University of Missouri
Southeast Missouri State
Tigers Continue Record Breaking Season
1/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Jan. 20, 2002
Columbia, Mo.-The University of Missouri women's gymnastics team opened the 2002 home season with another record breaking meet. The Tigers downed the Southeast Missouri State Otahkians 194.750-189.425 today to boost its dual meet record to 1-1 on the year.
Mizzou set the bar for the season posting the third highest all-time team score in just it's second me of the year. The mark comes after the Tigers posted it's highest season opening score (193.275) last weekend against Bowling Green. Also toping the record books, MU tallied a 49.075 on the uneven bars and a 49.050 to record the second highest score in school history on both apparatus.
The Tigers started the meet with a solid 48.450 vault score. Freshman Alisha Robinson led the even scoring a 9.800 while junior Alina Hamm was second recording a 9.725. Sophomore Andrea Nervig tied her career-high mark on the apparatus scoring a 9.650.
Robinson came back to dominate the uneven bars as well posting her second 9.900 on the event as a newcomer this season. Nervig posted a career-high on the bars for the second time this season. The sophomore has posted a 9.875 on the event to own a new sophomore record. Also earning top marks on the bars, sophomore Lindsay Davis scored a 9.85 to record a new career-best in the event.
Missouri struggled on the balance beam from the start with falls from the first two Tiger competitors. MU pulled through however to record four solid beam routines. Junior Leah Gremaud won the event scoring a 9.800 while Hamm was second with a 9.775.
Rounding out the meet, Mizzou put forth a stunning floor display where four of the Tigers' six competitors scored a 9.800 or higher. Freshman Ashley Asraf won the event for Missouri scoring a career-high 9.875 to tie Robinson's freshman record set against Bowling Green.
In the all-around, Hamm took top honors scoring a 39.100. Right behind the junior, Robinson finished second scoring a 39.075.
The Tigers return to action on Sun., Jan. 27 at 2:00 p.m., in Lincoln, Neb., when Mizzou takes on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Missouri's next home meet is scheduled for Fri.-Sat., Feb. 1-2 when the Tigers host the 22nd Annual State Farm Cat Classic.
Missouri Head Coach Rob Drass
"I think we had a great meet. I think SEMO struggled a little bit which made it a little bit easier for us to have a great meet because there wasn't as much pressure."
"I think our kids did a great job when they came out with six good vaults. We really hit five good bar routines, which is one of the highest scores in history on bars, that is the event we do struggle on and I think we grew a lot tonight on bars. We went to beam, that was our best event last time, and showed that it was a good event tonight. When you start off with a fall and come back with another fall, it is really easy to falter, but we didn't. We pulled it right back out and got some good scores there. We stayed on the beam and that is what I was most impressed with from the team. Then we closed out strong on floor. We did have one fall, but we didn't count it and I'm not worried because that athlete routinely hits 9.8's on the floor."
"I'm really impressed with the team effort. We had two solid all-around gymnasts and we had a great team effort the whole way through. I was very impressed with them and I think we're going to surprise a lot of people this year."
