April 8, 2006
LOS ANGELES--The Missouri Tiger track and field team trekked west this weekend for UCLA's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational in Los Angeles. Missouri, the only team from the Midwest in the meet, made an impression on the West Coast heavy field, performing well in the middle-distance and throwing events. Highlighted by Nate Englin's performance in the men's shot put invitational, Mizzou qualified six more athletes for the NCAA Regional Championships, increasing the team's regional-travel count to 19 athletes in 21 events.
Sophomore Nate Englin was the breakout Tiger of the meet with his winning performance in the men's shot put invitational. Englin's best throw of the day sailed to 62 feet, ¼ inch (18.90m), which will put the 2005 Pan-Am Junior Silver Medalist in Mizzou's elite all-time top five in the event. Englin added 42 inches to his previous best to accomplish the feat, and earn a USATF Championship `B' standard, coming within three inches of the automatically-qualifying `A' standard.
Englin joins some pretty good company on the Missouri all-time list that includes World Indoor Champ Christian Cantwell and All-Americans Russ Bell and Conrad Woolsey. His performance today would have put him in the nation's top 10 during the indoor season and now will make him a primary contender to advance to this year's NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Tigers produced 1-3 finishes in the women's 800. Senior Ashley Patten, running in her first open race of the outdoor season, won with another homestretch surge to clock 2:06.40 grabbing her first NCAA qualifying time of the season. Patten, earning her 30th event and her 23rd individual-event win since the 2003 indoor season, had to outkick Sherron Rhetta of the South Bay Track Club in the final 100 meters after Rhetta opened with a 60.4 quarter. Sophomore Trisa Nickoley ran a new outdoor, collegiate personal best with a 2:07.39 clocking to take third and qualify for the NCAA regionals, running strong the entire race.
Mizzou was also impressive in the men's 800. Junior Marcus Mayes ran a solid race with a 1:49.83 clocking and a third place finish, followed closely by fellow Tiger senior Neville Miller who came across fourth at 1:49.99. Both Mayes and Miller earned their first NCAA-regional qualifying marks of the season. Mayes and Miller both had a strong kick in the homestretch, but couldn't catch the two from the Far East.
In the women's 1500-meter run, senior Amanda Bales is continually progressing back to full strength as she placed second with a good, late kick in her race, running 4:22.74 and qualifying for the NCAA regionals for the first time this season. Also grabbing her first regional mark of the season was junior Kristin Hansen who clocked 4:26.64 on her way to seventh place. Sophomore Kasey Kimball improved her personal best by three seconds in running 4:30.16, now just three seconds from regional qualifying (4:27.80).
The Tiger men's 4x400-meter relay team of Jimmie Jones, J.C. Butler, Neville Miller, and Marcus Mayes, placed second with a 3:11.64 clocking, inching closer to NCAA-regional qualification (3:10.00). The Mizzou women's team was third at 3:46.30.
In the women's shot put, Elizabeth Robe placed fifth at 48-2 (14.68m). Freshman Krishna Lee was sixth, qualifying in her first event for the NCAA regionals with a 48-¾ (14.65m) toss.
Bobby Musil was fifth in the invitational men's discus, throwing 177-8 (54.16m). Jamie Wynn was fifth with the women's discus at 152-10 (46.58m).
In the men's mile, junior Tipper O'Brien took eighth while freshman Tim Cornell (Columbia, Mo.) was ninth. O'Brien ran in 4:09.32. Cornell clocked a 4:09.77, just off his personal best from the indoor season.
On Thursday, the men's hammer throw competition was a heated one as the Tigers took the second and third spots. Sophomore Chris Rohr finished the competition in second after throwing 204-9 (62.40m) on his fifth-round throw. Rohr was able to mark a 185-0 throw on his third attempt, after fouling the first two, to grab the fifth-best qualifying spot into the final. Tiger record-holder Jason Morris finished third, throwing 203-11 (62.15m) on his fifth attempt. Another promising performance came from sophomore Dave Borchardt who improved his all-time best by six feet to throw 170-11 (52.10m), inching closer to NCAA-regional qualification in the event (182-5). Borchardt in one of three Tigers who have already gained entry into the regional in the discus event.
Open Events
The following were from finals of open events on Friday. Results from invitational events (Saturday's events unless noted) are above.
Sophomore Jason Miller won the men's open high jump, leaping over the bar at 6-8¾ (2.05m), topping teammate Chris Horn who placed second at the same height.
In the open men's discus, the Tigers took the top three spots with Morris winning at 175-8 (53.55m), adding three inches to his personal best. Borchardt was second at 167-4, Rohr was third at 166-3.
Freshman Kendra Richardson (Boonville, Mo.) was the winner of the open women's shot put with a throw of 48-¾ (14.65m).
To top a great weekend for Tiger half-milers, freshman Ellen Ries and junior Nicole Johnson took the 2-3 spots, respectively, in the 800-meter open run. Ries ran a 2:12.00 to earn a new personal best, as did Johnson who clocked 2:12.52, besting her previous best by eight-tenths of a second.
Freshman J.C. Butler was sixth in the men's 400-meter dash, claiming a new collegiate personal best with a 48.61 clocking.
The Tigers will return to Columbia to host the Audrey Walton Combined Events and the Tom Botts Invitational next weekend. The Walton meet, featuring a women's decathlon for the second year in a row, will begin Thursday and run thru Friday. The Botts Invitational will begin Friday and continue Saturday.
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