Illinois, Iowa State and Lindenwood at Missouri

Recap 

The Big Storyline: Missouri blew past its program record for the second time this season thanks to a pair of near-perfect 9.975s from Schreiber on beam and Celestine on floor. Improvements on vault continued to revolutionize the Tigers’ scoring potential. Illinois posted its third 197-plus in a row. The Illini put their difficulties on bars last meet behind them to score a 49.250 on the event. Mia Townes made her official return to the floor lineup and performed as if she never left, tying her career high 9.925. Iowa State only put five athletes up on bars but was consistent enough to escape the pressure gauntlet. Highlights included Makayla Maxwell’s perfect vault and Maddie Diab’s huge tumbling. Lindenwood was back on the upswing this week after avoiding counting any mistakes across all events. The Lions achieved a season high beam score, with only scores of 9.750 or higher. Gayla Griswold made her return to the all-around for the first time since Jan. 15. Her vault returned to its 9.9-plus form this week after nearly sticking her Yurchenko one and a half. 

Implications: Lindenwood will maintain its third-place position in the USAG heading into conference championships. The Lions posted their highest score since early February this week, but it will likely take a score over 195 to defend their MIC championship. Will the six year streak of conference victories be snapped, or will the Lions once again rise to the occasion on the big stage? Lindenwood’s chances will be helped if the team goes six-for-six on bars. Illinois, previously believed to be in the bottom half of the Big Ten, has posted three noteworthy scores consecutively. The competition at the conference championship is going to be even tougher than previously predicted. Mia Takekawa is stepping into her own the second half of this season, taking yet another all-around title this week. Now that the team is only counting 196-pluses in its NQS, Iowa State will move up one spot in the national rankings to No. 26. The Cyclones’ regional berth is well secured heading into conference championships. Missouri continues to step up in a major way this season. The team currently sits at sixth in the SEC with a NQS of 197.190. That shows the depth and competitiveness of the entire conference this year. With that being said, this could be a year that an afternoon session team outscores a team in the evening session. Sitting at No. 10 nationally heading into conference week, Mizzou will look to another strong road score to show the rest of the country that the Tigers are shooting to qualify to nationals. 

Records: Missouri broke its program team record with a 197.675. That included a new team vault program record of 49.450 and matching career high scores of 9.975 from Sienna Schreiber and Amari Celestine on beam and floor, respectively. Makayla Maxwell achieved perfection on her Yurchenko one and a half, increasing her career high on vault. Hannah Moon surpassed the 39 mark for the first time in her career thanks to a 9.875 career high on beam. Nicole Wojcik matched Moon on the event to increase her career high as well.