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Olympic Sports Catch Up: Fourth Edition

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Let’s dig into all that’s going on in the world of Mizzou’s non-rev sports!

Welcome to “Olympic Sports Catch Up!” As the Olympic sports manager at this beautiful little website, I lead a team of talented and passionate writers who have a special interest in non-revenue Olympic sports at Missouri (I despise the phrase “non-revenue.”) Because football & men’s basketball rule the digital pages of Rock M in terms of readership, I thought I’d try to draw some extra eyeballs over to my side of the internet and the sports that are consuming us these days.

I’ve broken down each of the sports below and will be sharing recent results, fun/relevant info, upcoming matches, and any writing our talented crew has done. If there’s relevant social media posts or MU Tigers news, I’ll share that as well.

Enjoy!

Women’s Basketball

  • Recent Results: Mizzou- 61, #5 Texas- 70 | Mizzou- 71, #18 Tennessee- 76

V. Tennessee: De’Myla Brown (18), Grace Slaughter (16), Ashton Judd (13), Laniah Randle (10pts, 11 rebounds)

@ Texas: Laniah Randle (22), Grace Slaughter (16), Ashton Judd (13)

Despite the Tigers making it an actual game, this was really an infuriating game to watch, as Tennessee forced many 10 second violations and so many turnovers (24!) and Missouri just couldn’t get it together against the press. I wanted to beat my head into the wall, and I know I yelled at my tv several times (as did my dad). And the way it ultimately down was an all too familiar sight, as Dylan writes:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Mizzou builds an early lead before their opponents slowly come back, eventually turning the corner in the third quarter. Oh yeah, and they have to be a ranked team that goes by UT with the main color of orange.

The Tigers are currently playing their best basketball of the year, but don’t have a bunch of wins to show for it— only one win, to be exact. Dylan reminds us of what the Tigers should be focusing on to make the future a bit easier on themselves. Will it result in a win against, say, LSU? Probably not. But maybe they can keep it close for a bit like they did against Texas, or allow them another victory or two.

It was going well, and the Tigers were up 32-21 in the first 16 minutes, and despite a run by the Longhorns, took a 35-33 lead into the break. But then the third quarter came, and just like in games prior to this, the Tiger offense stalled. They never gave up, which is commendable, but there are no moral victories.

  • Next Up: The Tigers will continue their daunting schedule with a visit from LSU and the Fightin Kim Mulkeys — watch out, harmless clipboards! — on Thursday.

Men’s Golf

Mizzou opens its spring season this week, competing in the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson February 3-4. They’ll be competing in a field of 14, including No. 11 Arizona, No. 36 BYU, No. 43 USC, Fresno State, Iowa State, Loyola Marymount, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oral Roberts, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, UCSB and Wyoming.

At the end of Day One, freshman Trent Mierl is in the lead at three-under. As a team, the Tigers are currently sitting in 14th at +10. The final round is set for Tuesday at 9:30am.

Gymnastics

The Tigers put together their second complete four-rotation performance of the season in Baton Rouge, earning another much-needed 197 score, and only counted one single score under 9.80 While Missouri didn’t get any season high rotation scores, they did have rotations that were just off their best, and took shares of first place in multiple events, including bars (Mara, 9.95), vault (Hannah, 9.925), and beam (Helen).

Fresh off a win against Kentucky six years in the making, the Missouri Tigers headed to the PMAC to take on the defending national champs, LSU. In this preview, I reminisced about last year’s win at Hearnes, and identified what I would be looking for in terms of growth and development.

  • Next up: The Tigers head to Champaign to take on Illinois on Super Bowl Sunday at 1pm. You can watch on Big 10+ ($12.99/month, but you can get a month free if you’ve never signed up before)

Softball

Mizzou’s game against no. 8 Duke will be broadcasted live on MLB Network at noon on Saturday, February 8. The other games will be shown Gamechanger, which is a free app you can download. CLick on Tournament Center for all the team links and directions on how to watch.

