University of Missouri
Big 12 Championships
Plenty of Bright Spots for Tigers on Day One
2/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Feb. 25, 2011
Complete Results |
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LINCOLN, Neb. - Seniors Brian Hancock (Monroe City, Mo.) and Chris Holly (Topeka, Kan.) both finished as the runner-up in their respective events on day one of the 2011 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday (Feb. 25) at Bob Devaney Sports Complex at Nebraska. Hancock finished second in the pole vault at 5.15m (16-10 ¾), finishing just one progression shy of top honors. Holly used a massive personal-best throw of 19.52m (64-0 ½) to take second in the weight throw. A pair of freshmen - Kearsten Peoples (Ottawa, Kan.) and Tre' Chambers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) - also had a fine meet at their first Big 12 Championships. In all, Mizzou saw eight athletes finish as All-Big 12 honorees while five advanced to tomorrow's finals in six different events.
Holly unleashed his second-place throw on his first attempt and gave eventual event-winner KP Singh of Oklahoma a lot of pressure. In fact, Singh did not pass Holly until the third round of throws. Holly continued to throw deep throughout the competition as every one of his throws surpassed 19.00m and his previous personal-best. He fouled three throws that would have been close to his runner-up mark as well. Holly had come close to setting a new personal-best in the last two meets, but had fouled those throws, so his performance on Friday came at exactly the right time. The finish earns Holly his second All-Big 12 honor in the weight throw with his finish.
"I felt like I did really good today. I felt like I had some really big throws there - I didn't get them all in like I wanted to, but it was still a great day," Holly said. "It was amazing (to set his new personal-best). In warm-ups I knew I had it and I was hitting it every time. I just told myself that today was the day. Competition like this brings out the best in me. I didn't train all year to get second place - I trained to get first. This will just push me more and more every day. I'm still really happy - it was a lot better than last year and it is a step in the right direction."
For Hancock, who just set the school record in the pole vault last weekend, the battle for top honors in the pole vault was supposed to be between him and Nebraska's Nate Polacek. Hancock bested the Nebraska standout in the event, but Texas Tech freshman Kyal Meyers came out of nowhere to clear 5.30m (17-4 ½), taking top honors. With the runner-up nod and a school-record this season, the three-time All-American is likely headed to the NCAA Championships in March as he is still ranked in the top 10 nationally in the event.
Chambers, who is a true freshman, was another bright spot for the Tigers as he qualified for the 60m dash finals with a personal-best clocking of 6.73, just three hundredths of a second off of the school record. His time was the seventh-best mark in the preliminary heats and he will look to challenge some of the Big 12's best in the event finals, which start at 3:15 p.m. He followed that performance by qualifying for the 200m finals as well, clocking in at 21.64 in the 200m dash to earn the eighth-best qualifying time. He was the only true freshman in the conference to qualify for both the 60m dash and 200m dash at this year's Big 12 Championships. He is also the only Tiger to qualify for the event finals in both events since the inception of the Big 12. The 200m dash finals will be run at 5:15 p.m. tomorrow.
"It was nice to get out there and run against some of the guys that I ran with in high school and to make it to finals is amazing," Chambers said. "My dad and I were watching this same exact meet at this time last year and I kept saying that I hope I get the chance to run and compete - to make it to finals is amazing. I'm so happy right now. I want to place in the top four tomorrow in both events and PR in the 60. Hopefully I will be able to get out there and run fast tomorrow."
Chambers wasn't the only Mizzou freshman to shine on Friday as Peoples took third place in the women's weight throw with a massive personal-best toss of 18.92m (62-1). Her mark is a new freshman record and ranks her fourth on the all-time performance list at Mizzou. She threw that mark on her fifth attempt of the day, improving her standing in the final two rounds of throws. Peoples now owns the Mizzou freshman records in both the weight throw and the shot put, an event in which she will compete tomorrow at 4:45 p.m.
