March 26, 2006
Results - Arizona State Invitational
COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri track and field squads completed their opening weekend of the outdoor season late Saturday evening at the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. A picture-perfect weather weekend spurred nine NCAA-regional qualifying marks, eight from the throwing events alone. Sophomore Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) scored huge personal bests in the discus and hammer throw events enroute to qualifying marks in both events for the NCAA regional.
Morris was the meet's best collegian in the men's hammer throw on Friday night, placing third overall, with a throw of 207 feet, 6 inches (63.26m). His mark improved his overall best in the event by nearly 22 feet, an over 10-percent increase from his marks he posted in 2005. The regional-qualifying mark also moves him to third all-time at Mizzou in the event, passing Christian Cantwell and coming within two feet of second-place Russ Bell, who was an All-American in the event in 2002. Morris is also three feet from the Mizzou school record set by Micah Shanks in 2002.
Sophomore Tyler Dailey (Joplin, Mo.) also made a huge stride in the hammer throw, marking a nine-foot personal best with a 195-5 (59.57m) throw to earn an NCAA-regional mark, placing sixth overall.
In addition, Morris on Saturday afternoon qualified for the NCAA regional in the men's discus with a nine-foot addition to his personal best with a toss of 175-5 (53.47m), placing fifth. Junior Bobby Musil (DuBois, Neb.) was fourth in the discus, qualifying for NCAA regionals with a throw of 176-3 (53.72m).
In the men's shot it was Nate Englin (Mounds View, Minn.) who took second place with an NCAA-regional qualifying throw of 58-6½ (17.84m) to mark a new outdoor personal best. However, the big breakthrough came for sophomore Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.). Rohr, fresh off an appearance in the NCAA Indoor Championships in which he earned All-America honors in the 35-lb. weight throw, placed fourth overall with a final mark of 55-11¼ (17.05m) to earn NCAA-regional qualifying status. Rohr, who made a sufficient mark on his final throw in the preliminaries to earn the last, ninth qualifying spot in the finals, came up huge in his final throw overall with his meet best. Rohr improved his overall best in the event by 18 inches and his outdoor best by 4½ feet. Rohr has a legitimate shot this season to qualify in three events for the NCAA regional.
Last season, Mizzou had the nation's most NCAA-regional qualifiers in the men's shot put with four. This season, the Tigers could have upwards to five qualifiers in that event alone.
In the women's shot put, the Tigers went 1-3-4 with sophomore Elizabeth Robe (Waukesha, Wis.) taking the event title with a throw of 50-8 (15.44m). Her NCAA-regional qualifying mark was a huge, three-foot improvement on her personal best and catapulted her to second all-time at Missouri in the event. Freshman Kendra Richardson (Boonville, Mo.) was third, marking her first career NCAA-regional qualifying mark with a put of 48-3½ (14.72m), an 11-inch PR. Freshman Krishna Lee (Kansas City, Mo.) just missed regional qualifying in this first meet, but place fourth at 46-6.
Also an NCAA regional qualifier in the first weekend was sophomore Trisa Nickoley in the women's 800-meter run. Nickoley won her event, clocking 2:08.71. Senior Neville Miller won the men's race, timing 1:53.52.
Tiger sprinter Greg Bracey earned a new personal best in the 100-meter dash with a third-place finish and a 10.58 clocking.
Among with the storyline of the Tigers clinching nine NCAA-regional qualifying marks, the weather in Arizona for a three-day weekend could not have been better. High temperatures were in the lower to mid 80s with low humidity and a slight breeze. After a cold week in mid-Missouri a Southwestern excursion could not have come at a better time to kick off spring break.
Jim Click Shootout Results
TUSCON, Ariz.--Also held this week over Thursday and Friday was the Jim Click Shootout Combined Events at the University of Arizona in Tuscon. Tiger heptathletes took the track and field for their competitions. Senior Liz Peterson placed sixth, scoring a new personal best for the first time in three years with a score of 4,881 points. Peterson benefited by earning personal bests in three of the meet's seven events. Sophomore Kaela Rorvig placed 10th with 4,585 points, just 10 off her personal best.
Quick Outdoor Terms Recap
HAMMER THROW: The hammer is an implement that starts with a steel ball that's shot-put weight (16 pounds for men, 8 for women) with a metal wire, around four feet long, attached. The hammer throw, just like the weight throw in the indoor season, is first introduced to track and field athletes mainly in college.
NCAA REGIONALS: Since 2003, qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships involves two steps, the regular season and a regional. First, athletes have to achieve a certain qualifying mark as listed by the NCAA Track & Field committee. In the May 26-27 weekend, four regional championships will take place across the country containing athletes that have achieved the qualifying mark earlier in the season (up to May 21). The top five in each regional will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, to be held in Sacramento, Calif., June 7-10. Positions six through twelve in the regional meet will be put in an at-large pool. The top six to seven overall, seasonal marks (depending on the total field size) within the pool will also advance to the championships.
Missouri will compete in the Mideast Region in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 26 and 27. Mizzou is the only Big 12 school in the region, the rest are in the Midwest Region, which will be held during the same dates in Austin, Texas.
CLASS ELIGIBILITIES: As far as the NCAA goes, track and field eligibilities come in three categories: cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. For example, Chris Rohr was a redshirt freshman in this 2006 indoor season, but he will be a sophomore during this 2006 outdoor season. In the 2005 indoor season, Rohr redshirted, but was a Missouri collegian competitor during the 2005 outdoor season, thus taking a year of eligibility.
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