February 20, 2009

Bringing the team with her
Shire goes to OU with confidence.

By Dave Matter
C0lumbia Tribune

In her second season at Missouri, Sarah Shire has established herself as the most dominant all-around gymnast in the Big 12 Conference. As evidence, she claimed the league’s gymnast-of-the-week honors for the third time.

Tonight, though, Shire is more interested in lifting her team to a loftier status. Coming off their best meet of the season, the 13th-ranked Tigers hope to topple No. 11 Oklahoma on the Sooners’ home mats in tonight’s four-team meet at OU’s Lloyd Noble Center. Brown and No. 18 West Virginia also will be competing.

“This weekend’s a big deal,” said Shire, whose Tigers posted the seventh-best score in team history (196.625) in last Friday’s dual victory over Illinois. “Coming off the high score last weekend — not just the win but the score — opened the door to be like, ‘Hey, we are good. We do have this potential.’ Going into Oklahoma now is perfect timing because we are on the rise.”

Especially Shire. In her second season since transferring from Utah, Shire captured her fifth all-around crown in six meets last week and enters tonight’s meet with the Big 12’s best all-around average score (39.275), which stands 15th nationally. Against Illinois, Shire matched her career-best scores on the balance beam and floor exercise, posting a 9.925 on each. Her all-around total (39.525) also eclipsed her previous career best and stands No. 4 on MU’s all-time list.

“Sarah is becoming confident again in herself and her abilities,” MU Coach Rob Drass said. “She didn’t have the perfect freshman season at Utah, obviously. And there’s always issues when you transfer. It’s almost like you have a freshman year again. You have to get used to the coaches. You have to get used to the team.

“I think she handled that really well. And she had to fall back in love with gymnastics, and not only is she in love, she’s confident. She’s poised and focused and determined to have the best season yet.”

Shire’s closest competition in the all-around standings is teammate Adrianne Perry (39.133), who ranks 20th nationally. It might require season-best performances from the duo to snap a four-year losing streak to the Sooners. Missouri hasn’t outscored K.J. Kindler’s OU team since a 2004 home meet. The teams’ last meeting came at the 2008 Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., where the Tigers were disappointed to finish third.

“Last year, walking away from Big 12s, when we finished third, we hit a low point,” Shire said. “We felt awful. We’re constantly reminded that we do not want to feel that again. It’s a fight we’ve instilled in the freshmen, like, ‘Hey, we know you weren’t there, but you have to understand how much this means.’ ”