April 24, 2010
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Mizzou track and field team completed action at the 101st Drake Relays on Saturday (April 24) at Drake Stadium. Sophomore hurdler Leslie Farmer (Jefferson City, Mo.) was the Tigers' top individual performer on the day as she broke the Mizzou school record in the 400m hurdles after clocking in at 59.76. She becomes the only Tiger to break the one-minute barrier in the event as she improved her own school-record mark by more than three-tenths of a second. She finished second in her heat and ninth overall.
The Tigers continued to see success in the hurdles after Farmer's record breaking run. Senior Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) claimed seventh place overall in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.47. In the men's 400m hurdles, sophomore and former Drake Relays High School Champion in the event Kellyn Fogarty (Marshalltown, Iowa), clocked a collegiate personal-best of 52.80 to finish 15th overall in his first Drake Relays as a collegiate athlete.
Similar to Fogarty, senior Ellen Ries (Ryan, Iowa) grew up competing at the Drake Relays in high school and she got one more shot to do so as a collegiate athlete, doing so in the 1,500m run. Ries, an Iowa native, placed ninth with a time of 4:30.46.
After an incredible performance in the 4x800m relay last night, the Mizzou men came back and ran a great distance medley relay on Saturday. The foursome - which included Aaron Dixon (Lee's Summit, Mo.) and Blake Irwin (Bettendorf, Iowa), both of whom ran on the 4x800m relay team last night - clocked the program's sixth-best outdoor DMR time at 9:44.08, missing the top five by just 0.18 seconds. Chris Davis (Riverdale, Ga.) and Tim Cornell (Columbia, Mo.) ran the 400m and 1,600m legs, respectively, as well.
The sprint medley relays were the first events to feature Tigers on the track on Saturday. The Tiger women - Sierra Gant (Wichita, Kan.), Farmer, Lana Mims (Tulsa, Okla.) and Layne Moore (Emporia, Kan.) - led off by finishing seventh in the final heat with a time of 4:02.17. The men followed that performance with a 3:25.94 clocking, also earning seventh. That foursome was comprised of Clifton Leake (Dallas, Texas), Matt Pickerel (Columbia, Mo.), Ryan Blackwell (Fenton, Mo.) and Tyrell Everett (Wichita, Kan.).
Sophomore thrower Tim Opfer (Higginsville, Mo.) was the first Tiger to compete in the throws events on Saturday as he turned in a 14th place finish in the discus after tossing 48.16m (158-0). Junior Chris Holly (Topeka, Kan.) also competed in the throws events for the Tigers as he placed fifth in his flight in the men's hammer throw after measuring in at 57.17m (187-7). Also, former Tiger All-American and current volunteer assistant coach Chris Rohr won the event with a personal-best throw of 73.22m (240-3) while competing unattached. That mark is also a Drake Relays record.
The highlight of the day in the throws events came in the men's invitational shot put as former Tiger and Drake Relays Hall of Fame inductee Christian Cantwell squared off with some of the world's top throwers, including Resse Hoffa, who came into the event with the third-best shot put mark in the world this year, setting up an intriguing matchup. But Cantwell left little doubt about who the best thrower in the competition was as he launched a throw of 21.69m (71-2) on his second attempt, a mark that stood through each of the throws as he claimed the event title. That mark is the second-best in the world this season.
Ricky West (Scarborough, Ontario) and Rick Scheff (Atlanta, Ga.) ran in the men's 800m run on Saturday, placing seventh and ninth, respectively at 1:52.35 and 1:53.
Daniel Hunter (Hallsville, Mo.) competed in the high jump for the Tiger men and finished 19th overall in the event after clearing 2.00m (6-6 ¾) on his second attempt. Despite a valiant effort, Hunter failed to clear 2.05m (6-8 ¾) on each of his three attempts. He was the only Tiger to compete in the jump events for Mizzou on Saturday. Mims was slated to go in the long jump, but she ran only in the sprint medley relay instead as the two events were run simultaneously.
Mizzou will conclude the outdoor regular season next weekend at the Arkansas Twilight. It will serve at the Tigers' final tune-up before hosting the Big 12 Championships on May 14-16 at Audrey J. Walton Stadium. For all the latest on Mizzou track and field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.