Perry a beaming success

Dressed in a furry white robe adorned with pink and red hearts and a red bow tied around her ponytail, sophomore Missouri gymnast Adrianne Perry came to practice on Wednesday in the Valentine’s Day spirit.

But Perry stood out in a much bigger way this week when she was named the Big 12 Conference Gymnast of the Week.

“I can’t say it was a goal of mine,” said Perry of the award. “But I’m very excited to get it and appreciative.”

Perry received the award because of her performance in the team’s dual meet against Southeastern Missouri State on Feb. 9. Perry won the all-around as well as three individual event titles.

Her all-around score of 39.50 is not only her career high, but it is also the highest total by a Big 12 gymnast this season and the fifth-highest all-around score in Missouri history.

The award is the first of Perry’s career and the first time an Missouri gymnast has received the honor since 2005. Her coach said the award validates her many attributes as a gymnast.

“I think she has a natural talent to do it,” said Missouri coach Rob Drass. “She’s very calm and cool under pressure. So I think what you see in practice is what you get in the meet. I think she has high expectations for herself, so I think that helps as well. She’s very self-confident and those things just kind of spill over. But the natural ability has to be there as well.”

Perry said the key to achieving the all-around score was her beam routine, an event that has plagued her and the rest of the team throughout the season.

“(Beam is) where I’ve had most of my problems so far this year,” Perry said. “I’ve fallen there twice so far this year. It’s definitely one of my better events so I shouldn’t be that nervous for it, but I just wanted to hit a good beam routine.”

After winning the award, there may not seem to be a way Perry can top her last meet. But both she and Drass see opportunities for even greater performances. Perry will get her next opportunity to improve at 7 tonight at the Hearnes Center when the Tigers take on Centenary.

“For (Adrienne) it’s squeeze another half-tenth on each event, maybe get two more tenths out of it,” Drass said. “We’d like to see her continue to duplicate (the 39.50 score) on a number of occasions, and then if she duplicates that on a regular basis, I think you’ll see some things come together a little bit better once in a while, and she’ll exceed it.”

“My goal now would be a 39.60, just trying to get as close to that as I can,” Perry said. “I feel like I could get a couple more tenths on bars back, maybe on beam. …(I’m) just trying to raise my scores everywhere, always.”