Gymnastics season recap
The individual event finals at the NCAA National Championship gave junior Sarah Shire the opportunity to put a finishing touch on her historic 2009 campaign.
While the 9.500 and 11th place finish on the vault may not have been up to Shire’s high standards in 2009, the junior heads into the 2010 season leaving behind a campaign packed with accolades and record scores.
Shire won a school-record 10 all-around titles during the season in addition to taking home 20 individual event titles. Her personal record book got a makeover as well, as she set personal records in every event.
Among other honors, Shire was named first-team All-American on vault, Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year and Big 12 Gymnast of the Week six times.
Now that the 2009 season is over, Missouri looks towards Shire to lead a team that loses two big-time performers to graduation.
Adrianne Perry was the only gymnast in Missouri history to qualify for nationals all four years of her career and won the Big 12 Championship floor exercise title twice.
A leader on and off the mats, Missouri is also losing Alicia Hatcher. The Blue Springs, MO native was named to the Mizzou ’39 this year and earned numerous All-Big team nods during her career.
For now, though, Shire takes center stage as Missouri hopes the momentum from an historic 2009 carries over into the 2010 campaign.