April 10, 2008
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-Tom Botts Invitational- Columbia, Mo. Quick Info and Links
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COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri track and field squads will play host of the 12th Annual Tom Botts Invitational this weekend, welcoming BYU and Tulsa as guests. While the adverse weather cancelled the Audrey Walton Combined Events scheduled for Thursday and Friday, conditions are expected to improve and produce manageable conditions for the meet. The BYU men are ranked No. 8 in the country in the latest USTFCCCA ratings while the Mizzou men are coming off a dual-meet win over Virginia.
Some Schedule Changes
With the impending weather, that includes chilly temperatures and high winds, the competition schedule has changed a bit from its originally posted status. Field events Friday will now begin at 1 p.m., with the discus and shot put moved from Saturday to Friday and the hammer throw moved from Friday to Saturday. Track events will now start Friday at 4 p.m., with the steeplechase. On Saturday, all events now will begin at 12:30 p.m.
Event Focus
Between the three schools, throws have been the bread-and-butter of early NCAA qualification.
All three schools have NCAA-regional qualifiers in the women's javelin. Four scheduled for competition this weekend are within 10 feet of each other's season best with BYU junior Sarah Lancaster leading the field with a 153-7 (46.83m) season best to rank 30th in the country. Missouri freshman Hope Harris is 33rd in the country with a 153-2 (46.70m) best and Tulsa senior Katy McGillen (147-3, 44.88m) and BYU junior Piret Kuresson (144-8, 44.11m) will combine for an interesting field to watch.
In the men's high jump, both Missouri senior Jason Miller and BYU senior Bryce Bergen have cleared the NCAA-regional qualifying height of 6-10¾ (2.10m).
Should conditions allow, the men's pole vault should also be another spotlight event. BYU has three vaulters that have sailed over at least 16-6 this season. Junior Whitney Neves and Bob Low are tied for third in the country with marks of 17-6½ (5.35m).
In the throws, Missouri senior Nate Englin ranked sixth in the country in the shot put via last-weekend's season best toss of 60-8¾ (18.51m). Englin is one of three Tigers to have regional marks in that event. The Tigers also have four regional qualifiers in the men's hammer, with junior Chris Rohr leading the way with a 214-4 (65.34m) toss that sits No. 6 in the nation.
BYU sophomore Leif Arrhenius is seventh in the country in the discus with a 196-5 (59.87m) best.
On the women's side, Tigers Shernelle Nicholls and Krishna Lee are both listed in the nation's top 10 in the shot put. Nicholls marked 54-1¼ (16.49m) and Lee tallied 53-3 (16.23m) in a 1-2 finish in sweeping the event at Jefferson Cup last weekend.
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