Hunt Overjoyed With Fourth-Place NCAA Weight Throw Finish
3/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 10, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - What a day it was for University of Missouri junior Elisha Hunt on Saturday. At the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., the Linn, Mo., native came to national championship in the women's weight throw seeded 15th, only to finish unexpectedly in fourth place and secure Mizzou's first All-America honor in the event. Hunt did so by extending her school record by 22 inches in marking 68 feet, 2½ inches (20.79m).
"I am beyond being on Cloud Nine right now," said Hunt afterwards. "I am just so thrilled and happy to know that this happened today. I was totally not expecting it and neither was anyone else. It is a fantastic feeling."
Hunt opened the competition with a mark of 66-9¼ (20.35m) to break her old school record of 66-4½ (20.23m). On her next throw, Hunt really found her niche, marking her day's best of 68-2½.
Hunt entered the finals in third place, and in the fifth round was passed by Clemson's Della Clark (68-5). Southern Illinois' Brittany Riley topped her own World record in winning (by 10 feet) with a throw of 83-10¼ (25.56m). Georgia's Jenny Dahlgren was second at 73-11.
Hunt was runner-up to Kansas State's Loren Groves (6th today) at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
In the men's heptathlon, senior Hans Uldal placed ninth overall with a score of 5,478. Uldal came into day two in 12th place, but an 8.24 school-record clocking in the 60-meter hurdles quickly put Uldal on the sunny side of the day. Uldal continued with a tied-indoor personal-best clearance of 15-9 (4.80m) in the pole vault to move to seventh. A surprisingly super-fast 1000-meter run was next for the field. While Wisconsin's Joe Detmer set a new heptathlon 1000-meter World Record in the event, the rest of the field was just as motivated running to new personal bests. Uldal on the other hand was not looking for speed, but the ability to just finish the race. After a long Tiger career of nagging injuries and formidable pain, it was quite a challenge just to finish the job. Uldal ran a 2:53.33 in his final race as a Tiger, not his best clocking of all time, but one thing that has always been true, he left it all on the line.
Final team scores will be announced later in the evening.
The indoor season for the Tigers is now complete. After a weekend off, Mizzou will travel to the Jim Click Combined Events to begin the outdoor season in Tucson, Ariz., with the Arizona State Clif Bar Invitational to coincide in the same weekend in Tempe.
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