Senior Lars Rise (Trondheim, Norway) also put together a great day one of competition as he stands in third place overall in the heptathlon heading into the final day of competition tomorrow. Rise tallied 3,242 points in day one of competition and is just 59 points back of first-place Mantas Silkauskas of Kansas State, setting up what should be a great day two. Rise won the heptathlon shot put with a toss of 16.10m (52-10), scoring him 857 points in the competition. He jumped 7.11m (23-4) in the long jump to earn 840 points and clocked in at 7.25 in the 60m dash to tally an additional 796 points. He closed his day with a clearance of 1.94m (6-4 ¼) in the high jump to add 749 points to his score.
"Overall it was a great day for Lars; I think it was one of his best first days ever," associate head coach Dan Lefever said. "He put together four great events today and he is ready to go for tomorrow. Hopefully he can have another great day like he today."
Rise will be back in action tomorrow, beginning at 11 a.m, with the 60m hurdles. Rise will also look to make up the 59-point deficit in the pole vault and 1,000m run tomorrow. Rise came into the event as the top seed and the nation's No. 10 heptathlete.
Staying in the field events, senior Lana Mims (Tulsa, Okla.) set an indoor personal-best of 6.00m (19-8 ¼) in the women's long jump to earn All-Big 12 honors with a seventh-place finish. She actually won her flight with that mark as it was her third jump of the competition. Her seventh-place nod is also very good considering that five of the jumpers in the competition came into the event ranked in the nation's top nine overall, making it one of the best fields in any event at the meet.
On the track, the Tigers saw plenty of runners advance to tomorrow's event finals. Highlighting the group was sophomore 1,000m run standout Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, Kan.) as she placed second in the preliminaries at 2:49.07, just off of her season-best. She will advance to tomorrow's finals, which are slated for 4:25 p.m. start. She has clocked in at as low at 2:47.54 this season, which ranked her as the No. 2 seed heading into the meet. She was an All-Big 12 honoree in the event a year ago.
The men's 1,000m run also saw a Tiger advance as Aaron Dixon (Lee's Summit, Mo.) clocked the third-best time in the preliminaries at 2:26.19, making him one of the favorites to win tomorrow's event final, which begins at 4:35 p.m. For Dixon, the run was a sense of redemption after getting tripped up in last year's 1,000m run preliminaries at the Big 12 Championships. He entered last year's event as the top seed, but was tripped up on the first lap of the race and was unable to advance to the finals. That was not the case on Friday as he will be running for a Big 12 title tomorrow.
Dixon's middle-distance running mate Blake Irwin (Bettendorf, Iowa) had a great performance in the 800m run on Friday as he qualified for Saturday's event finals after clocking a season-best time 1:51.09, good for the sixth-best qualifying time. The reigning Big 12 Outdoor Champion in the 800m run will once again have a shot at the title tomorrow as the finals will be contested at 4:55 p.m. Mark Hughes (Center, Mo.) also advanced to tomorrow's 600-yard final after clocking in at 1:11.76, a new personal-best. He will run in the event finals at 3:55 p.m.
The women's distance medley relay team also turned in an All-Big 12 performance in the event. The foursome - comprised of Roxberg, Mims, Landon Wachter (Jackson, Mo.) and Bailey Belvis (Prosper, Texas) - finished sixth overall in the event with a time of 11:36.81, marking the second time in the last two years the DMR has earned All-Big 12 honors.
In all, the Tiger men stand fifth overall with 16 points while the women stand seventh overall with 11 after the first day of competition. Mizzou will return to action beginning with the combined events at 11 a.m.
All-Big 12 Honorees - Men
Chris Holly - Second - Men's Weight Throw
Brian Hancock - Second - Men's Pole Vault
All-Big 12 Honorees - Women
Lana Mims - Seventh - Long Jump
Kearsten Peoples - Third - Weight Throw
Laura Roxberg - Sixth - DMR
Lana Mims - Sixth - DMR
Landon Wachter - Sixth - DMR
Bailey Belvis - Sixth - DMR
Players Mentioned
