March 15, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Five from the University of Missouri claimed All-America honors in the final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. Among the fantastic five was sophomore Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) who tallied his first All-America certificate in placing fourth in the men's heptathlon while senior Shernelle Nicholls threw to a school record in placing sixth in the women's shot put. The five All-America performances are the most recorded by the Mizzou squads since 2003.
Adcock completed the competition with 5,776 points, just 19 points from his personal best and school record set two weeks ago in winning the Big 12 Championship. Adcock's first All-America standing is Mizzou's third in four years in the event as Hans Uldal placed 3rd in 2005 and 7th in 2006.
Carrying 3,195 points into day one, Adcock used a personal best, and, advanced his school record, by clocking 8.10 in the opening-event of the day, the 60-meter hurdles. Adcock cleared 14-7¼ (4.45m) in the pole vault, just one bar underneath his PR set two weeks ago.
Entering the final event, Adcock was in fifth place, 76 points behind Florida's Mike Morrison for fourth and 88 points behind Tennessee senior Jangy Addy for third. Adcock busted out a run of 2:39.56 in the 1000-meter run, nearly a two-second shave off his personal best, to move to fourth place and pass Addy by 93 points (2:56.71).
"This meet has a totally different atmosphere than what I experienced at Big 12s," said Adcock. "I really didn't know what to expect. I came in and was as focused as I could be and just kept progressing through the weekend as best as I could. In the hurdles this morning, I was more pumped than I really should have been and told myself in the blocks to calm down. This was a really fun weekend, and I can't wait to get to outdoors."
In the women's shot put senior Shernelle Nicholls (St. Andrew's Parrish, Barbados) won her second overall All-America honor in placing sixth with a new school record toss of 54-10 (16.71m) on her fifth try. Krishna Lee (Kansas City, Mo.) took 11th overall with a throw of 53-3½ (16.24m) to claim her first All-America honor, placing as the eighth best American.
Junior Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.) earned his third All-America honor in the men's weight throw, placing eighth with his best from the final round of 70-¼ (21.34m). On his fourth throw, Rohr unleashed a monster throw that would have arguably bested the entire field, but a toe foul prevented the measure. Senior Tyler Dailey (Joplin, Mo.) took 13th in the contest with a day's best of 65-10½ (20.08m).
Senior Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) placed seventh in the women's 800 for her first All-America honor, clocking 2:06.69.
In final team scoring, the Tiger men tied for 38th with six points. No. 4 Arizona State was the winners with 44 points while No. 1 Florida State took second with 41. The Mizzou women finished in a tie for 39th with five points. No. 2 Arizona State also took the women with 51 points while No. 1 LSU took runner-up honors with 43.
Tape-delayed coverage of the meet can be found on ESPN2 on Thursday, starting at 3 p.m., central. With the indoor season complete, a handful of Tigers will open the outdoor season next weekend at the Tulsa Duals.
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