Feb. 24, 2006
LINCOLN, Neb.--The first day of the Big 12 Indoor Championships was Friday in Lincoln, Neb. Seven underclassmen weight throwers combined in the men's and women's events for 25 points on day one to put both Tiger teams in fourth place.
The women's 20-lb. weight throw was quite a thrilling competition with Tiger sophomore Elisha Hunt nearly capturing Mizzou's first-ever title in the event. Hunt (Linn, Mo.), ended the competition in second overall, leading through the first five rounds with a throw of 63 feet, 6 inches (19.35m), just two inches off her own school record. Hunt's score held until Kansas State's Laci Heller, who was just behind by three inches, took the lead on her final throw with a 63-8¼ (19.41m) mark. Hunt had the final throw to respond, but was unable to jump back to the lead. In total, the Tigers scored 11 points in the event as freshman Kendra Richardson earned her first career All-Big 12 honor with a seventh-place showing. Richardson (Boonville, Mo.) topped her previous best by 18 inches with a throw of 60-6½ (18.45m). The biggest breakthrough of the day came from sophomore Elizabeth Robe (Waukesha, Wis.). Gaining her third All-Big 12 honor, Robe marked 60-½ (18.30m) to improve her personal best by four feet, becoming the fourth Tiger over 60 feet all-time in the event.
On the men's side, in the 35-lb. weight throw, the Tigers produced four scorers, earning a total of 14 points on their way to each spot from fourth to seventh. Redshirt freshman Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.) led Mizzou with a fourth-place finish in the event, topping his own Mizzou freshman record with a throw of 67-½ (20.43m) on his fifth attempt. Earning his first career All-Big 12 honor, Rohr's throw topped his previous personal best by over 18 inches. Sophomore Tyler Dailey (Joplin, Mo.), also earning his first career All-Big 12 award, was fifth for the Tigers adding a personal-best throw of 65-8¼ (20.02m), improving his best by seven inches. In sixth was sophomore Nate Englin (Shoreview, Minn.), who is now a three-time All-Big 12 performer. Englin bested his PR by nearly three feet, throwing 65-½ (19.82m). Sophomore Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) improved his personal best by nearly two feet to finish seventh with a 64-2¼ (19.56m) throw in earning his first All-Big 12 honor.
All of the Tiger men weight throwers also improved their NCAA-provisional qualifying mark. Rohr's throw moved him into the top-20 in the nation.
Both the men's and women's shot put will be held Saturday.
Tiger junior Valerie Lauver earned her ninth All-Big 12 honor with a sixth-place finish in the women's 5000-meter run, clocking 16:50.62.
In the women's distance medley relay, the Tigers placed third, running a time of 11:26.91 with freshman Ellen Ries, sophomore Kaela Rorvig, sophomore Trisa Nickoley, and senior Kristin Hansen in the 1200-, 400-, 800-, and 1600-meter legs, respectively. Nickoley ran a 2:08.0, 800-meter leg to move the Tigers from fifth to third. Hansen held off the rest of the field easily, running 4:46.3 in her split (has a 4:53.71 mile PR) in the final leg to give Mizzou the top-three finish.
The Tigers managed a seventh-place finish in the men's DMR, running all freshman with Dan Hedgecock (3:04.0; 1200m), J.C. Butler (47.9; 400m), Blake Figgins (1:57.1; 800m), and Tim Cornell (4:14, 1600m).
In the women's pentathlon, senior Liz Peterson earned her third all-time All-Big 12 honor with a sixth-place showing, scoring 3,623 points. Peterson's best event on the day was the long jump, as she earned a new indoor PR with a leap of 17-4 (5.28m). Sophomore Kaela Rorvig (Columbia, Mo.) earned her first career All-Big 12 honor by scoring in eight-place with a total personal-best score of 3,597 points. Rorvig would earn PRs in four of the five events, earning a most-impressive clocking of 8.90 seconds in the 60-meter dash, topping her old best of 9.14.
It was a good start for the Tigers in the first day of the men's heptathlon. Junior Hans Uldal finished the first four of seven events in second place with a score of 3,138 points, 100 points above his personal-best pace. Uldal's best event of the day was the shot put, an event in which he added nearly three feet to his indoor best by tossing the 16-lb. ball 49-1½ (14.98m). After the put, Uldal pumped both arms and yelled with excitement..
Junior Bjorn Sommerfeldt stands in fifth after day one of the heptathlon with 2,985 points. Sommerfeldt earned personal bests in the 60-meter dash and the long jump to stand over 100 above his personal-best pace. Texas' Donovan Kilmartin leads the event with 3,219.
On the track in the meet's preliminaries, the Tigers qualified two to tomorrow's finals on the men's side with junior Marcus Mayes advancing in the 800-meter run and junior Tipper O'Brien moving on in the mile. Two additional Tiger women qualified to the finals with Nicole Johnson and Ashley Patten moving to the 1000-meter final. No preliminary rounds were needed for the women's 800 and the women's mile due to the number of entries. Trisa Nickoley and Ashley Guy will run in the women's 800 finals for the Tigers with Kristin Hansen, Kasey Kimball, and Angela Portykus racing in the mile final.
After day one, the Tiger women are in fourth place with 24 points. The Tiger men stand in a tie for fourth with 17 points.
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