April 10, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri track and field squads will hosts two meets this weekend at Audrey J. Walton Stadium in Columbia. The 4th Annual Audrey Walton Combined Events will take place Thursday and Friday with the 11th Annual Tom Botts Invitational taking place Friday and Saturday. The Botts meet, named after the long-time respected Tiger coach will feature five schools from the NCAA's Mideast Region with Indiana, Missouri State (women), Purdue, and Western Kentucky coming to meet the Tigers.

 

 

Audrey Walton Combined Events

The Audrey Walton Combined Events is going into its fourth year of existence and will have interesting storylines throughout.

 

 

MEN'S HEPTATHLON

Hans Uldal is the two-time defending champion of the men's decathlon and is entered again in the meet. Uldal is out of eligibility as a Tiger and will be competing for his country of Norway. Last year, Uldal scored 8,018 points to establish a lofty meet record. Uldal's score was one of only three marks over 8,000 points established in the United States last year. The other two happened in Austin, Texas (Trey Hardee, 8,465) and Indianapolis (Tom Pappas, 8,319).

 

Pappas, the defending USATF National Champion, is entered in the event, but is slated to do only four of the 10 events as a special-exhibition invitee.

 

Missouri senior Bjorn Sommerfeldt, an NCAA Championship qualifier a year ago, and freshman Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) will also be part of the field. Lincoln University's Decosma Wright is also entered. Wright, a native of Jamaica, was the national runner-up in NCAA Division II.

 

WOMEN'S HEPTATHLON

The favorite in the field will be Dani McNaney, formally of Liberty University. McNaney placed sixth at last year's USATF Championships in the event with a 5,673 personal best.

 

Nebraska freshman Megan Wheatley will be making her heptathlon debut with the Huskers. Wheatley, from Australia, was in the Aussie top five a year ago and qualified for the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships held in Beijing.

 

Missouri's Kaela Rorvig (Columbia, Mo. / Hickman HS) will be one of five Tigers in the field.

 

The Tom Botts Invitational Field

Competing along side the Tigers on Friday and Saturday in the Tom Botts Invitational will be Indiana, Missouri State (women), Purdue, and Western Kentucky. All five schools are in the NCAA's Mideast Region and will return to Columbia for the region meet on May 25-26.

 

While the following athletes may or may not compete in these respective events this weekend, here's a list of those in the current national top 25 (based on the 2007's NCAA descending order list) from the five schools:

 

Men's 400m Dash

24. Terrill McCombs, Western Kentucky, 46.97

 

Men's 5000m Run

24. Jordan Kyle, Indiana, 14:03.83

 

Men's 110-meter Hurdles

6. Keith Hopkins, Purdue, 13.91

8. Rickey Pickney, Purdue, 13.92

 

Men's Long Jump

23. Kiwann Lawson, Indiana, 7.40m, 24-3½

 

Men's Triple Jump

7. Kyle Jenkins, Indiana, 15.70m, 51-6¼

 

Men's Hammer Throw

9. Jason Morris, Missouri, 65.39m, 214-6

 

Women's 400m Dash

21. Valerie Brown, Western Kentucky, 53.77

 

Women's 800m Run

5. Trisa Nickoley, Missouri, 2:05.37

 

Women's 1500m Run

19. Laura Farley, Purdue, 4:24.27

 

Women's 10,000m Run

15. Jessica Gall, Indiana, 33:54.65

 

Women's Shot Put

7. Sheena James, Purdue, 16.16m, 53-¼

 

Women's Discus

21. Astin Steward, Purdue, 51.30m, 168-4

 

Women's Javelin

12. Lindsey Blaine, Purdue, 50.26m, 164-11

 

Couldn't Stand the Weather

When it comes to outdoor track, you can't blame the weather on everything, but it has certainly made things more difficult so far this year across the country.

 

On the Tiger front, Mizzou cancelled last weekend's Missouri Invitational because of temps that were going to hover in the 30s for the weekend. At the Texas Relays last weekend, on the final day where crowds usually surge over 20,000, many stayed home as temps in the low 40s and rain dominated with snow not far away.

 

The Missouri Relays two weekends ago had periods of crazy weather. While a good portion of the meet was mild, mid-afternoon Saturday saw times of downpours and very breezy and cool conditions following.

 

A good sign of interesting weather to come should have been the rain experienced during Mizzou's opening weekend in Arizona. During the Jim Click Combined Events, rain, windy, and cool conditions dominated in the middle of the desert in Tucson. Go figure.

