter scored a 9.875, a team-best, and her second straight tally of a 9.875 or better. Sophomore Hannah McCrary (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) went 9.85, and Brandt and Sheremeta added 9.775s.

BEAM

Hu concluded Mizzou's night with her career-best 9.95 on beam and became only the second freshman in program history to earn a 9.95, joining Porter. Overall, Missouri went 48.875 on the event in the final rotation, as junior Gabrielle Gottula (Spring, Texas) posted a 9.8 and Schreiber went 9.775.

QUOTABLES

Mizzou Head Coach Shannon Welker
"We need to continue to improve but I thought we took a nice step forward tonight. One of our main goals this year is to be the most adaptable team in our conference, meaning we can put new people in at any time and adjust to the environment. And I thought we did an awesome job of that tonight. We had 17 of 24 routines tonight that we did not have at the end of last season. We had a lot of young people step up and hop in the lineups, and they did a really nice job. This is a good place to build. This team is only going to better, we have a ton of talent. Now we have a good feel for what to expect moving forward, and I'm excited to see the growth."