The Missouri Tigers gymnastics team played host to Centenary College, Southeast Missouri State University and Temple in a quad-meet Friday at the Hearnes Center for Senior Night.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing during the meet for the host Tigers, but the team persevered to defeat the competition, claiming first place with a final score of 194.775.
The outcome brought a smile to the face of the team’s lone senior Alex Gold, who was not as emotional as she had anticipated.
“I told myself, ‘This was your night to be the best you can, so don’t take it too seriously and just have some fun’,” Gold said. “I think I did a good job of that tonight.”
The Tigers kicked off the meet in fine fashion, hitting their mark on all six vault attempts, posting a team total of 48.775, their second-highest of the season, which was enough to carry the lead after one rotation.
The Tigers would then encounter a rough patch on the bars, The team missed on three of their six attempts, posting a season-low score of 47.775, thus relinquishing the lead to SEMO.
Coach Rob Drass was disappointed with his team’s less-than-stellar performance on bars.
“It’s been the story of our year,” Drass said. “We knock our three events well, then dig ourselves a hole on one event. That was not nearly what we are capable of on bars. I’m really pulling my hair out right now.”
The team was facing an up-hill battle entering the third rotation, a battle they did not shy away from.
The Tigers fought through adversity to post a team score of 49.150 on beam, which was a new high-water mark for the season. Gold and sophomore Lauren Swankoski each posted new career bests of 9.825, while junior Allie Heizelman matched her career-high of 9.875. Fellow junior Mary Burke also matched her career-high of 9.900.
Drass, while pleased to see his team redeem themselves, acknowledges there is work to be done.
“The sign of a strong team is to comeback from adversity, and I think this is a strong, young team, but the sign of a great team is to not have adversity,” Drass said.
As a result of their successes on beam, the Tigers closed the gap on SEMO and found themselves up with the Red Wings with one event left.
The Tigers finished with their floor routine, and they picked up where they had left off, recording a new season-high of 49.075 on floor routine.
That mark was just enough to seal the deal for Missouri, as they defeated SEMO by just .125 points
Swankoski turned in her best collegiate performance to date, posting an all-around score of 39.200, a new personal best.
“It was very important for us to go out there and show the appreciation we have for our only senior, through actions not just words, and I think tonight we did exactly that.”
