Sports shorts
Published March 16, 2010
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Senior Sarah Shire performs her beam routine Feb. 26 at the Hearnes Center. Missouri lost to Illinois this Saturday in Champaign, Ill.
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Freshman Andrea Lewis smacks a forehand during her doubles match against Southern Methodist University on Feb. 28 at the Green Tennis Center. Missouri lost to Nebraska this past weekend in Lincoln, 7-0.
Gymnastics
Missouri's shortcomings in the last rotation allowed No. 13 Illinois (9-7) to beat the Tigers in a close affair Saturday.
The No. 14 Tigers (10-3, 1-2 Big 12) led the fighting Illini to the end of each rotation, except the last one, as the judges tallied the final scores and announced Illinois had edged Missouri out 196.200-195.500.
The loss against Illinois snaps Missouri's five-meet winning streak.
Despite defeat, senior Sarah Shire posted some dominating performances, winning the all-around title (39.550) — her eighth of the season and 21st of her career. Shire also captured the event titles for vault (9.900), uneven bars (9.925), and balance beam (9.850), but her skill just was not enough to clinch the win for Missouri.
The Tigers did set some new personal bests and tied season-high marks during the loss. Senior Danielle Guider continued her hot streak and scored a new career-high on bars of 9.825, and junior Alex Gold matched a season high score of 9.850.
Along with Guider's season high on bars, her overall performance was also solid. Guider scored 9.725 on beam and a 9.825 on floor exercise.
The Tigers will head home, lick their wounds and prepare to say goodbye to their seniors against Centenary College (0-6) on March 21.
Guider, Shire, Becky Scholle and Brooke Boehmer will be honored as they hope to help the Tigers dispatch Centenary for the second time this season.
Tennis
The Tigers saw their losing streak hit five over the weekend, with losses at Iowa State and Nebraska. The Cornhuskers swept Missouri 7-0 on Sunday to hand Missouri its second conference loss this year.
Friday, the Cyclones took two of three doubles matches and two of six singles matches. Juniors Kaitlyn Ritchie and Mallory Weber won their doubles match and then went on to claim Missouri's singles titles.
Senior Kristen Bleakley and freshman Maria Christensen also took their doubles match.
Wins were a harder feat against the Cornhuskers, as the Tigers were shut out for the first time since Jan. 23 against Ohio State.
The Tigers come back home to play West Virginia University and University of Houston this weekend.
Track and field
Two Tigers earned All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend.
Senior Nick Adcock and junior Lars Rise took fourth and fifth place spots, respectively, in the heptathlon. Their scores were within 53 points.
Adcock was coming off a heptathlon victory at the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Feb. 27, and Rise took his second career All-American nod.