Tigers shine against Illinois State

Senior Sarah Shire set a new Missouri all-around record.

By Ben Kupiszewski

Published March 2, 2010

The Missouri gymnastics public address announcer predicted records would be broken Friday night, and his prophecy proved to be true.

Multiple Tigers bested season, career and school records as No. 19 Missouri (8-2) ruffled the feathers of the visiting Illinois State Redbirds (5-4) 196.875-194.000.

The total score was Missouri's highest of the season thus far.

"That's what this team can do," coach Rob Drass said. "We can set records all the time."

Senior Sarah Shire was extremely happy with the Tigers' strong team performance.

"It was exciting to be rewarded and finally get a good team score for this team," Shire said. "We work so hard and every girl on the team deserves it."

The record-breaking occurred early and often Friday night for the Tigers as sophomore Mary Burke and senior Becky Scholle tied season highs on vault, scoring a 9.850 and a 9.825, respectively. Senior Danielle Guider earned a season best of 9.800.

At the end of the first rotation, Missouri took a 49.150-48.250 advantage on the Redbirds and never lost it.

The momentum continued on uneven bars for Missouri, as it matched its second highest total of the year with 49.075. Freshman Lauren Swankoski, sophomore Allie Heizelman and Guider achieved career highs on the event.

The only lapse was the usually solid Burke, who fell on an interchange from the high bar to the low bar.

"My hand just slipped," Burke said. "Nothing you can do about it, so move on."

And she did move on with a roar, matching her season and career mark on balance beam of 9.825.

Burke's best performance of the night came on floor exercise as she tied the Missouri school all-time record, posting a 9.975.

Then Shire matched Burke's score on floor, capping a career night that surpassed both her prior career best in the all-around set last week against Oklahoma and the Missouri all-around record. Her final score was 39.725.

Shire said Burke's efforts encouraged her to try her best on floor.

"After she threw up 9.975, it gave me encouragement," Shire said. "It gave me hope. It was so much fun tonight. I had really a good time competing."

Shire also earned her highest beam score ever, posting a near perfect 9.950.

Drass said Shire deserved a perfect score.

Burke said the loss to Oklahoma was a good wake-up call to get the Tigers to perform as well as they did.

"Coming off a meet with the No. 1 team in the nation and seeing how good they are, we knew we had to step it up for the rest of the season, and that's what we did," Burke said.

Guider and Swankoski both redeemed themselves from errors they committed last week against Oklahoma as both had career nights, scoring career highs in both uneven bars and on balance beam.

Guider's performance was especially important to her as she was coming off summer ankle surgery.

"It shows that all the hard work I put into all my rehab and practice every single day shows through my performance, and that's what you wait for every weekend," Guider said.

Guider's performance pleased Drass, and he said she can do it repeatedly.

"She's really a talented athlete, and I'm so proud of her tonight," Drass said.

Drass said overall, Friday night's meet was a huge confidence booster for Missouri.

"I think we have the horses to run with anyone," Drass said. "They just got to believe and bring that consistent energy everyday."