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-NCAA Championships- Des Moines, Iowa Quick Info and Links
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Eight Tigers were confirmed earlier this week as having entries into next week's NCAA Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Along with four automatic qualifiers, four earned at-large bids, including Tiger women Krishna Lee and Shernelle Nicholls who were accepted into two separate throwing events each. The Tigers will have three events with two entries, including the men's decathlon, men's hammer throw, and women's shot put.
CBS College Sports (formally CSTV) will air live coverage on Friday, June 13, from 7-10 p.m., central. The CBS network will air Saturday's final events of the championship live to a national audience from 3-5 p.m., central.
THE TIGERS ACCEPTED
Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo. / Oak Park HS), sophomore, men's decathlon
Adcock has had a well-documented, immediate surge as one of the rising young talents in the event. Adcock earned his first All-America honor in March in placing fourth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and won his first Big 12 title during the indoor season with the seven-event heptathlon. With a season's and personal best score of 7,657 in the decathlon, set in placing runner-up to Texas' Donvoan Kilmartin at the Big 12 Championships, he and teammate frosh Lars Rise, enter the meet as top-10 seeds in their first appearance. Amazingly, only six of the 26 entered return from 2007. Tennessee's Jangy Addy holds the No. 1 seed as the only collegian to score above 8,000 this year (8,010 at the SEC Championships) and placed third last year. Another FYI, the first NCAA decathlon championship was held in 1970, in … Des Moines. Rick Wanamaker of Drake won with 7,406 points.
Nate Englin (Shoreview, Minn. / Mounds View HS), senior, men's shot put
Englin is most definitely Mizzou's “lucky dog” of the year. As a result of at least two scratches of people who placed above him in the regional, Englin was placed into the NCAA's at-large selection pool despite placing a disappointing 14th showing a week ago. That meet came after his dominate performance in picking up the Big 12 crown two weeks earlier. Englin was also the Big 12 indoor winner. This will be Englin's second appearance at the outdoor NCAA meet. Ironically, Englin was named to the NCAA Indoor field this year when Florida State's Walter Dix scratched from the meet, allowing Englin's entry with only three hours before the event's scheduled start. Arizona's Zack Lloyd goes in as the No. 1 seed with a 69-0 (21.03m) mark, but indoor champ Ryan Whiting of Arizona State, who threw over 71 feet in breaking the collegiate record in March, has crept up the manifest all season.
Brian Hancock (Monroe City, Mo. / Monroe City HS), sophomore, men's pole vault
Hancock will be making his first NCAA Championship appearance, having cleared 17-5 (5.31m) to nearly guarantee him at least an at-large bid for the meet. Hancock is not too far off the outdoor school record of 17-6¾ (5.35m) and does hold the indoor school record. At 5-5, Hancock could be argued to be one of the shortest school-record holders in school history, but don't let that fool you, he's as intense as any vaulter needs to be when it counts. This event seems to be one of many field events that are wide open, but Rice's Jason Colwick has the national leader at 18-2½ (5.55m).
Krishna Lee (Kansas City, Mo. / O'Hara HS), junior, women's shot put AND hammer throw
Lee qualified for the NCAA meet for the second-straight year in the same two events she made it for in 2007. Lee was a finalist with the hammer last year after notching a new school record and her current personal best of 199-6 (60.82m) at the regional hosted by Mizzou. Her career best with the shot came at the Jefferson Cup in Virginia, where she launched the 8.8-lb. ball 53-2¾ (16.23m).
Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo. / Priory HS), senior, men's hammer throw
Morris will make his third-straight appearance at this NCAA Championship with the hammer, having been one of the most consistent Tigers in recent history. With his school record set in the same facility in Des Moines during the Drake Relays earlier this year of 224-5 (68.41m), he has a good chance of making the field for the USATF Olympic Team Trials in a few weeks. Morris, along with teammate Rohr, is in the top 10 among seeds. Auburn's Cory Martin tossed 239-10 (73.11m) last weekend in winning the Mideast Regional for the collegiate-best mark of the season.
