March 3, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- One week after the Big 12 Indoor Championships, the Mizzou track and field team will send a select group of individuals to the Last Chance Meet in Ames, Iowa, in hopes of improving the select individuals NCAA Championships qualifying marks. The meet will be held Saturday (March 6) at the Lied Recreation Center and will mark the fourth time this season that the Tigers will compete at Iowa State.
Nine student-athletes will head to Ames this weekend in hopes of improving their national standing in their respective events in what is the last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. Among the nine will be senior shot putter Andy Oaker (Steelville, Mo.), who placed third at the Big 12 Championships last weekend after throwing 18.20m (59-8 ½), a season-best mark. He currently sits at No. 24 on the national descending order list. He will likely need to improve that mark by just over a foot to crack the nation's top 14 and earn a spot at the Championships.
The Tigers will also be well-represented in the men's 800m run as five student-athletes - Chris Davis (Riverdale, Ga.), Aaron Dixon (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Tyrell Everett (Wichita, Kan.), Blake Irwin (Bettendorf, Iowa) and Ricky West (Scarborough, Ontario) - will compete in the event this weekend. Of the five, Irwin holds the best time at 1:49.31, ranking him No. 22 nationally. In order to crack the top 14, he will need to run about half a second faster this weekend. Dixon holds the team's third-best time at 1:49.90, putting him within striking distance for a national berth as well. Everett and West have posted season-bests of 1:51.80 and 1:51.82, respectively, while Davis has clocked in at 1:54.21 this season.
On the women's side, Layne Moore (Emporia, Kan.) - who was the Big 12 1,000m Champion last weekend - Lana Mims (Tulsa, Okla.) and Leslie Famer (Jefferson City, Mo.) will all be headed to the meet this weekend. Moore is coming off of a dramatic win in the 1,000m run at the Big 12 Championships, but will look to qualify for the National Championships in another one of her strongest events, the 800m run. Her season-best time is 2:11.04 in the event.
Mims, who clocked in at 54.62 in the 400m dash at the Meyo Invitational will look to improve that mark this weekend as she looks to earn a trip to the National Championships. She was well on her way to breaking that mark at the ISU Classic before she was slowed by a slight cramp in her leg. Then, at last week's Big 12 Championships, she was tripped up during the preliminary heat, so she has yet to improve her time due to some bad luck. She will need to shave about a second off of her time to have a chance to qualify.
Farmer will also race in the 400m dash for the Tiger women. She holds a season-best time of 55.51, which ranks second on the team this season. Farmer is coming off of All-Big 12 honors in the 600-yard run last weekend.
Two Tigers - Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) and Shannon Leinert (Eureka, Mo.) - have already automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships this season. Adcock owns the nation's second-best heptathlon mark after setting a Big 12 Meet and school record with 5,938 points last weekend. Leinert has run the nation's fourth-best time in the 800m aat 2:04.32, automatically qualifying her for the championships. The Tigers hope to add more names to that list of qualifiers this weekend.
For a complete recap of the meet on Saturday, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.