University of Missouri
Big 12-SEC Challenge, Day 1/2
Tigers Rise To The Occasion On Final Day Of Challenge
1/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Jan. 31, 2009
College Station, Texas - Going into the final day of competition, the Missouri Track and Field team gave the Big 12 Conference a generous head start in the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Friday, and by meet's end, both the Tigers and the Conference were sitting on top. Led by a one-two finish in the Men's Heptathlon and Pentathlon, among other meet finishers, the Tigers faced great competition over the two-day period and left College Station with six NCAA-qualifying marks.
"After doing what we did today, you cannot help but be excited for what the rest of this season holds," head coach Dr. Rick McGuire said. "We went up against some of the best talent in the country this weekend, and this will go a long way in preparing us for the conference meet."
Saturday's competition began with the concluding events of the men's heptathlon, where Nick Adcock and Lars Rise were positioned second and third behind Texas A&M's Trinity Otto. Adcock would take the 60-meter hurdles, while Rise would have the best finish in the pole vault taking third. It would come down to the last event to determine the champion, the 1000-meter run. A second place finish by Adcock, along with a fourth place finish by Rise secured a one-two finish for Missouri in the heptathlon, accompanied by provisional qualifying marks of 5508 points for Adcock and 5385 for Rise.
"It took us some time to get used to the facility beforehand, but after that, I think we did a good job of staying focused on what we had to accomplish," Adcock said. "This is the earliest in a season that I've competed in a heptathlon, and I'll take the good with the bad and get better for the next competition."
The heptathlon would not be the only back-to-back Tiger finish the team would have on the day, the second would come in the Men's 1 Mile Run as seniors Brian Graybill and Tim Cornell gave Missouri another spark with finishing times of 4:08.65 and 4:08.77. Michael Barrows and Ben Wade would finish seventh and tenth with times of 4:13.24 and 4:15.49 respectively.
Junior runner Shannon Leinert continued her winning stride taking the Women's 800-meter run in a time of 2:07.58. The time is also an NCAA-provisional qualifying mark. Layne Moore and Angela Potrykus would also finish sixth and seventh in the event. Tiger freshman Blake Irvin also had a good showing in the Men's 800-meter run, finishing in the sixth spot in the two-heat run with a time of 1:51.81.
The 5000-meter race would also be good to the Tigers, having four athletes place on both sides, led by Garett Jeffries' second place time of 14:24.71 and Phillip King's fourth place time of 14:24.71. On the women's side, Jessica Armstrong finished fourth with a time of 17:28.75 and Aimee Bonte's finished in seventh place with a finishing time of 17:49.11.
In the field events, Missouri had another strong outing led by all-Americans Krishna Lee, Chris Rohr and Brian Hancock. Lee would go on to have her best throw of the year in the Women's Weight Throw, setting yet another NCAA-provisional mark with a toss of 19.19 meters. She would also set another personal best and provisional qualifier in the shot put coming in third with a throw of 15.92 meters.
Rohr went up against one of the country's best in LSU's Walter Henry in the Men's Weight Throw and had a provisional qualifying mark coming in second place with a throw of 21.22 meters. In the shot put Rohr would finish fourth with a throw of 16.19 meters. Hancock also had a provisional mark coming in the Men's Pole Vault with a jump of 5.20 meters
Split between men and women scores, the Big 12 women's squads rolled over the SEC by a combined score of 359-226, while the Big 12 men won easily with a score of 332-279.
The Tigers will have a week off to rest before heading up to Ames, Iowa for the two-day Iowa State Classic and then the Missouri Collegiate Challenge and Missouri All-Comers.
Players Mentioned