  • Next up: The Tigers will open their season on Feb. 7 against Marshall in the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. I’ll have part one of the schedule piece up this week.

Swimming & Diving

Per MUTigers.com, Mizzou’s diving team wrapped up a strong performance at the Air Force Invitational on Saturday. The Mizzou women swept the 3-mtr podium, as Megan Jolly took first and Gabriela San Juan Carmona took second. Mia Henninger took third.

Collier Dyer won the 1-mtr and 3-mtr springboard and took third on platform, while Tommaso Zanella won the platform and took third in both the 1 & 3-mtr events.

  • Next up: The swimming & diving squads will compete at the SEC Championships February 17-22 in Athens, Ga.

Tennis

  • Recent Results: Mizzou beats Saint Louis, 4-0! Per MUTigers.com, the Tigers have continued their winning streak, claiming the double point 2-0 and sweeping the singles matches 3-0. The Tigers had great performances from freshmen Gian Octa, Karina Roso and Zoe Lazar. Octa & Roso won 6-1 in doubles, while Octa & Lazar also posted singles dubs. From Coach Turati:

“It was a good showing from the team today in doubles and singles. We were able to take care of business. Our players did a good job imposing their game and level consistently. We’ll return to work on Monday and continue to improve as a team for our next matches in Minneapolis. We are all looking forward to that trip next weekend!”

  • Next up: Tennis heads to Minnesota for a Friday match at 3:30pm, followed by a doubleheader on Sunday against Colorado State adn St. Thomas.

Track & Field

  • Recent Results: The Dr. Rick McGuire Invitational, Mizzou’s fourth of five home meets, was another success last weekend, with lots of new Tiger performances etched into Mizzou’s all-time lists. You can view the full results at MUTigers.com
  • Seremes’ triple jump record leads NCAA

In Abigail’s joyful recap, we were taken through French triple jumper Jonathan Seremes’ incredible sixth and final attempt, which broke a 40+ year old Missouri program record and set a new personal best. This is such a fun read!

The Olympic Sports Slack channel rejoiced as this was announced, and Abigail couldn’t wait to cover it in detail. From the release:

“Audrey Walton’s commitment to Mizzou track and field has been transformational over the years,” Mizzou track and field head coach Brett Halter said in the Mizzou Athletics press release. “Her belief in our student-athletes fuels their drive to achieve greatness, both on and off the track. We are deeply grateful for her vision and leadership.”

  • Next up: The Tigers are set for the last of their home indoor meets at the Missouri Invitation on Friday, February 7 at Hearnes Center FIeldhouse.

Volleyball

In a surprise addition that we didn’t see coming — they are above the roster limit, after all — Dawn Sullivan has done some more work in the portal, adding former USC middle blocker Tyra Ariail, who Matthew tells us finished last season with 144 kills on a .340 hitting percentage and 114 total blocks to lead the Trojans.

Wrestling

This one was a decisive loss, as Missouri took all of one match, #14 Josh Edmond at 141 pounds. Matthew’s recap will give you all the gory details.

Tiger Style lost for the first time in a month in a 23-13 defeat to #22 Oklahoma on Saturday. The Sooners won the toss up matches and got a big pin from DJ Parker at 184 pounds. The Tigers took wins from James Conway at 157lbs, #15 Cam Steed at 165lbs, Jesse Cassatt at 197lbs and Seth Nitzel at 285lbs.

  • Next up: The Tigers’ final regular season dual is on February 22 against Iowa State at home. Colton Hawks and Keegan O’Toole should be back by then!

Olympic Sports Photo Gallery

Cal took some shots of Mizzou’s game vs. Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena, and track & field writer extraordinaire flexed her photography muscles at Rick McGuire Invite at Hearnes Fieldhouse on Saturday. Enjoy!

Majority Rules

It was an excellent week for Mizzou’s Olympic sports teams, and we had so much to chat about, from a sizable donation for track & soccer renovations to women’s basketball’s first SEC win to gymnastics’ big win over Kentucky, and so much more! Come for your chosen sport, stay for the spirited conversations and swear words!