Gymnastics drops home opener

The Tigers put on several strong individual performances.

By Sean Leahy

Published Jan. 26, 2009

After playing the part of road warriors through the first two weeks of the season and coming out with a pair of victories, No. 12 Missouri took the floor at the Hearnes Center for the first time this season against No. 13 Nebraska on Friday night.

The Cornhuskers played the role of spoilers and handed Missouri a 195.750 to 194.750 loss in its home opener.

"Nebraska was the better team tonight," Missouri coach Rob Drass said. "We need to do a better job of going out there and doing what we do in practice."

For the second week in a row, a slow start in the first event plagued Missouri (2-1, 1-1 Big 12). The Tigers overcame that hurdle to defeat Arizona State on Jan. 16, but Nebraska (2-1, 1-1 Big 12) took its early point advantage and slowly pulled away beyond Missouri's grasp.

"We keep coming out and digging a little hole in the first event," Drass said. "If we don't do that, I think the meet goes a whole different way. The fact of the matter is we just have to do a better job starting out."

Despite the loss, some Tigers still grabbed personal and season bests with their performances.

Junior Sarah Shire took first in the vault and set a career high with a 9.925, and senior Adrianne Perry claimed second and tied her season best with a 9.85. Perry also tied for first in the all-around and posted a season-best 9.9 on floor exercise.

Freshman Mary Burke continued her increasingly strong start to the season by placing third in the all-around with 39.075.

Perry had a good personal showing, but she recognized the team still has some work to do.

"There were some positives in tonight's competition," Perry said. "But I think we had a lot of silly mistakes."

It was the same old story in regard to Nebraska's dominance at the Hearnes Center. Missouri hasn't beaten the Cornhuskers at home since 1995.

A crowd of 3,459 came to see the meet, the third largest attendance ever, not counting the team's annual Cat Classic event.

Perry admitted feeling some strong emotion before the meet.

"Even as a senior I still get nervous," Perry said. "I think it's important to get nervous because it means you are excited to compete."

The strong individual performances by Missouri kept Nebraska within striking distance through the first two rotations. The visitors' lead was increased to a full point during the third rotation when Shire fell off the balance beam during her routine.

"We had a solid start but we kind of let it go," Shire said. "I think we need to come back to basics and put it up on the road again this weekend because if we let it keep going in this direction it won't be a good end to the season."