March 20, 2004
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Missouri track and field team completed day three of the College Station Relays on Saturday. Senior Holly Scherder broke the school record in the women's hammer throw and six Missouri throwers earned marks to gain entry into the NCAA Regionals. On Friday, sophomore Jessica Stockard gained an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the heptathlon.
Scherder (Frankford, Mo./Bowling Green HS) broke the school record in the women's hammer throw event by ten feet to finish as the top collegian in the event. Her NCAA Regional qualifying throw of 190 feet, 4 inches (58.02m) killed her previous personal-best of 175-9 (53.57m). Scherder also is in the Missouri record books for breaking the women's indoor weight throw record of 61-10?.
"I'm real excited for Holly," said Brett Halter, assistant track and field coach. "She's right at where she left off from the indoor season and I'm excited to see what she can do for the remainder of the outdoor season."
In total six Tiger throwers earned marks that qualify them automatically for the NCAA Mideast Regional to be held in Baton Rouge, La., in late-May: Scherder, Conrad Woolsey (men's shot put), Bill Hobson (men's shot put), Janae Strickland (women's shot put), Gary File (men's javelin), and Ann Snider (women's hammer throw).
In the men's shot put, junior transfer Woolsey (Excelsior Springs, Mo.) took second with a throw of 61-9? (18.83m), an outdoor personal best. Junior Bill Hobson (Katy, Texas) took third after a heave of 54-6? (16.62m). On the women's side in the event, Janae Strickland (Houston, Texas) finished second with a throw of 51-9 (15.77m).
Also earning regional qualifying marks, senior Gary File finished 11th in the men's javelin with a throw of 203-1 (61.90m). Senior Ann Snider (Harrisonville, Mo.) joins Scherder as earning a regional mark in the women's hammer throw. Her toss of 173-5 (52.87m) gained her a fifth place finish.
Gaining personal bests in the women's discus, junior Lindsey Markworth and sophomore Jamie Wynn came in with sixth and ninth place finishes, respectively.
Friday saw the completion of the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon events. Freshman Bjorn Sommerfeldt earned a spot in Missouri's all-time top five with a decathlon score of 6,993, receiving honors as the No. 1 collegian in "gold division". Sommerfeldt had personal bests in four of the ten events. Junior Brandon Goebbert took No. 1 collegian honors in the "bronze division", scoring 6,534 points.
On the women's side, sophomore Jessica Stockard earned an NCAA provisional qualifying mark with a score of 5,138, coming close to a personal-best in the event.
The next stop for the Tigers is a spring break trip to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. Events are slated to start Friday, March 26, and ending Saturday, March 27.
For more information and complete results, visit aggieathletics.com and mutigers.com.