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Senior Nikki Bowman and company head to Baton Rouge for the NCAA Central Regional

Tigers Head to Baton Rouge, La. for NCAA Central Regional

Mizzou is the No. 3 seed in the Region

March 31, 2008

Columbia, Mo. - On the heels of its third place finish at the Big 12 Championships over the weekend, the No. 18 Missouri Gymnastics squad received a bid to compete in the NCAA Central Regional for a shot to qualify for the NCAA National Championships. The bid secures the Tigers seventh NCAA Regional appearance in a row and 20th in the programs 28-year history.

The Tigers earned the third seed at the event while No. 6 Stanford earned the top seed. No. 7 LSU, the host school, earned the second seed with Ohio State, Kent State and Kentucky rounding out the field. Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six regions. The Tigers will begin the meet on vault and rotate events just like a normal home meet, but with the six team format, the Tigers will receive byes between vault and bars and beam and floor.

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors not on an advancing team from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA National Championships in Athens, Ga., April 24-26, hosted by the University of Georgia. Event winners at the regional championships will also advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or are not all-around qualifiers. Junior Adrianne Perry (Columbia, Mo.) is coming off of one of her finest performances of her career at the Big 12 Championship. Perry tallied a 39.375 in the all-around becoming the first Tiger in school history to earn a Big 12 title in the all-around. She also won the floor title with a score of 9.900.

The Tigers need to place in the top two at the Central Regional in order to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. Earning the third seed, the Tigers will need to top at least one of the top two seeds. No. 1 seed Stanford is coming off of a Pac-10 title last weekend when they posted a 197.000. LSU, who placed fourth at the SEC Championship with a 196.500, will have the home town crowd behind them as the second seed.

Stay tuned to www.mutigers.com for all the latest on Mizzou Gymnastics heading into the NCAA Central Regional. For the complete team selections, visit www.ncaa.org.

Shire, Perry to Rotate with SEC Squads

04/06/2009 - W. Gymnastics

This is senior Adrianne Perry's fourth trip to the NCAA National Championships, a school record, and the first time Missouri has sent two individuals to the competition.