June 22, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - University of Missouri junior Trisa Nickoley (Topeka, Kan.) came within one spot of making the USATF Championship final of the women's 800-meter run on Friday in Indianapolis. The Tiger ran in 2:04.07 in shaving a full second off her personal best heading into the weekend to finish ninth in the nation. In other news, post-collegian Fiona Asigbee ended day one of the women's heptathlon in fourth place and will compete in three more events tomorrow.
Nickoley finished fifth in her semifinal race, fighting back from last on the final turn, but needed a top-four finish to advance to the finals. Michigan's Geena Gall grabbed the fourth-place spot in the heat in running 2:03.33. Professional Hazel Clark of Nike won the heat with the semifinal's best time of 2:02.59.
Nickoley improved her 15th-place standing a year ago with the finish and becomes the first Tiger to finish in the USA's top 10.
Post-collegian Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) was 11th overall and sixth in his semifinal heat of the men's 800. Miller's time of 1:47.25 would have again given the former Tiger a personal best, but a run of 1:47.08 in yesterday's preliminaries trumped as his new career best time.
Asigbee finished day one with 3,566 points in the women's heptathlon, just 50 from third place. The 2003 Big 12 Champion started the day with a 13.77 clocking into a headwind in the 100-meter hurdles. After the high jump, where Asigbee cleared 5-11¼ (1.81m), and the shot put, where she marked 39-5 (12.01m), Asigbee was in second place. In the day's final event, the 200-meter dash, Asigbee ran into a strong headwind and clocked 24.84 to fall back to her current fourth-place standing.
Asigbee has three events remaining, the long jump, javelin throw, and 800-meter run, on Saturday. A top-three final finish will nab Asigbee a spot on Team USA that will travel August to the IAAF World Championships in Japan.
Also on Saturday, post-collegian Christian Cantwell will take to the ring in the men's shot put, looking for his second-consecutive bid to the IAAF World Championship.
NBC will air live coverage of the meet beginning at 1:00 p.m. (CT). ESPN2 will air additional coverage on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. (CT).
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