CEDAR CITY, Utah - Feb. 23 - Southern Utah gymnastics will begin a two-meet road swing this weekend when the Thunderbirds travel to Columbia, Missouri for a meet with the Missouri Tigers.

The Tigers will be the second Big 12 team on Southern Utah's 2011 schedule as the T-Birds came up short against Iowa State earlier this season, finishing third at the BYU quad meet on January 29.

Southern Utah and Missouri have met only once, facing off during the 1999 season at the University of Oklahoma.  The teams finished behind the Sooners at the meet with Missouri finishing second with a 192.150 and SUU third with a 191.425.

Southern Utah will be looking to return to form after scoring in the 193's over the past two meets.  The Thunderbirds will benefit in the return of senior Lindsey Schultz who is anticipated to return to the line-ups on vault and floor.

Head Coach Scott Bauman's Thoughts:  “Missouri is a great team.  They qualified for nationals last year so they have experience in competing in big meets.  These last two road meets will be very important to us as we try to improve our regional qualifying score.”

About Missouri:  Missouri will enter the meet on Friday night ranked No. 23 in the latest GymInfo polls and with a record of 1-8.  The latest rankings are based on Regional Qualifying Scores which factor in the team's top six team scores during the year.

Missouri has been led in the all-around this season by Mary Burke with a season-high 39.450.  The junior has also tallied season-high marks for the Tigers on bars (9.875), beam (9.900) and floor (9.900).

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