Mizzou Track and Field at the Big 12 Championships
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Arena: Bob Devaney Sports Complex
Time: 10:30 a.m. Friday • 10 a.m. Saturday

The Starting Blocks - What You Need to Know
• The Tigers will compete in their first Big 12 Championships with Brett Halter as the head coach of the program. He spent 17 seasons at Mizzou as an assistant coach under Rick McGuire, so this is certainly not his first rodeo. He has coached 16 individual conference champions in his tenure as the throws coach at Mizzou.

• Both Brian Hancock and Lars Rise have earned the top seeds in their respective events at this weekend's Big 12 Championships. Hancock sits atop the Big 12 standings in the men's pole vault with his season-best and school-record clearance of 5.38m (17-7 3/4) while Rise tops the heptathlon standings with a season-best point total of 5,578 points.

• In all, Mizzou has nine of its athletes ranked in the league's top eight in 10 different events. The top eight in each event receive All-Big 12 recognition, so Mizzou has a projected nine All-Big 12 honorees in 10 different events.

• Mizzou sophomore Laura Roxberg holds the league's second-best time in the 1,000m run heading into the Big 12 Championships at 2:47.54, a time that she set in Nebraska earlier this season. She will return to that track this weekend as one of the favorites to bring home the title in that event. She was an All-Big 12 honoree in the event a year ago.

What's Inside? - A Quick Look at the Notes
• Mizzou is headed to its first Big 12 Championships with head coach Brett Halter at the helm of the program.
• A pair of Tigers - Lars Rise and Brian Hancock - rank atop the Big 12 in their respective events this week.
• In all, nine Tigers rank in the league's top eight spots in their respective events heading into the weekend.
• Layne Moore is the Tigers' top returning Big 12 Champion from a year ago when she won the 1,000m run.
• Mizzou looks to make it two straight years winning the heptathlon as Rise holds the top mark in the event.
• The Tiger throwers carry a lot of momentum into the Championships as plenty rank in the Big 12 top eight.
• Hancock is one week removed from setting the Mizzou indoor record and top Big 12 mark in the pole vault.
•Laura Roxberg will look to continue her breakout season in black and gold this weekend.
• Aaron Dixon and Blake Irwin look for success in the 800m run.

Big 12 Championships
The Mizzou track and field team will begin the championship portion of its schedule this weekend as it prepares for the 2011 Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lincoln, Neb. The meet will mark the first Big 12 Championships for Mizzou head coach Brett Halter since he took over the program prior to the season. Despite this being his first Big 12 Championships as a head coach, Halter is no stranger to the Big 12 Championships as he spent 17 seasons as an assistant coach under Rick McGuire, who retired last season. Halter has mentored 16 Big 12 Champions in his time as an assistant and will look to add his first champions as a head coach this weekend.

A Look at the Event
The Big 12 Championships will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 25) with the pentathlon and heptathlon. Action will run through 9:05 that night with the running of the distance medley relay. That, and the 5,000m run will be the only track event finals contested on Friday as the majority of the event finals will be held on Saturday with action beginning at 10 a.m. The weight throw, long jump and the men's pole vault will also be the field event finals held on Friday while the triple jump, high jump, shot put and women's pole vault finals will be contested on Saturday. The meet will close with the 4x400m relay at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. The top eight finishers in each event and relay will earn All-Big 12 honors and the meet will be scored, honoring a Big 12 Champion on both the men's and women's side on Saturday.

Hancock, Rise are Top Seeds
Heading into the Championship, a pair of Tigers - Lars Rise and Brian Hancock - rank as the top seeds in their respective events. Rise holds the Big 12's top heptathlon mark at 5,578 points, a total that ranks him as the nation's No. 10 heptathlete heading into the weekend. He is ranked more than 120 points better than the next-best Big 12 heptathlete this season. Hancock, who owns a top pole vault of 5.38m (17-7 3/4) - which is a school record - comes in ranked No. 1 in the event as well, just a centimeter ahead of Nebraska's Nate Polacek, setting up what should be one of the weekend's most exciting battles.

Big 12 Award For Hancock
Fifth-year senior pole vaulter Brian Hancock earned Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors this week after his recordbreaking performance at the Mizzou Collegiate Challenge last weekend. He is the first Tiger to take home the award since Lars Rise took home the award last outdoor season on April 21, 2009. Hancock won the men's pole vault with a school-record 5.38m (17-7 3/4), giving him the top mark in the Big 12 so far this season.

