Jan. 28, 2006
MANHATTAN, Kan.--The Missouri Track and Field squad competed in the two-day Wildcat Invitational this weekend in Manhattan, Kan. The Tigers tallied four individual event wins and secured some new personal bests as well, heading into the second month of the indoor season.
Women's Invitational - Saturday
Saturday, the Tiger women took to the track and to the field. In the field portion, Elizabeth Robe finished third in the shot put with a 46 foot, 4 inch (14.12m) toss. Freshman Kendra Richardson was fourth with the shot. Sophomore Elisha Hunt took third in the weight throw with a toss of 60-1¼ (18.32m).
Sophomore Allison Werner took the 800-meter title in 2:22.21, stepping across the line in 34-hundreths of a second faster than Tiger Ashley Guy who placed second.
In the women's pentathlon, competed on Friday, Tiger senior Liz Peterson (Jefferson City, Mo.) claimed second place, scoring 3,393 points. Sophomore Kaela Rorvig (Columbia, Mo.) was fifth overall, scoring 3,292, winning three of five events.
Men's Invitational - Friday
For the Tiger men on Friday it was three event wins and some new personal bests. For junior Greg Bracey (Milwaukee, Wis.), it was a 6.80 clocking in the men's 60-meter dash that secured his victory in that competition. Bracey's new personal best time moves him to second all-time at Missouri in the event and gets him closer to the NCAA-provisional qualifying mark as well (6.72).
Senior Chris Horn (O'Fallon, Ill.) nearly reset his indoor personal best with a 23-5¼ (7.14m) winning leap in the long jump. Tiger junior decathlete Bjorn Sommerfeldt ran his 60-meter hurdle race in 8.50 seconds to win his race in a season-best time. In addition, Sommerfeldt added a foot to his indoor PR in the shot put, continually preparing for the upcoming conference heptathlon competition.
In the throws, Tyler Dailey placed third with the weight after a 64-2½ (19.54m) toss. The Tigers took the third- through eighth-place spots in the event adding strong performances by redshirt freshman Chris Rohr and sophomore Jason Morris who scored personal bests on the day. Morris eventually improved his best in the event by over two-and-a-half feet, technically besting his mark in the event three times during the competition.
Sophomore Nate Englin placed second in the shot put, throwing 59-4¼ (18.09m). Senior Bill Hobson took third after marking a new overall personal best with 58-¼ (17.68m) and is now within three inches of an NCAA-provisional qualifying mark.
The Sterling Hayden Show
The only Tiger competing over both days of the meet was senior Sterling Hayden, who made strides in the men's heptathlon. With a fifth-place showing out of 11 competitors, Hayden improved his overall personal-best score in the event from 4,154 to 4,578, helped by new personal bests in six out of the seven events. Most notably was Hayden's performance in the pole vault, an event in which he added over a foot to his previous best.
Boston Indoor Games Reminder
Press time of this release occurred prior to the beginning of the Boston Indoor Games in which Tiger post-collegians Christian Cantwell and Derrick Peterson will make an appearance. ESPN2 will air a two-hour tape-delayed broadcast of the meet, Sunday, from 2-4 p.m., Central.
The meet is also the opener to USATF's VISA Championship series. For more information, visit here, https://www.usatf.org/events/2006/VisaChampionshipSeries/.