February 9, 2007

Shire feels at home
Hartsburg native helps MU top ISU.

By Dave Matter
Columbia Tribune

Sarah Shire hopped on the balance beam last night to a song that couldn’t have been more appropriate for the sophomore transfer who was making her home debut as a Missouri gymnast. As Daughtry’s rocker ballad "Home" played for the Hearnes Center crowd, Shire’s homecoming followed its storybook path - until she fell off the beam.

No worries for the former Utah Ute, though. The Tigers’ most valuable import redeemed herself on the next rotation, closing the dual meet with the best performance of the night on the floor exercise, scoring a 9.875.

Shire’s home debut, plus that of three other Missouri newcomers, boosted the 12th-ranked Tigers to a 194.125-192.425 victory over Iowa State in the "Pink Out," the team’s fourth-annual benefit event sponsored by the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. Both teams were decked out in pink as proceeds from ticket sales were donated to breast cancer research.

"It’s good to finally put on that black in gold," Shire said, "or in tonight’s case, pink."

Missouri’s score eclipsed its total from last weekend’s dual victory at Bowling Green (194.1), which was MU’s second-best season-opening score in team history.

"We’re rolling pretty good right now," Missouri Coach Rob Drass said. "What’s nice is we’ve yet to max out. … We’ve got the horses this year. It’s just a matter of getting them a little more fine-tuned."

Aside from her slip on the beam, Shire has been the star of the young season. The Hartsburg native also tallied the night’s highest score on the vault (9.90), which matched her career-best, adding to last week’s victory in the all-around competition.

Last season, Shire helped lead Utah to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, specializing on the beam and vault for the national powerhouse program. But after the season, Utah Coach Greg Marsden delivered a surprise phone call to Drass, who had recruited Shire the year before.

Marsden told Drass that Shire had been thinking about coming back to her home state.

"It brightened my whole day," Drass recalled. "I was like, ‘Holy crap, look what just fell into our lap.’ We did the" recruiting "job early on, but you finish second and you think you’re done. Usually you don’t get that second chance. We did, she did, and we’re both making the best of it now."

Shire, who turns 20 today, said it wasn’t necessarily an easy decision to transfer, but she knew she would be surrounded by familiar faces at Missouri. She had previously trained at Great American Gymnastics Express in Blue Springs along with MU gymnasts Adrianne Perry, Alicia Hatcher and Liz Straatmann.

"It’s been amazing coming home," Shire said. "I feel like I belong. I’m with my family, my closest friends. This university has welcomed me, and I’ve always been a Tiger fan. … Now I’m grateful for the decision."

"I think the rest is going to be a sweet story over the next couple of years," Drass said. "She’s very happy, and this crowd is going to be very supportive of her."

Drass was especially pleased with Shire’s performance on the floor, which came just a few minutes after her slip on the beam.

"That’s a sign of a true champion," he said. "It’s all there. It’s just a matter of really getting her to feel completely rested. When you’re doing the all-around, she and" Perry "are both going to have those kind of nights. When you take that kind of beating every week in all four events, sometimes it takes its toll."

Hatcher gave the crowd of 2,766 plenty to cheer, too. She topped last week’s score on the uneven bars and notched a 9.8, the best score of the night in the event. She did the same on the next rotation, scoring a meet-best 9.825 on the beam.

Perry didn’t win an individual event but was solid throughout and won the all-around competition, totaling 39.225 on all four events, better than runner-up Nikki Dilbert of Iowa State, who scored 38.725, and Missouri’s Ashley Khederian, who took third with 38.650.

Missouri’s other newcomers added to the scoring, too. Freshman Alex Gold matched Perry for second on the vault, scoring a 9.85, while fellow freshman Lisa LaPerriere added a 9.725 on the vault. On the floor, freshmen Gold (9.725) and Lauren Stephenson (9.675) chipped in.

Missouri’s home crowd was the third-largest in team history for a meet other than the annual Cat Classic. With another local product added to the lineup, Drass hopes to see more similar crowds the rest of the season.

"That was one of the biggest smiles on my face," he said.