April 15, 2009

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LIVE VIDEO (Session 1)

LIVE VIDEO (Session 2)

LINCOLN, Neb. - After a season filled with record breaking performances, junior Sarah Shire (Columbia, Mo.) and senior Adrianne Perry (Columbia, Mo.) will be looking to put an exclamation point on their 2009 gymnastics campaigns at the NCAA National Championships this week at the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.

Shire and Perry will both compete in the first session at 1 p.m. Thursday. Shire, the No. 2 seed, will rotate with Georgia, while Perry, the No. 5 all-arounder, will rotate with fellow SEC squad Florida. Both teams start on the floor exercise and end on balance beam, with Georgia starting on a bye. The second session kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday.

All-American honors are on the line for the Tigers: the top four finishers on each event in each session will earn first team All-American status and advance to the event finals at 6 p.m. Saturday, where they have the opportunity to be crowned National Champion. Gymnasts who finish fourth through eighth on Thursday are named to the second team All-American.

Live scoring and streaming video will be linked to mutigers.com. Television coverage of the NCAA Championships will be aired on tape delay on CBS at 1 p.m. CT on Sat., May 9.

Stay with mutigers.com for news and updates after tomorrow's preliminary Championship meet.

Some notes on Missouri's all-around contenders...

Sarah Shire

-Shire was named the co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year, South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year, and landed on the All-Big 12 squad for vault, bars and beam to lead the conference, and the All-Big 12 Championship team on vault, beam and floor. Took the Big 12 all-around title, as well as the vault and beam crowns. She was also named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week six times in 2009, the most of any gymnast in the conference.

-She has broken every single career high this season, including a 39.575 in the all-around, the second-highest tally in school history. Also boasts highs of 9.950 on vault, 9.900 on bars, 9.925 on beam, which she's hit three times this year, and 9.925 on floor. She is also only the second Tiger to hit a 9.950 on vault twice in a season or career. She leads the team average on every event except floor.

-Ranked No. 10 overall by GymInfo (first in Big 12), as well as No. 7 on beam (second in Big 12), No. 11 on the vault (first in Big 12), No. 29 on the floor (sixth in Big 12) and No. 32 on the bars (second in Big 12).

Adrianne Perry

-This is the fourth trip to the NCAA Nationals for Perry, the first Tiger gymnast to go in all four seasons. She was previously recognized for her three consecutive trips in her first three seasons, another Missouri first. Perry holds five of the 15 top all-around scores in Missouri history.

-Perry recently took the Big 12 floor crown for the second year in a row behind a career-high 9.950 performance. She also placed second in the all-around, a title she took last year as well, just behind her teammate, Shire. She was named to the All-Big 12 and All-Big 12 Championship floor team. The nods give her eight career All-Big 12 selection. Perry was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team for the second year in a row; she was a second-team member in 2007.

-Is the 29th-best gymnast in the country and third in Big 12, No. 14 on floor nationally and second in Big 12, where she averages a 9.875, No. 65 nationally and eighth in the Big 12 on vault and beam.

Chasing All-American Both Shire and Perry will be vying for All-American honors, given to the top eight finishers on each event and in the all-around. Missouri's last All-American was Alisha Robinson, who claimed the honor in 2005 on the vault. The Tigers have never taken an all-around All-American title.

A couple of firsts

This is the first time Missouri has sent two individuals to the NCAA Championship competition. In addition, Perry is the first Missouri gymnast to qualify all four years as an individual competitor to the NCAA National Championship.

Tigers finish third at Big 12; Shire takes three titles

It was a slow beginning but a near-brilliant ending for the Tigers, who ultimately finished in third place behind a team total of 195.925. Oklahoma took top honors for the third time in Big 12 history with a 196.125, and Nebraska placed second with a 196.075. Iowa State rounded out the competition by scoring a 195.775.

Junior Sarah Shire capped off a record-setting junior campaign by taking the Big 12 All-Around title and a share of the vault and beam title. It's Shire tenth all-around title of the year, a school record, and 20th event title. Her score was a 39.450.

Teammate and senior Adrianne Perry took the floor title for the second year in a row with the night's best score, a 9.95 on a near-perfect routine, and finished in second place in the all-around with a 39.325.

Missouri started on bars with a 48.8, then put together a 48.875 on balance beam. The Tigers put up their biggest numbers on floor (49.125) and vault (49.150).

Shire is co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year

Just after taking the Big 12 all-around, vault and beam titles, Shire was able to add another award to her reume: Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Year. Nebraska junior Kylie Stone took the other half of the award.

The recognition was undoubtedly deserved after Shire put together one of the best campaigns in Tiger gymnastics history. Her ten all-around titles this season is a school record, and she was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week six times in 2009, the most of any conference gymnast. Shire was also named Newcomer of the Year in 2008. Burke, Shire and Perry grab spots on Championship team

While the Tiger team placed third, several Missouri individuals found themselves in the top spots of several events on the night. Freshman Mary Burke and junior Sarah Shire took spots on the vault team, and Shire also took a spot on the beam and floor team. Perry, the floor champion, was also named to the floor team. This is the third year in a row Perry has landed on the championship team, and the second for Shire.

Shire, Perry land on All-Big 12 teams

It's that time of year again, and the awards continue to roll in after a record-setting year for the Tigers. Junior Sarah Shire was named to the vault, bars and beam All-Big 12 teams to lead the conference. This is her second All-Big 12 selection; last year, she made the vault team. Senior Adrianne Perry was picked to the floor team, as she comes in at second in the conference with an RQS of 9.89 on the event. This is her third All-Big 12 selection, as she has made the vault team for the past two years. The top four Big 12 gymnasts with the highest regional qualifying score (RQS) in each event, excluding all-around, determine All-Conference honors.

Six Tigers named to Academic All-Big 12 teams

Missouri continues to lead the conference both in the gym and in the classroom. Seniors Adrianne Perry and Alicia Hatcher, juniors Brooke Boehmer and Becky Scholle, and sophomore Lauren Stephenson were named to the first team. In addition, sophomore Alex Gold was named to the second team. This is the third selection for Hatcher; she has been a first team pick in every year she has been eligible. This is also the second year for Perry, Boehmer and Scholle. First team members have recorded a 3.20 or better GPA, while the second team are those with a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA. To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or in the two previous semesters and have participated in 60 percent of her team's scheduled contests.

Shire finds another place in the record books

Junior Sarah Shire has contributed some of the Tigers' top scores this season, many of which cracked the Top 15 all-time. But she now claims the title in at least one category: most all-around wins in a season.Her ten titles in one year is the most all-time for Mizzou Gymnastics. The previous record was eight, held by senior Adrianne Perry in her 2006 freshman campaign.

Sarah Shire is six-time Gymnast of the Week

The junior was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Week on March 18 by the conference office, the sixth time this year and fourth time in five weeks that Shire has claimed the honor. She now leads the Big 12 for most weekly awards garnered this season.

Shire's award comes after her ninth all-around crown of the year this past weekend at the Eagle Invitational in Ypsilanti, Mich. She took top honors by a score of 39.475, as well as the vault and bars title with a 9.825 and 9.9, respectively.

This is the third week in a row that Shire has stood as Gymnast of the Week -- she received the title two weeks after a career-high performance of 39.575 in her all-around win at the Cat Classic. She received the honor two weeks before after her performance at Beauty and the Beast, and was also Co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Week in January with Nebraska junior Kylie Stone. Shire won the award outright the week before. Senior Alicia Hatcher was also named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week that week.

Shire has been one of the most dominating gymnasts in the conference this year. She has now won the top title in nine of ten meets this year, and has taken 18 individual event titles.