Feb. 9, 2007
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - In front of a boisterous crowd of 6,197, the No. 19 Missouri gymnastics team bested Southeast Missouri State 194.775-192.700 in the first annual Beauty and the Beast Friday night at the Hearnes Center. In the victory, sophomore Adrianne Perry won the all-around crown with a 39.500 to set a new personal best and tie the fifth-highest score in Mizzou history. Wrestling alongside the gymnasts, the No. 2 wrestling squad picked up a 36-13 win over Northern Iowa.
"This was a great event," Missouri Head Coach Rob Drass said. "We got two Missouri wins and we got 6,000 people watching two great teams. Hopefully they'll come back and support both programs."
"I thought the event was really exciting," senior Amanda Pezzullo said. "To hear the wrestling crowd cheer and the gymnastics crowd cheer made it a lot easier to compete. A lot of us worried about being distracted but I think the atmosphere just helped us focus."
Starting strong in the first rotation, the Tigers posted a 48.900 on vault, highlighted by a 9.950 for Perry as she took the event title. The score set a career-high on the event and tied Perry for the third-best vault score in Tiger history. Pezzullo notched a 9.800 to finish in second place while senior Whitney Crater took fourth with a 9.750.
Moving next to bars, Mizzou swept the first five finishes as the squad recorded a season-high 49.025 on the event. Freshman Becky Scholle won her first career event title with a personal best 9.850 and junior Julie Abaray also notched a career-high with a 9.825 to tie Perry for second. Junior Ashley Khederian and senior Alicia Gilmore took fourth and fifth, respectively, with Gilmore scoring a career-high 9.750.
The Tigers' Achilles heel all season, Mizzou scored a 47.925 on beam in the third rotation. Perry claimed the event title with a 9.850 and freshman Danielle Guider finished in second with a personal best 9.725.
Missouri closed out the evening with a 48.925 on floor as Perry won her third event title of the night with a score of 9.875. Three Tigers, Pezzullo, Guider and Khederian finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, with scores of 9.850, 9.800 and 9.775.
Competing in the all-around for the first time since 2005, Khederian notched a 38.825 to finish in second place.
"We did a really good job on three events," Drass said. "We were as good as we've been all year on floor, bars and vault. We just have some confidence problems on beam, which we will address this week. In practice they look outstanding but we get out there during a meet and we lose confidence. We just need to handle the pressure a little better."
"And what can't you say about Adrianne Perry," Drass said. "She put on an outstanding performance tonight, a 39.500 is a big, big score."
Missouri returns to the Hearnes Center floor on Friday, Feb. 16 with a meet against Centenary at 7 p.m. The Tigers are home the following week as well, as the squad hosts the 27th annual The Callaway Bank Cat Classic on February 23-4. The team competition between Missouri, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan and William and Mary will take place on Friday, Feb. 23 and the individual event finals will be held on Saturday, Feb. 24.
