Gymnastics finishes third at Big 12 Championship
Missouri just missed capturing its highest finish ever at the Big 12 Championships as junior Sarah Shire became the second Tiger in a row to take home the conference all-around title.
The No. 14 Tigers finished third with a score of 195.925, falling short of No. 12 Nebraska’s 196.075 and ahead of host Iowa State’s 195.775.
In the fourteen years of the Big 12 tournament, Missouri has never finished higher than third place, though this year’s Tiger team score was the highest they have posted at the Big 12’s since 2004.
For the second year in a row, No. 8 Oklahoma took the conference crown as it posted a score of 196.125.
Shire, the Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year, took home her tenth all-around crown of the season by scoring 39.450 and also tied for the balance beam and vault titles. In addition, the Columbia native tied for second on the floor exercise with 9.900.
Senior Adrianne Perry successfully defended her floor exercise title by posting a career-high 9.950. Perry also earned second in the all-around, finishing behind Shire with a score of 39.325.
The last Tiger to earn a top-three finish was freshman Mary Burke who took third place on the vault with 9.850.
Near the end of the final rotation, the Tigers looked as though they might capture their first-ever runner-up finish but where thwarted when Nebraska’s last performer of the meet posted a score that pushed Missouri back to third place.
Missouri’s has finished third at the Big 12 Championships the last three years.