Missouri Track & Field, 2008 Outdoor Season Review

Aug. 6, 2008

The outdoor season for the Missouri Track & Field teams during any Olympic year, such as 2008, can only be described in one way - busy. After having one of the more recent successful seasons individually during the 2008 indoor campaign, several Tigers came back to have an even-more fruitful outdoor run, dodging weather woes along the way.

After five Tigers earned All-America honors during the indoor season, another group of five did the same at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines.

Sophomore Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) and frosh Lars Rise (Trondheim, Norway) came through the season as a powerful duo in the decathlon, claiming fourth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively at the national meet. Adcock, who also won the decathlon at the Kansas Relays, would also finish a close runner-up to Texas' Donovan Kilmartin at the Big 12 meet with a hefty personal-best for his 20-years-of-age, scoring 7,657 points. Rise proved that Mizzou's Norwegian pipeline continues to run smoothly with a personal best at the Big 12 meet to finish third at 7,559.

Adcock was also named to his second U.S. national team when chosen to represent America at late July's NACAC (North American) Under-23 Championships in Toluca, Mexico, where he went on to win silver for his second international medal. In 2007, after winning the U.S. Junior Championship in the decathlon, Adcock earned a spot and earned Silver as part of the U.S.' Pan-Am Junior team that went to Brazil.

Sophomore Brian Hancock (Monroe City, Mo.) became Mizzou's first pole vault All-American since 1958 with a tie-for-eighth finish at the NCAA meet while hammer throwers senior Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) and junior Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.) also earned All-America honors at the national meet after earning top-five finishes at the regional.

Morris and Rohr wrestled for the school record in the hammer all season, with Morris striking first by topping his own record going into the season with a 224-5 (68.41m) mark at the Drake Relays. But, Morris was later passed by Rohr at the USATF Ozark Association Championships in mid-June with a 229-4 (69.90m) marking. Both marks earned both Tigers a spot in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

While individual accolades has been mostly the headlines in the past several years, an effort to bring the dual meet into collegiate track & field took a step forward with the creation of the Jefferson Cup, an annual home-and-home meeting with the University of Virginia that ties great athletic meeting with ties the two schools have with former President Thomas Jefferson.

In its inaugural running and Mizzou's first dual meet since 1984, meeting in Charlottesville, the two squads had quite a competition as the Tigers won the men's showdown 105-97 while Virginia took the women's cake 103-99, coming down to the final event, the 4x400-meter relay to proclaim the Cavaliers as the winners.

Adcock for the Tiger men led all scorers with 11¼ points for the men, with 10 of the 19 events going to Missouri. Senior Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) was a double winner, scoring top honors in the 800- and 1500-meter races for the Tiger women.

At the Big 12 meet in Boulder, Colo., an altitude adjustment was not very kind to the Tigers as the men took eighth and the women 10^th. Other than Adcock and Rise in the decathlon, and Morris and senior Tyler Dailey (Joplin, Mo.) taking the 2-3 spots in the hammer, the other high-placing honor on the men's side went to Nate Englin (Shoreview, Minn.) in the shot put.

Englin completed a double Big 12-crown season in winning the shot title to go with his indoor crown, throwing 61-7¾ (18.79m), as a result, Englin joined former Tigers Christian Cantwell (2001), Steve Moore (1978), Gene Crews (1965 and 1966), and Elmer Aussieker (1942) in claiming both indoor and outdoor conference shot put titles in the same year.

Also at the Big 12 meet, junior JaNay Woolridge (Jessup, Md.) had a very good showing, placing fourth and qualifying for the NCAA Mideast Regional with a wind-aided leap of 20-3½ (6.19m).

Adding to the post-season march, four Tiger collegians qualified and participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore. Nickoley placed 19^th in the women's 800 while junior Krishna Lee (Kansas City, Mo.) took 18^th in the women's shot and Rohr and Morris placed 20^th and 23^rd, respectively, in the men's hammer throw.

Five former Tigers also qualified and participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, highlighted by Christian Cantwell's second-place showing in the men's shot to earn his first bid to a U.S. Olympic Team.

At the 99^th Drake Relays in April, Tiger freshman Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas) won the women's 10,000-meter run to become Mizzou's first individual female winner on the track at the historic meet since Katie Meyer took the 1500-meter title in 1999. Jennifer Bennett was the last in the field to win for the Tiger women, claiming victory in the pole vault in 2003.

