No. 15 Missouri gymnastics posted its highest team score of the season Friday, notching a 196.350 in the Mardi Gras Invitational against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 10 Georgia.
Despite a strong showing, the Tigers placed fourth. Oklahoma finished first, following by LSU and then Georgia.
Missouri performed well on bars, an event the team has struggled with at times this season. Sophomore Britney Ward recorded a new career high of 9.85 on bars, and sophomore Shauna Miller posted a season-high 9.875. The Tigers finished with a team score of 49.100, their second-highest of the season.
Junior Becca Schugel was solid on bars and floor and tied her season high on beam with a 9.85. Ward added another 9.85 on beam for the Tigers.
Junior Kennedi Harris continued her superb work on the floor, recording a 9.9, the fifth time this season she has scored at least a 9.9 or better on floor.
The Tigers came into the meet ranked No. 9 nationally on vault and lived up to their billing. The Tigers finished with a 49.2 on the apparatus, higher than their average for the season. Freshman Aspen Tucker tallied a career high of 9.925.
The Tigers fell to 8-6 but could remain at No. 15, or possibly even move up in the rankings this week, after their strong performance. This is the time in the season when the rankings transition from going by the average scores of all meets to using the Regional Qualifying Score.
RQS is calculated by using a team’s six best regular-season meet scores, three of which must be from away meets. The highest score is then removed, and the other five are averaged for the final score.
Missouri coach Shannon Welker sees the use of RQS as an advantage for his team.
“I think we’re a fairly steady team home or away, and in some cases I feel we do better on the road,” Welker said on Wednesday. “The road scores can count for any score you want, so I find that as a benefit to our team.”
Next up for the Tigers is No. 3 Florida in Gainesville, Florida, next Friday for a dual meet, which is set to begin at 6 p.m.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_