Gymnastics receives high rankings
Missouri is headed into the home stretch of the 2009 campaign with two regular season meets before the Big 12 Championships on March 21 in Ames, Iowa.
National rankings released Monday proved that the No. 13 Tigers (12-2, 1-2 Big 12) will be finishing the season with some of the NCAA’s best.
GymInfo’s national rankings put junior Sarah Shire at No. 7 in the all-around and also had senior Adrianne Perry at No. 7 on the floor exercise.
Both upperclassmen boast resumés that validate their rankings.
At Friday’s Cat Classic, Shire posted a career-high 39.575 and took first in the all-around for her seventh title this season.
Though Perry scored a below-average 9.750 on floor exercise at the Classic, the senior has hit 9.900 twice this season and averages around 9.850.
While Missouri’s team score of 195.275 at the Classic ended their quest to score above 196.000 for the third straight week (a feat not accomplished by the Tigers since 2004), it was good enough to vanquish then-No.23 Michigan State, Cal State Fullerton and Western Michigan.
Here’s a few more news and notes about the Tiger’s win and the Cat Classic itself
-The Tiger’s three victories pushed their season win total into double digits for the seventh year in a row
-Missouri has now won the Cat Classic six out of the last seven years, their lone defeat in that time occurred in 2008 as they fell to then No. 4 Michigan.
-The Tigers have won ten of the 29 total Cat Classics
-Though the attendance of 2,297 was not one of Missouri’s all-time best, the Cat Classic has drawn the top-eleven highest attendance marks in program history
-Missouri’s victory gave them their second win over Michigan State this season; they also took down the Spartans on Jan. 31 in a quad meet in Columbus, Ohio
Shire, Perry and Co. will hit the road one last time during the regular season as they head to Eastern Michigan this Saturday.
Missouri’s third consecutive quad meet will also feature No. 24 Kent State and Central Michigan.