Tiger post-collegians Neville Miller (men's 800), Fiona Asigbee (women's heptathlon) and Cantwell (men's shot) won individual titles at Drake as well. Cantwell, who won his sixth title at the event, became the winningest shot putter in Drake Relays history.

Senior Shernelle Nicholls (St. Andrew's Parrish, Barbados) broke her own record in the women's discus, marking 170-7 (52.00m) at the Missouri Relays. Nicholls would go on to win another national championship at her native Barbados with the disc. Nicholls, along with Lee, qualified for two events at the NCAA Championships. Nicholls went to Iowa with both the shot and disc while Lee went for the shot and hammer. Lee, along with junior Elisha Hunt (Linn, Mo.) scored with both the shot and hammer at the Big 12 meet. Nicholls scored at the league meet with the discus and shot.

For the 2009 season, the Tiger track squads should return many veterans that will likely post even better marks and hold even more esteem than what was earned in 2008.

Missouri Track & Field 2008

Outdoor Season Highlights

* Five Tigers would bring home All-America honors during the outdoor season, including sophomore Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) and frosh Lars Rise (Trondheim, Norway) in the decathlon, sophomore Brian Hancock (Monroe City, Mo.) in the pole vault, and senior Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) and junior Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.) in the hammer throw ... Adcock was the highest finisher at fourth with 7,612 points in the decathlon, adding to a runner-up performance in the same event at the Big 12 meet ... Hancock was Mizzou's first pole vault All-American in 50 years.

* Adcock was named to his second U.S. national team when chosen to represent America at late July's NACAC (North American) Under-23 Championships in Toluca, Mexico ... Adcock earned a spot on the U.S.' Pan-Am Junior team that went to Brazil in 2007.

* The Tiger men participated in, and won, its first dual meet since 1984 with a 105-97 victory in the inaugural Jefferson Cup at Virginia ... Adcock led all scorers with 11¼ points for the men, with 10 of the 19 events going to Missouri ... while the Virginia women won their dual with the Tigers 103-99, senior Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) was a double winner, scoring top honors in the 800- and 1500-meter races.

* Senior Nate Englin (Shoreview, Minn.) completed a double Big 12-crown season in winning the shot put title at the outdoor championships in Boulder, Colo., with a 61-7¾ (18.79m) toss to go with his indoor first-place finish earlier in the year ... Englin joins former Tigers Christian Cantwell (2001), Steve Moore (1978), Gene Crews (1965 and 1966), and Elmer Aussieker (1942) in claiming both indoor and outdoor conference shot put titles in the same year.

* Four Tiger collegians qualified and participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore. ... Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) placed 19^th in the women's 800, junior Krishna Lee (Kansas City, Mo.) took 18^th in the women's shot and Rohr and Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) placed 20^th and 23^rd, respectively, in the men's hammer throw.

* Five former Tigers also qualified and participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, highlighted by Christian Cantwell's second-place showing in the men's shot to earn his first bid to the U.S. Olympic Team.

* At the 99^th Drake Relays, Tiger freshman Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas) won the women's 10,000-meter run to become Mizzou's first individual female winner at the historic meet since 1999 ... post-collegians Neville Miller (men's 800), Fiona Asigbee (women's heptathlon) and Cantwell (men's shot) won individual titles as well ... Cantwell won his sixth title at the event to become the winningest shot putter in Drake Relays history.

* Two school records fell during the outdoor season ... in the men's hammer, Morris topped his own record going into the season with a 224-5 (68.41m) mark at the Drake Relays, but was later passed by Rohr at the USATF Ozark Association Championships with a 229-4 (69.90m) marking ... senior Shernelle Nicholls (St. Andrew's Parrish, Barbados) broke her own record in the women's discus, marking 170-7 (52.00m) at the Missouri Relays.

* Nicholls and Lee qualified for the NCAA Championships in Des Moines in two separate events apiece to cap a full season ... Nicholls qualified with the shot and discus ... Lee qualified with the shot and hammer for the national meet while also scoring with both events at the Big 12 meet.

Missouri Track & Field 2008

Outdoor Season Awards & Honors

USTFCCCA All-American

Nick Adcock, men's decathlon

Brian Hancock, men's pole vault

Jason Morris, men's hammer throw

Lars Rise, men's decathlon

Chris Rohr, men's hammer throw

NACAC U23 Championships Medalist

Nick Adcock, men's decathlon, silver

USTFCCCA All-Region

Brian Hancock, men's pole vault