March 5, 2007

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COLUMBIA, Mo.--The NCAA Track & Field committee announced late Monday night the accepted entries into the NCAA Indoor Championships to be held this upcoming weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. Among the list are six Tigers, four men and two women, that will be vying for top national spots. Included on the list is Mizzou senior Hans Uldal in the men's heptathlon, who will be competing in his final meet as a Tiger, as he does not have any outdoor eligibility remaining.

 

 

Who's In?

The Tigers will have six participants in this year's NCAA Indoor Championships, an improvement from last year's total of five. Hans Uldal will be making his final appearance in a Tiger uniform as he will be in his seventh NCAA Championship (three indoor, four outdoor). Marcus Mayes will be making his fourth appearance at an NCAA Championship. Chris Rohr will make his third appearance at an NCAA meet. Tyler Dailey, Shernelle Nicholls, and Elisha Hunt are making their first-career appearance at an NCAA Championship. The Tigers will have three combined men and women in the weight throw and four in all throwing events.

 

Hans Uldal (Men's Heptathlon, Arendal, Norway, Senior)

Uldal will make his final appearance in a Missouri uniform when competing in the men's heptathlon this weekend. Uldal's legacy goes beyond his appearance in seven NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, his appearance in the 2004 Olympics, or the 8,018 points he scored in the decathlon last spring. No, Uldal will more be remembered for his resiliency, his courage, and his fire as competitor shown at Ol' Mizzou in the last five years.

 

Let's start with the 2004 indoor season that he had to redshirt. After making the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the decathlon as a freshman, Uldal had to undergo surgery in December of that year to repair an artery wrapped around his kidney. Uldal bounced back to make the NCAA Outdoor Championships again in 2004. That year in Austin, Uldal was on a roll, most definitely on a pace to break Mizzou's school record and earn an Olympic-qualifying standard. His ability to bounce back from surgery and to be at that place was in itself amazing, but Uldal had a shot at something bigger, and he took it. In the final event, the 1500-meter run, Uldal was running stronger than ever, on pace to score 7,820 for the entire meet, and then the two days of 105-degree heat caught up. Uldal collapsed to the ground 30 meters before the finish line, in front of the 14,000-capacity crowd. Slowly, Uldal rose to regain some composure, but fell again. His body wanted to stop, but per his heart and the cheering crowd, Uldal virtually dragged himself across the finish line, and still scored 7,661 points for the meet. It was maybe one of the most spine-tingling moments in Mizzou history.

 

Uldal faced more adversity in 2005. At the Big 12 Indoor Championships, Uldal tripped on a hurdle and did not finish the race, standing without a qualifier for the upcoming NCAA meet. Not many are able to do this, but Uldal went to Idaho State the next weekend, earned his qualifier, and advanced to the NCAA meet a week after. Uldal competed in three heptathlons in three weekends and was still able to place sixth in the nation.

 

At the 2006 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Uldal came to Waco as the defending champion in the event, but his ability just to finish the competition was amazing enough. Although he finished runner-up in the event, he went through seven of the 10 events suffering a major setback. During warm-ups for the high jump event, Uldal suffered a debilitating upper-leg and lower-back injury and it was hard to imagine the four-time All-American would carry on. Remarkably, Uldal, helped by a terrific sports medicine staff, was able to somehow get over a respectful mark at 5-10¾ on his third attempt. Uldal kept pressing on and eventually finished second in the competition. To top it off, Uldal came back for a third day to compete in the open javelin event and garnered the Tigers fifth-place points in that event. Those witnessing the days event will always ask, `How'd he do it?'

 

At last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Uldal was not as lucky. Another back injury and a hamstring pull was enough for Uldal to bow out of the decathlon. But, he didn't' just "walk off the track". Uldal went through all the motions, but had difficulty staying in the ring during discus, resulting in no score and even tried the pole vault, but was unable to clear on three attempts.

 

All this and he battles a chronic Achilles injury. When looking for role models, people won't have to look far to find Hans Uldal.

