No. 20 Gymnastics Nabs Three Wins and Goes 196.775 in Home Finale

Friday, February 28

Columbia, Mo.

7 p.m. CT

University of Missouri

196.775

196.675

Minnesota

No. 20 Gymnastics Nabs Three Wins and Goes 196.775 in Home Finale

2/28/2020 10:17:00 PM | Gymnastics

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Redshirt senior Morgan Porter (Overland, Mo.) clinched the meet win with the final routine of the night as the No. 20 Mizzou gymnastics team scored a 196.775 to place first in a four-team meet Friday night at the Hearnes Center. Missouri defeated No. 11 Minnesota (196.675), Lindenwood (194.700) and Ohio State (194.675) in the home finale.

Freshman Helen Hu (Chicago, Ill.) won the all-around, beam and tied for the bars crowns to up her season win total to a team-high 12 titles. We tied her career-bests in the all-around (39.475) and on beam (9.975) and went 9.875 on bars en route to her wins. Additionally, sophomore Hannah McCrary (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) claimed the floor crown with a career-high 9.925 for her second event title of the season.

FLOOR

With Mizzou holding a slim 147.425-147.400 lead over Minnesota heading into the final rotation, the Tigers responded with a 49.350 on floor to clinch the victory. Porter needed at least a 9.775 for Mizzou to secure the win, and she closed the night with a 9.85 in the anchor position.

McCrary preceded Porter in the lineup and secured a career-best 9.925 for the event title, which was the third of her Tiger career but first on floor. She previous high was a 9.9 set at Alabama on Feb. 7.

In addition to Porter and McCrary, junior Gabrielle Gottula (Spring, Texas) and sophomore Alisa Sheremeta (Circleville, N.Y.) both earned 9.875s, and Hu added a 9.825.

VAULT

The Tigers opened the meet with a 49.200 on vault for the second week in a row. Gottula erupted for a career-best 9.9 in the second spot, and freshman Sienna Schreiber (Cumming, Ga.) opened the night with a 9.875. Porter added a 9.85 and Hu went 9.8.

BARS

Hu's 9.875 paced Mizzou on bars in the second rotation, where the team compiled a score of 49.100. Schreiber led off the event with a 9.85, Porter earned a 9.825 and Sheremeta went 9.8. Freshman Hollyn Patrick (Lafayette, Colo.) made her Tiger debut on the event, earning a 9.75.

BEAM

For the second week in a row, Hu anchored the beam lineup with a 9.975. The career-tying tally made her only the second Tiger in program history with at least two scores of 9.975 or higher, joining Lauren Schwartzman (2003-06), who did it three times.

Overall, Mizzou went 49.150 as a team on the apparatus, as Schreiber and McCrary both added 9.825s and Porter tallied a 9.775.

QUOTABLES

Mizzou Head Coach Shannon Welker
"We did a good job of sticking in there and not letting some small mistakes get us off track. We kept our energy up and stayed focused. We had one of our best meets start to finish this season, overall I'm very pleased. How exciting to have Morgan (Porter) clinch the win for us at the end. We knew what the scores were and I think we needed a 9.75 to tie and anything over that was a win, and clearly she was over that. It was pretty emotional on a number of levels."