Tigers gymnastics raises the bar against SEMO

The team had nine individual season highs set or tied at the meet.

By Sean Leahy

Published Feb. 9, 2009

Due to a fast start in its first event, No. 13 Missouri's 195.750 to 193.400 win against Southeast Missouri State saw plenty of personal records come crashing down as the Tigers' win total continued to rise.

Missouri (6-1, 1-1 Big 12) bucked a season trend of falling behind after its first event, instead putting SEMO into the hole early.

"I think that was an incredible start on vault," coach Rob Drass said. "There was a definite focus to start out strong this meet. We wanted to have a fast start, and we did it."

Junior Sarah Shire paced Missouri's fast start to the evening when she hit a career-high 9.950 on the vault. Senior Adrianne Perry and freshman Mary Burke both added scores of 9.850, contributing to Missouri's 49.250 season-high team score.

After the first rotation, the Tigers opened up a .625-point lead against SEMO, and Missouri pulled away from there.

"There's always a good feeling when you start the meet with a bang," Perry said. "Then you can keep things rolling."

In all, nine individual season highs were either set or tied by the Tigers. The vault alone featured four gymnasts at least tying their season bests, and Shire set her career mark.

In addition to setting their high score on vault, the Tigers also set a new mark on the balance beam (48.775) and, for the second straight week, set a new high team score.

"The energy from vault carried on to the bars and carried on to the beam," Shire said. "It was nice to not have to dig ourselves out of a hole after the first rotation."

Shire captured her second consecutive all-around title with a season-high score of 39.400. Perry and Burke followed her in second and third place, respectively.

"I'm starting to get more confident in the spotlight, but at the same time, I'm relying on this team to set me up for those positions," Shire said. "It's so much easier to go knowing that everyone else has hit (their routines) in front of me."

After a disappointing loss two weeks ago against Nebraska, the Tigers were happy to get a home victory.

"It hurts not winning at home, so it is nice to get not only a win at home, but also the highest score of the season," Shire said.

Even though Missouri is making strides in raising its team high score, Drass pointed to missed points on the floor exercise as proof that there is room for improvement.

"If we almost hit 196.000 and feel like we left close to a point on the floor exercise, then we can probably hit the high 196.000s and maybe even pop a 197.000 on a good night," Drass said.

Drass and the Tigers welcome Illinois next week for the Beauty and the Beast meet. They have already triumphed against Illinois this season, as well as two other Big Ten teams Jan. 31.