Shernelle Nicholls (St. Andrew's Parrish, Barbados), senior, women's shot put AND discus
Nicholls qualified for both the discus and shot put this year after earning All-America honors with the shot a year ago. Nicholls is the Barbadian National Record holder with the shot, discus, and hammer and represented her island country in the Pan-American Games last year with the shot and discus. Nicholls also holds Mizzou school records with her 56-2¾ (17.14m) effort with the shot from the 2007 Big 12 meet and a 170-7 (52.00m) mark from this year's Tom Botts Invitational with the disc.
Lars Rise (Trondheim, Norway / Adolf Oeien HS), freshman, men's decathlon
As Missouri's latest Norwegian import, Rise has already lived up to his billing, and then some. Rise will be Mizzou's only freshman on hand for the NCAA meet and has already came near Hans Uldal's MU freshman record of 7,587 with 7,559 points in finishing third at the Big 12 Championships a few weeks ago in Boulder. Rise is primarily a day-two guy, but with a put of the shot that has traveled 53 feet in one point of the indoor season, he can rack a lot of points quickly. At the Big 12 indoor and outdoor meets, Rise set decathlon meet records in the shot. Adcock and Rise are 9-10 on the collegiate-best list and both are looking for the award stand.
Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo. / Lee's Summit North HS), junior, men's hammer throw
Rohr has earned three All-America certificates in the indoor-cousin of the hammer throw, the weight throw. Rohr had the second-longest collegiate throw with the weight this indoor season and took second at the Big 12 meet in the event to Kansas' Egor Agafonov. This will be Rohr's second appearance at the NCAA meet with the hammer (2006) after throwing for a personal best, 220-9 (67.30m) in placing third at the regional last week.
Tiger Championship Roster
Event |
Seed |
Name |
Yr |
Prelims |
Finals |
Season's Best |
Date |
Regl Pl |
How Qual |
||
MEN |
|||||||||||
PV |
13th |
SO |
Wed 11 - 4:15PM |
Fri 13 - 4:15PM |
5.31m |
17-5 |
5/2 |
7th |
at-large |
||
SP |
10th |
SR |
Thu 12 - 4:15PM |
Sat 14 - 4:15PM |
19.04m |
PR |
62-5¾ |
5/2 |
14th* |
at-large |
|
HT |
7th |
SR |
Wed 11 - 4:00PM |
Fri 13 - 5:30PM |
68.41m |
SR |
224-5 |
4/26 |
5th |
AQ |
|
HT |
10th |
JR |
Wed 11 - 4:00PM |
Fri 13 - 5:30PM |
67.30m |
PR |
220-9 |
Regl |
3rd |
AQ |
|
DEC |
9th |
SO |
Wednesday (10am) / Thursday (10:45a) |
7,657 |
PR |
5/17 |
-- |
AUTO |
|||
DEC |
10th |
FR |
Wednesday (10am) / Thursday (10:45a) |
7,559 |
PR |
|
5/17 |
-- |
AUTO |
||
WOMEN |
|||||||||||
SP |
13th |
Shernelle Nicholls |
SR |
Thu 12 - 7:15PM |
Sat 14 - 12:30PM |
16.49m |
54-1¼ |
4/5 |
11th |
at-large |
|
SP |
18th |
JR |
Thu 12 - 7:15PM |
Sat 14 - 12:30PM |
16.23m |
PR |
53-3 |
4/5 |
10th |
at-large |
|
DISC |
26th |
Shernelle Nicholls |
SR |
Wed 11 - 4:00PM |
Fri 13 - 5:30PM |
52.00m |
SR |
170-7 |
3/29 |
10th |
at-large |
HT |
29th |
JR |
Wed 11 - 1:30PM |
Fri 13 - 3:15PM |
59.92m |
|
196-7 |
4/26 |
10th |
at-large |
|
* Englin was accepted because at least two above him in the final placing at the NCAA Mideast Regional scratched in not declaring for the national championship, bumping Englin into the at-large pool