 

Uldal finished 7th at the 2006 NCAA Indoor (5,593 points) ... highest NCAA finish came at the 2005 outdoor meet in the decathlon (3rd) ... 2005 Big 12 Decathlon Champion ... four-time All-American ... Mizzou school record holder in decathlon, heptathlon, 60-meter hurdles ... 2004 Olympian ... only third person among all Big 12 schools to score over 8,000 points in the decathlon ... ranked 36th in the World by the IAAF ... season best of 5,478 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships

 

Marcus Mayes (Men's 800-meter run, Sand Springs, Okla. / Paige HS, Senior)

Mayes will be making his fourth appearance at an NCAA Championship (indoor or outdoor) and his third-consecutive indoor appearance ... in 2005, Mayes was part of an All-American Distance Medley Relay team ... in 2006 and this year, Mayes appears in the open 800 event ... Mayes earned All-America honors with a 13th-place finish a year ago ... also in 2006, Mayes was part of two winning relay squads, the 4x800 and the DMR at the Drake Relays ... 11-time Big 12 scorer, was third at the Big 12 Indoor this season via a late charge by Texas' Jacob Hernandez and Texas Tech's Zach Glavash ... indoor personal best came a week ago in qualifying for this meet, as he ran a 1:48.60, the seventh-fastest collegiate time in the nation ... has a 1:47.78 outdoor PR ... part of a historical bumper crop of Mizzou 800-meter runners as Mizzou has had an 800-meter runner in the NCAA Indoor Championships in nine of the last 15 years ... in 2005 and 2006 has been part of a four-man contingent of current and former Tigers (with Derrick Peterson, Neville Miller, and Timothy Dunne) to make the USATF Championships at 800 meters.

 

Chris Rohr (Men's Weight Throw, Lee's Summit, Mo. / Lee's Summit North HS, RS Sophomore)

Rohr will make his second-straight appearance in the NCAA Indoor Championships with the weight throw ... a year ago, Rohr, as a redshirt freshman, won All-America honors with an 11th-place showing ... Big 12 runner-up this year in the event to Kansas' Agafonov ... also third at Big 12 indoor with the shot ... season's best of 68-5¼ (20.86m), set at the Big 12 Indoor meet, ranks 10th in the NCAA ... career best is 68-10½ (20.99m) ... 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championship qualifier in the hammer throw.

 

Tyler Dailey (Men's Weight Throw, Joplin, Mo. / Joplin HS, RS Junior)

Dailey will be making his first-career appearance at an NCAA Championship event ... Dailey was third at the Big 12 Indoor two weeks ago ... his season and career best of 67-10¼ (20.68m) came at the Missouri All-Comers ... Dailey has qualified for the NCAA Regional Championship outdoors with the shot put and hammer throw ... Dailey ranks 13th in the NCAA currently with the weight.

 

Shernelle Nicholls (Women's Shot Put, St. Andrew Parrish, Barbados / Missouri Baptist, Junior)

Nicholls will make her first-career appearance at an NCAA Championship event ... but, Nicholls is no stranger to the post-season ... Nicholls is the defending NAIA Indoor Champion with the shot, coming from Missouri Baptist on a transfer ... she holds Barbados' national record with her career best put of 53-1¾ (16.20m) set last weekend at the Iowa State Qualifier ... has added over 3½ feet to her season-beginning indoor personal best through the season ... was third at the Big 12 Indoor meet to Texas' Carter and Texas A&M's Onwuchekwa ... pre-med major at Missouri with a nursing emphasis.

 

Elisha Hunt (Women's Weight Throw, Linn, Mo. / Linn HS, Junior)

Hunt will be making her first-career appearance at an NCAA Championship event ... Hunt from small Linn, Mo., will be the first Missouri Tiger to compete in the women's weight throw at a national championship ... Hunt was runner-up at the Big 12 Indoor meet for the second-straight season, this year to Kansas State's Loren Groves ... Hunt's school-record, career-best came at this season's Missouri All-Comers with a 66-4½ (20.23m) mark.

 

Tigers Among the Nation

The Tiger men are among the field's top 25 with four male entrants:

Men's Total Entries (relays count one)
Rank	School	Marks
1	Florida State	11
2	LSU	8
	Tennessee	8
	Florida	8
	Washington	8
	Wisconsin	8
7	Arkansas	7
	UNI	7
9	Texas	6
	Auburn	6
	UTEP	6
	Clemson	6
13	Georgia	5
	Oklahoma	5
	Oregon	5
	Stanford	5
	Baylor	5
	Nebraska	5
	Louisville	5
20	Arizona St.	4
	Minnesota	4