COLUMBIA, Mo. - In this week's look at the Tigers in the national track and field rankings, a new face has climbed up the charts as freshman thrower Kearsten Peoples (Ottawa, Kan.) has joined both Lars Rise (Trondheim, Norway) and Brian Hancock (Monroe, City, Mo.) in the national top 25 in their respective events this week. Hancock has ranked in the national top 20 in the pole vault every week this season while this week marks the second-straight week that Rise has ranked in the national top 10 in the heptathlon. Peoples returns to the national top 25 for the first time since Jan. 10 as well.

Peoples used a shot put of 15.86m (52-0 ½) to take third overall at the Husker Invitational last weekend and that mark has her ranked 20th nationally in the event and she is the second-ranked true freshman on the list as well. Peoples' throw of 15.86m (52-0 ½) ranks her fourth on Mizzou's all-time indoor shot put list and is a Mizzou freshman record. In fact, none of the three throwers ranked ahead of Peoples on Mizzou's all-time list threw better than 14.97m (49-1 ½) in their freshman seasons at Mizzou.

Hancock had another great weekend at the Husker Invitational and once again challenged for the pole vault title as he finished with a clearance of 5.22m (17-1 ½), just shy of his season-best mark of 5.25m (17-2 ¾), which has him ranks as the nation's No. 16 vaulter. Hancock also had three shots at equaling his school record of 5.37m (17-7 ¼) and just missed doing so on his third attempt. But either way, Hancock looks primed to make a run at that mark this season and his fourth All-America honor in the event.

Rounding out the Tigers in the top 25 is Rise, who is already a three-time All-American. Rise holds the nation's ninth-best heptathlon mark at 5,578 points which puts him in the hunt for a berth to the NCAA Indoor Championships. In fact, his score would have been just one point of qualifying him for last year's NCAA Championships and he still likely has several heptathlons still to come this season, including at the Big 12 Championships. Rise had a good meet last weekend as he set a season-best in the long jump and was just short of season-best tally in the pole vault.

Mizzou will be back in action this weekend at the Iowa State Classic. For all the latest on Mizzou track and field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.