The Tigers won four titles at the Cat Classic.
The final night of the 25th annual Cat Classic showcased talented gymnasts, unique routines and stellar performances from four schools.
After Friday’s team and all-around competition, the gymnasts with the top ten scores on each individual event continued to Saturday’s finals. The invitational included No. 24 Missouri, Towson, New Hampshire and Illinois State.
It is a premier event in the country because it follows the format of the Olympics and gives gymnasts a chance to alter their usual routines.
The changes give performers a chance to impress the judges with a more risky approach without affecting their team’s score.
Missouri won Friday’s competition, and senior Alisha Robinson took second in the all-around competition with a 39.150 behind New Hampshire’s Amanda Hall (39.250).
Mizzou freshman Ashley Khederian placed fourth with a 38.875.
Eight Tigers continued on to compete for individual championship titles on the vault, bars, floor exercise and beam on Saturday.
Robinson competed in each of the four events and became the Cat Classic champion in three of them. Her stellar performances on the vault (9.925), bars (9.825) and floor exercise (9.90) earned her the titles and the chance to finally look at her performance with pride.
“I thought it was amazing,” Robinson said. “I haven’t had this good of a meet yet, so I’m just really excited about it.”
Although she was tired from Friday’s events, she said that she used the adrenaline of the crowd to pick up her game. She said seeing the kids who have been coming out all year and begging their parents to come tonight really makes a difference in how she wants to perform. As a senior, the Cat Classic is a capstone to an MU gymnastics career.
“This is the meet of the year, besides Big 12s and nationals, this is it,” Robinson said.
Junior Lauren “Bunny” Schwartzman also capitalized on the big night. She won the championship title on the beam, scoring a 9.85.
“It’s pretty exciting to know that your hard work and hours in the gym pays off,” said Schwartzman. In addition to her beam title, she also placed third on the floor exercise.
Aside from all of the sensational performances, another exciting point of the meet came when 16-year old 2004 U.S. Olympian Courtney McCool was announced in the crowd. She was immediately swarmed by children asking for autographs. Coach Rob Drass stepped in and escorted her to the podium where she had volunteered earlier to hand out trophies to the gymnasts placing in the top six of each event.
“It was a treat for all the athletes and the fans to see her,” Drass said. “Sometimes you never know who you’re going to meet at a Missouri gymnastics event.”
Drass said he was very pleased with the performance of his team. Eleven places went to MU gymnasts, three on vault, bars and floor, and two on beam.
“We were on the top of the awards stand every time, but we had many other athletes close to the top as well,” Drass said.
Other Tigers who placed were freshman Julie Abaray, second on beam and sixth on floor; sophomore Whitney Crater, sixth on vault; freshman Ashley Khederian, fourth on vault; sophomore Kelly Andersen, third on bars; and Jodie Heinicka, second on bars.
Drass said the weekend’s great showing for the Tigers will put them on a high heading into the conference championships and should qualify them for regionals.
“We are really starting to peak at the right time,” Drass said. “We had a little slow start, but we’re hitting on all cylinders now, and things are really going well.”
The Tigers will be back on the mats to host Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m. Friday in the Hearnes Center.