Breakout Season for Roxberg
Sophomore middle-distance standout Laura Roxberg has put together a great indoor season and will look to turn some heads at this weekend's Big 12 Championships. She currently boasts the league's second-best time in the women's 1,000m run at 2:47.54, which she coincidentally ran at Nebraska - the same place as this weekend's championships - earlier this season. She is nearly a full two seconds better than the next-best competitor on the performance list and should be considered one of the favorites to take home the event title. Only K-State's Boglarka Bozzay sits ahead of her on the Big 12 list and Roxberg is an All-Big 12 performer in the 1,000m run from a season ago.

Moore Looks for Success at Two Straight Championships
Mizzou middle-distance standout Layne Moore is the Tigers' only returning Big 12 Indoor Champion from a season ago as she claimed the 1,000m run title. Moore will run in the 800m run this weekend as she looks to continue the Tigers' strong presence in the women's 800m run over the past decade.

Tiger Throwers Look Primed for Big Meet
Mizzou has always racked up a lot of points at Big 12 meets in the throwing events, and 2011 should be no different as a strong contingent of throwers should make their presence felt this weekend. Highlighting the bunch is senior Chris Holly, who is having a tremendous season in the weight throw. Holly began his season by throwing personal bests in his first four meets and currently boasts the Big 12's third-best mark in the event at 18.88m (61-11 1/2). He has come very close to breaking that mark in each of this last two meets, but has fouled on his biggest throws. Holly, who is the 2009 Junior College National Champion in the hammer throw, will look for his biggest mark of the season this weekend as he will look to challenge the likes of Oklahoma's KP Singh and Nebraska's Carter Wasem, among others, this weekend.

Look for names like Jacob Bullinger and Tim Opfer to challenge for scoring positions in the weight throw this weekend as well. In the men's shot put, Both Brooks Mosier and Corey Jones rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in the Big 12 heading into the championships and should challenge for All-Big 12 honors. Mosier was an All-Big 12 honoree a season ago and Jones placed ninth, just one spot out of All-Big 12 honors.

On the women's side, freshman Kearsten Peoples has stolen many of the headlines this season, but Mizzou boasts a strong group of youngsters that should score plenty of points this weekend. Peoples highlights the bunch as she ranks fifth in the league in the weight throw and eighth in the shot put. She has shattered the Mizzou freshman record in the shot put this season and is ranked fourth in Mizzou history in the shot put and sixth in the weight.

Aside from Peoples, Katie Evans and Jill Rushin each have a shot at All-Big 12 honors in the shot put while Melissa Coil and Megan Collins each have a chance to score in the weight throw, giving Mizzou one of the deepest throws groups in the conference.

Dixon and Irwin look to Breakout in the 800m Run
Both Aaron Dixon and Blake Irwin qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 800m run last season and Irwin claimed the Big 12 outdoor title in the event last season and both will look to carry that momentum into the Big 12 Indoor Championships this weekend. Dixon clocked his best time of the season at the Tyson Invitational, clocking in at 1:50.22, which is just over a second behind the Big 12 leader heading into the weekend. Irwin has clocked a top time of 1:52.43 this season, which is just about three second shy of the Big 12's top time as the field appears to be wide open. Both have run 1:47 in their careers and will look for that type of a race this weekend as they look to challenge for a spot among the Big 12 elite.

High Jump a Pleasant Surprise in 2011
The women's high jump has featured a pair of athletes that have excelled all season long in Stcay Swineburg and Camille Hayes. Swineburg is currently the league's fifth-best jumper with her season-best clearance of 1.75m (5-8 3/4) while Hayes sits in 11th overall at 1.71m (5-7 1/4). Both should challenge for All-Big 12 accolades this weekend. On the men's side, freshman Tim Williams sits at ninth in the Big 12 with his season-best clearance of 2.09m (6-10 1/4). At ninth, Williams should be in the mix to make a run at All-Conference accolades this weekend.

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Up Next
The Tigers will continue the Championship portion of their schedule as they will have one last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the NCAA qualifier meet at Iowa State on March 5. Mizzou will then head to the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12 in College Station, Texas. For all the latest on Mizzou track and field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.