On vault, currently the only 10.0 start value belongs to now-sophomore Britney Ward with her Yurchenko half-on front pike. The rest of the lineup was mostly made up of Yurchenko fulls from Kennedi Harris, Maddy Huber, Xarria Lewis, Shauna Miller and Morgan Porter. The Tigers also often used Angie Kern’s Yurchenko Arabian in their lineup, which, though valued out of a 10.0, is often considered less difficult. However, with the vaults from their incoming freshmen, they’ll have more options to choose from. New Tiger Aspen Tucker competes a strong Yurchenko full while Rachel Ley has recently started training a 1.5 into the pit at her club gym. Both could be strong additions to the vault lineup for Mizzou.
Most of the bar routines at Missouri have very similar construction. While this is nothing out of the ordinary for an NCAA team, it’s very curious, as they could field an entire lineup of gymnasts who all do a hecht mount (jumping over the low bar to the high bar), some variation of a Jaeger release and a
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bail from high bar to low bar. Huber, Miller, Porter, Allison Bower, Brooke Kelly and Becca Schugel all fall into this category. Tia Allbritten had the only routine used last season without a hecht mount, but she too competes a Jaeger and a bail. Incoming freshman Tucker fits this mold with a piked Jaeger release and a bail to handstand, but Alyssa Johnson could bring some much-needed variety into the lineup. She
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Beam on the other hand was a very dynamic event for the Tigers last season. High scorers Porter and Ward will be back this season, as well as regular contributors Allbritten, Bower, Kelly, Miller and Schugel. The incoming freshmen will expect to have an effect though, particularly Tucker. Her recent training videos show her continuing to learn new skills, including a switch leap to standing loso combination. She also |
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Currently, no Missouri gymnasts compete E passes. They have scored highly on floor without them with Bower, Harris, Porter and Michaelee Turner all scoring 9.9 or higher at least once last season. Also returning will be Kelly, Kern and Miller, though Miller only competes two tumbling passes in her
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floor routine. Each of the three new Tigers will look to break into the floor lineup, but again, Tucker is the most likely to contribute right off the bat. She competes a double pike, a front tuck through to 2.5 twist and a Rudi, but she’s also training a double arabian, which would give Missouri a desired E pass. Her difficult tumbling plus her energetic hip-hop-inspired dance would put her squarely in the running for a lineup spot.
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In terms of the all-around competition, Porter will almost certainly be back after qualifying to nationals in the AA. Though both Kelly and Miller competed all-around at a few different meets last season, both are weaker on vault and floor where incoming freshmen or current teammates may keep them out of the lineup. In her one AA appearance last season, Kelly fell on vault and had some miscues on floor, only scoring a 38.325 overall. That was Kelly’s only vault appearance in the 2016 season. Miller makes a stronger case, as she competed all four events on and off all season, but averaged just a 9.75 on vault and a 9.675 on floor. She’ll need to up the ante, particularly on floor, if she wants to make all four lineups on the regular.
Check back in Wednesday for the first look at the Pac-12 with an analysis of Arizona’s. For more on potential lineups, see here, or go back and check out the rest of our articles in the SEC series:
Alabama | Arkansas | Auburn | Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | LSU
