Jan. 13, 2010

The 24th Annual Missouri Invitational
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Mizzou track and field program opened its 2010 indoor season by hosting the 24th annual Missouri Invitational inside the Hearnes Center Field House on Friday (Jan. 8). The Tiger middle distance runners shined at the event and posted several notable performances, highlighted by two-time Big 12 Champion Shannon Leinert (Eureka, Mo.) who placed first overall in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:21.90 in what is an off-event for the 800m standout. Leslie Farmer (Jefferson City, Mo.) also finished in the top three for Mizzou in the event, turning in a time of 1:24.02, earning third place. In all, Mizzou claimed 11 event titles at the meet, which was not team scored.

"What we want from our team this week is for our stars to come out and be stars and for newcomers to come out and say, `look at me, I can compete too,' and I thought we did that today," head coach Dr. Rick McGuire said. "Also, you never want people to have wake-up calls, but if someone needs one, this is the week to have it happen. I thought we had a lot of great performances, but Shannon's was the highest-level performance at the meet today. She did a great job today and had a great race."