Shire and company travel to Illinois Saturday
The No. 14 Tigers set a new road-high with a 196.200 in their tri-meet win in Cape Girardeau, Mo., against South East Missouri State (194.575) and Alaska-Anchorage (189.850) last Sunday.
Missouri’s All-American senior Sarah Shire won the all-around with a total of 39.675, sweeping all the event titles. It was Shire’s seventh all-around title this season and 20th of her career at Missouri.
In response to Shire’s performance, the Big 12 awarded her with a third-consecutive Big 12 Gymnast of the Week award. It was her sixth of the season and 13th of her career.
According to GymnInfo, Shire holds the second-highest national ranking in the all-around, boasting an average of 39.350. Shire is rated in the top-25 in every event while being in the top-10 in balance beam and floor exercise. Furthermore, Shire’s career- and school-high all-around score of 39.725 against Illinois State on Feb. 26 is the best score posted by any gymnast this season thus far.
Shire and company will travel to Champaign, Il., on March 13 in hopes to spoil Senior Day for No. 13 Illinois.
In their last meet, the Fighting Illini won convincingly against Ohio State 196.300-194.700. Propelled by junior Melissa Fernandez’s performance 9.925 on uneven bars (which tied the fifth-highest score in the history of the school), Illinois recorded a season high on the event (49.225) and later used the momentum to get another team season best on beam (49.175).
The Tigers also dispatched the Buckeyes this season, doing so in their season opener on Jan. 8