The No. 20 Missouri gymnastics team fell to Kentucky on Friday, but the team returned to the gym on Sunday in Champaign, Illinois looking for a comeback.
They got it.
The Tigers final score was a season-high 196.625 that secured the team first place in a tri-meet against host Illinois and the University of Illinois, Chicago. Illinois placed second with a score of 195.400, and UIC took third with a total of 194.100 points.
Missouri started the meet on fire, earning a season-best 49.250 on bars. Senior Shauna Miller executed a career high 9.900 point routine and took home an event title. It was her first event win since her sophomore year.
In the next event, senior Tia Allbritten scored a 9.825 on beam and following closely behind was freshman Gabrielle Gottula with a 9.800. However, the star on beam was junior Britney Ward, who took home the beam title with a 9.925 in the anchor position. The Tigers total score on bars was a meet high 49.150.
Missouri then went on to floor routines, scoring a team total of 49.325. Junior Michaelee Turner performed a graceful 9.900 floor routine and was embraced by her teammates after she took home her first-career event title. Mary Nicholson also had a high floor performance of 9.875, a career best for her.
In the last event, Missouri performed the lowest team total of the meet on vault with a 48.900. Sophomore Aspen Tucker performed a team high run of 9.850. Tucker also totaled a career-high 39.325 in the all-around, taking home her sixth all-around crown.
“From a physical standpoint, we should have been somewhat more fatigued [Sunday],” head coach Shannon Welker said in a press release. “We competed Friday, then we competed Sunday. What that goes to show is if you make up your mind that you want to do something bad enough, you can do it. We made up our minds that we would be better and we were going to be intentional about what we were doing.”
The Tigers return home on Friday, March 2 at 6:45 p.m.to take on No. 5 Florida at Hearnes Center.
_Edited by Joe Noser | jnoser@themaneater.com_
