Missouri gymnastics advances to NCAA regional finals despite stern challenge from Georgia
Sienna Schreiber saved the day.
In her postgame interview with ESPN+, she said it was a team effort. But when Missouri gymnastics needed its standout graduate student most, she delivered.
Schreiber’s 9.900 in the final routine of the evening kept Mizzou one-tenth of a point ahead of Georgia in the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Friday evening in Gainesville, Florida, and the Tigers are advancing to the regional finals.
No. 4-seeded Florida won the meet with a score of 197.925. No. 13-seeded Missouri took second place at 195.525, just in front of Georgia’s 195.425. Iowa State rounded out the session at 196.575.
Missouri trailed after an uncharacteristically low score on floor to open the meet, checking in at 49.300, which is .215 below its season average.
But the Tigers rebounded by beating their national qualifying score on each of the bars, vault and, in the last rotation of the day, the beam. MU put up rotation scores of 49.375 on both the vault and beam, and scored a session-high 49.475 on bars, where Jocelyn Moore, Kyra Burns and Mara Titarsolej each eclipsed 9.9.
In its final rotation of the day, Missouri recorded all five counting scores above 9.850 on the beam to book its spot in the next round.
Mizzou, alongside regional winner Florida, will be back in action on Sunday for the regional finals, where the Tigers and Gators also face No. 5 Utah and No. 12 Michigan State, which advanced from the earlier session Friday in Gainesville. The top two teams will advance to the national championships April 19 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The regional final comes thick and fast for Missouri, and the Tigers have ground to make up for a shot at advancing.
Missouri’s regional score trails Utah’s by three-tenths of a point, as the Utes qualified at 197.825. The Tigers’ score was .050 better than Michigan State’s qualifying total in the earlier session.
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri gymnastics advances to NCAA regional finals