 

But, on important note, odd weather could make the post-season even more interesting as those expecting qualifying marks to come early in the season will have to wait for more settled weather, which may not come for some time.

 

Weather this weekend in Missouri is expected to be more seasonable, but still cool nonetheless. Temps are expected to be in the upper 50s to lower 60s with a threat of some rain Friday into Saturday.

 

Regional Banter

Looking ahead to the NCAA Mideast Regional hosted by Mizzou on May 25-26, some interesting storylines are starting to emerge. With only six weekends until the meet reoccurring themes are starting to occur.

 

NATIONAL LEADERS: Ten current national leaders come out of the Mideast Region including LSU junior Kelly Ann Baptiste who leads the nation in two events, the 100-meter (11.22) and the 200-meter (22.95) ... with her mark at the Missouri Relays on March 31, Southern Illinois' Brittney Riley leads the nation with a 222-11 (67.96m) women's hammer throw mark ... Riley established a new World record in winning the NCAA Indoor title with the 20-lb. weight in March.

 

MEN'S LONG JUMP: In the early national descending order, the cream of the crop in the Mideast region appears to be the men's long jump ... the region currently has four of the nation's top five and seven of the top 10 ... Louisville soph Tone Belt, the recently crowned NCAA indoor champ leads the nation at 25-9¼ (7.85m) ... one step behind (or one toenail behind) is Troy University sophomore O'Darien Bassett at 25-8¾ (7.84m) ... another Louisville Cardinal, Andre Black (NCAA indoor triple jump champ) is third at 25-2 (7.67m).

 

BLOSSOMING UNDERCLASSMEN: Several freshmen and sophomores in the region are topping the national lists early on ... Tennessee frosh Evander Wells clocked a 20.43 in Atlanta two weekends ago to rank first in the NCAA, third in America and fourth in the World ... Lesiba Masheto from Illinois is tops in the men's 400, having run a 45.41, ranking the sophomore from Botswana fifth in the World in the early going ... Eastern Michigan frosh Corey Nowitzke is No. 1 in the NCAA in the steeplechase having run an 8:35.47 at Stanford a few weeks back to rank 9th in the World

 

HURDLE KINGS: The Mideast region boasts six of the nation's top eight in the men's 110-meter hurdles, including national leader Shamar Sands of Auburn (13.64) ... Purdue's Hopkins and Pikney will be Mizzou's Botts meet this weekend and are sixth and eighth, respectively in the event ... NCAA Indoor Champ in the 60-meter hurdles, Jeff Porter of Michigan has an early region mark, but is currently out of the nation's top 25 (14.19).

 

FLYING TIGERS: In the women's 200-meter, the Mideast region has five of the top 10 marks this season in the nation, four of which come from LSU! ... Baptiste leads the country (22.95), followed by Brooklynn Morris (23.11, 5th) , Tulane's Gloria Asumnu (23.13, 6th), Sherry Fletcher (23.16, 7th), and freshman Samantha Henry (23.19, 9th).

 

MORE TIGERS: The men's hammer throw is right now led nationally by two from Auburn ... Cory Martin and Jake Dunkleberger are 1-2 in the nation in the event and are only distanced on the list by six inches with Martin's season best at 229-5 ... Missouri's Jason Morris is ninth nationally with a 214-6 mark.

 

SPEARS IN THE TWILIGHT: One of the more fun events, the men's javelin, which will occur under the Audrey Walton Stadium lights on one of the nights of the regional, currently has a field than includes seven of the nation's top 15 ... six of the seven are from schools in Louisiana with frosh Chris Hill of McNeese State leading the pace and second nationally at 234-1 (71.35m).

 

Home Cookin'

Each week we'll look at which Tigers qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships, being hosted this year by Mizzou at Audrey J. Walton Stadium, May 25 and 26.

 

Through two weeks, the 9 Tigers have qualified with 12 marks for the regional.

 

Rankings can be checked here ...

http://www.trackshark.com/rankings/collegiate_lists.php

 

Outdoor NCAA Qualifying List						Official NCAA Lists - CLICK HERE
updated April 10, 2007						rankings include all qualified
REGIONAL Qualifiers		Mark		NCAA rank	Date	Meet
MEN
1500m	Tim Cornell (So.)	3:47.30			Mar 24	Arizona State Invite
SP	Nate Englin (Jr.)	17.52m	57-5¾		Mar 31	Missouri Relays
HT	Jason Morris (Jr.)	65.39m	214-6	9th