Jan. 13, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 14 Missouri gymnastics team withstood the Friday the 13th curse as the Tigers bested No. 17 Arkansas 195.100 - 192.225 in front of 2,897 pink-clad fans at the second annual Pink Out Friday night at the Hearnes Center. Mizzou gave the crowd, the highest opening home meet attendance figure in program history, a treat as the Tigers clicked on all cylinders. Freshman Adrianne Perry came away with the all-around title with a 39.025 in front of her hometown crowd.
Donned in pink and black leotards, the Tigers discarded their usual old gold and black attire in honor of the second annual Pink Out as Mizzou teamed up with University of Missouri Health Care Ellis Fischel Cancer Center to support breast cancer research and awareness. One dollar from every ticket sold will be donated to breast cancer research.
"Our team performed very, very well," said Missouri head coach Rob Drass. "Having almost 3,000 people here really makes doing gymnastics a whole lot easier, the crowd really energized us. The home school rotation is great because we start on two really good events for us. It gets us off running."
"How incredible is (Perry)?" said Drass. "Her first home meet in her hometown and her first all-around meet and she wins it. We're happy to have her for four more years and she's only going to get better."
Senior Sarah Zigler got the Tigers rolling in the first routine of the night with a career-high 9.850 on vault to place first overall on the event. Junior Amanda Pezzullo finished tied for second on the apparatus with a 9.825 while Perry and junior Whitney Crater both scored a 9.800. Always a great event for the Tigers, Missouri recorded its highest event score of the night with a 48.950 on vault.
The uneven bars proved to be a strong event for the second week in a row as the Tigers posted a 49.825. With a 9.925, senior Jodie Heinicka tied the sixth-highest bars score in Mizzou history and took home first place honors. Zigler had another strong performance on bars after notching a 9.800 while Perry and fellow freshman Alicia Hatcher scored 9.725 apiece.
Mizzou kept up its solid routines on beam as senior Lauren Schwartzman won the event with a 9.850, while Hatcher and Heinicka recorded 9.775 and 9.725, respectively, for personal bests. On floor, the Tigers improved their weakest event from last weekend to finish strong with a 48.650. Crater led the Tigers with a 9.850 for first place and Perry and Schwartzman both scored a 9.800, which marked a career-high for Perry.
"The meet was amazing," said Perry. "The crowd was incredible. It was good to hit all four events. We did well last weekend too so we're on the right track this year. We made some changes from last week and it really showed."
"We had winners on all events, it was just an all-around good meet," said Drass. "We fixed a lot of the errors we had last week. We still have to tweak some things and make it better but things are headed in the right direction."
The Tigers next face Centenary in Shreveport, La. on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7:00 p.m. CT. The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21 but has been moved to Friday.
Team Vault Bars Beam Floor Total
Missouri 48.950 48.825 48.675 48.650 195.100
Arkansas 48.750 48.000 47.975 47.500 192.225