ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Freshman Aspen Tucker (Lehigh Acres, Florida) and junior Kennedi Harris (Atlanta, Georgia) each posted scores of 9.900 or better to lead the No. 15 Tigers to the highest team score of the year with a 196.350 Friday night at the GymQuarters Mardi Gras Invitational at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. No. 1 Oklahoma won the meet with a 198.350, No. 2 LSU took second in 197.700 and No. 10 Georgia was third in 196.975 in Mizzou's second-consecutive quad meet of the year.
Missouri's 196.350 marked the fourth time this season the Tigers posted a team score or 196.075 or higher.
The Tigers opened the meet with a 49.100 on bars, the second-highest score Mizzou has posted on the bars this year. Four Tigers recorded a score of a 9.8 or better, including a new career-high of 9.850 for Britney Ward (Ozark, Missouri). In addition to Ward's routine, junior Shauna Miller (Knoxville, Tennessee) posted a season-high of her own with a 9.875. Sophomore Madeleine Huber (St. Louis, Missouri) and junior Becca Schugel (Eagan, Minnesota) put up scores of 9.850 and a 9.825, respectively.
Schugel continued to dominate, tallying a 9.850 on the beam to tie her season-high score. Sophomores anchored the rotation as Ward added a 9.850 of her own, while Brooke Kelly (Birmingham, Alabama) notched a 9.825. Mizzou finished on the apparatus with a team score of 49.100.
In her first event of the meet, Harris took to the floor with energy, setting fire to the mat and ultimately putting up a score of 9.900, her fifth score of 9.900 or better on the floor this season. Schugel posted her second 9.825 of the meet with a solid showing on the floor and Huber and Tucker contributed a pair of 9.775s, propelling Mizzou to a team score of 48.950.
Missouri closed out the competition on the vault with a 49.200, the Tigers' highest event score of the meet. Tucker led Mizzou with a career-high 9.925 vault for her first-ever score above 9.900 to placed fourth overall in the event. Ward anchored the vault rotation for the Tigers' scoring a 9.875, Harris added a 9.825 and senior Angie Kern (Columbia, Missouri) notched a 9.800 to round out the rotation.
The Tigers head to Gainesville, Florida, to take on the No. 3 Florida Gators at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Feb. 24 at the O'Connell Center.
