Columbia, Mo. - In search of the programs first appearance at the NCAA Championships since 1981, the No. 18 Missouri Gymnastics squad will head to Baton Rouge, La. to participate in the NCAA Central Regional on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. (CDT). The Tigers earned the third seed at the event, behind No. 6 Stanford and host school, No. 7 LSU. Also joining the Tigers will be No. 20 Kentucky, No. 26 Kent State and No. 33 Ohio State. Live stats will be provided at www.mutigers.com and streaming video is also available at www.ncaa.com.

Looking to continue her sizzling season, junior Adrianne Perry (Columbia, Mo.) will look to build upon her historical performance at the Big 12 Championship. Perry tallied a 39.375 in the all-around en route to becoming the Tigers first ever conference champion in the all-around. Perry edged top-10 all-arounders Emily Parsons and Kiara Redmond-Sturms to earn the honor. Perry also became only the sixth Big 12 Champion on any event for the Tigers as she claimed co-champion honors on floor, tying Redmond-Sturms with a 9.900.

Perry has qualified for the NCAA National Championships in each of the last two seasons and has her sights set on qualifying again this season, but as a team rather than an individual. The Tigers have fallen just short as they have finished third in each of the past three regionals. The Tigers need to finish in the top two on Saturday to qualify, meaning that they will likely need to pull off an upset over LSU or Stanford.

One thing that the teams in each of the last three seasons did not have that this seasons team does, is Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) Shire has claimed 19 event titles on the season and earned All-Big 12 first team honors during her first season as a Tiger. More importantly, Shire brings with her Championship experience as she was a member of the 2007 NCAA National runner-up, Utah. With both Shire and Perry, the Tigers look primed to take down one of the top two seeds.

The Tigers have also had big performances from several other gymnasts over the past several weeks. Junior Alicia Hatcher (Blue Springs, Mo.) earned All-Big 12 first team honors on bars. Hatcher has consistently posted huge scores on bars all season long, maxing out a 9.875. Hatcher has hit that career high mark on six different occasions in 2008. Along with her performance on bars all season, Hatcher has also been a standout on beam and will likely lead the Tigers off on floor as well.

Senior Ashley Khederian (Carlisle, Mass.) has also been a bright spot of the Tigers in 2008. Looking to qualify for her first NCAA National Championship, Khederian has been one of the Tigers most consistent all-around performers in 2008. Khederian owns a season high 39.125, set at Nebraska and has only fallen once this season on any event, quite a feat considering she is the only Tiger to compete on every event in every meet this season.

Stanford enters the regional as the top seed and ranks sixth in the nation. Stanford is 20-4 on the season and boasts the title "Pac-10 Champions." Senior all-arounder Tabitha Yim was also named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. Yim, and 11-time All-American also won the Pac-10 all-around tile at the Pac-10 Championships. Stanford has an RQS of 196.770, ranking them just ahead of LSU.

The Bayou Bengals come in ranked seventh with a RQS of 196.730. Led by SEC Gymnast of the Year, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, LSU is in prime shape to qualify for the NCAA National Championships. Clare-Kearney ranks second in the nation in the all-around behind only Utah's Ashley Postell. LSU is 17-6 after placing fourth at the SEC Championship and will be looking for support from the home-town crowd on Saturday.

Kentucky enters the regional ranked 20th in the nation. The Wildcats are ranked in the top 20 on every event except for bars. Their achilles heel all season long, the Wildcats rank 36th in the nation on bars and average a 48.232 each time out, making it clear that UK is just bars away from being an elite team in collegiate gymnastics. Led by Emilie Rymer and freshman Andrea Mitchell, Kentucky is in a similar spot as the Tigers as they need to pull of an upset to advance to the National Championship.

Kent St. has been a pleasant surprise in the world of collegiate gymnastics as they dominated the MAC Conference during the regular season. The Golden Flashes finished 11-3 overall and 6-0 against MAC opponents. They also dominated the MAC Championships by winning by almost an entire point over the next closest competitor, Eastern Michigan.

Ohio State comes into the regional struggling by their usual standards. The Buckeyes placed last at the Big 12 Championships and just squeaked into the regional as they ranked 33rd. The Buckeyes have already lost to the Tigers once this season as Mizzou topped them at the Cat Classic back in February.

The regional appearance is the Tigers eighth consecutive post season bid. In fact, the bid is gives the Tigers 20 Regional berths in the programs 28 year history. The Tigers also received a favorable bid in the rotation as they will rotate from event to event as if it were a normal home meet. For all the latest on Mizzou Gymnastics, stay tuned to www.mutigers.com.

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.