March 13, 2014
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Juniors Kearsten Peoples and Jill Rushin will hit the ring for one final time this season, as they close out the indoor schedule at the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, NM, going head-to-head with the 16 best throwers in the NCAA. Peoples will kick off the weekend on Friday with the women's weight throw at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time (MT). She will come back on Saturday to join Rushin in the shot put at 3:30 p.m. MT.
"We always talk about how we want to play against the best at their best, and this is certainly that. The 16 best in the United States will be here and we get to play, and that's what we're going to do," said Head Coach Brett Halter. "The women are in a terrific place. They've invested well, particularly at a technical level, to get to what we call Championship technique. We're just going to play the game, have a lot of fun, enjoy it, do our very best, and at the end of the day we'll come home and get back to work."
Record Falls at the SEC Championships
The pair of juniors are coming back after an exciting SEC Championship two weeks ago in College Station, Tx., where they helped lead the women to a ninth-place finish and a return to the Top 25 Team Rankings by the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) at No. 25 on Monday.
Peoples led the field in the shot put from the get-go, closing out with a new Missouri School Record toss of 17.81m (58-5.25). This was the second consecutive SEC title for Peoples, who also won the event during the outdoor SEC Championships last spring at home in Columbia, Mo.
Right behind her in third was Rushin, who earned her third All-SEC finish with her top mark of 16.34m (53-7.5). Rushin also placed third at the Outdoor Championships last year, and was runner-up at the 2013 Indoor Championships.
Leading the National Rankings
Peoples first hit the top of the NCAA rankings after the Tyson Invitational, when she threw a new PR (17.51m / 57-5.5) to tie with Christina Hillman from Iowa State for the No. 1 spot. Her winning toss from the SEC Championships solidified her lead, putting her ahead of the rest of the country by just under a foot. She is also ranked No. 10 in the NCAA for the weight throw.
Rushin holds the No. 14 spot in the NCAA for the shot put going into the Championship competition.
Re-Writing the Record Books
Both Peoples and Rushin have advanced the Missouri Record Books in their respective events, with Peoples laying down a total of five school record performances this season. The first two came in January at Madison, Wis., when she went back-to-back in the weight throw winning the Badger Open in 21.01m (68-11.25) and coming back the following day to win the Wisconsin v. Missouri Dual in 21.18m (69-6).
She took down her own record in the shot put at the Armory Collegiate Invitational, winning the competition in 16.93m (55-6.5), and following it up the next weekend at the Tyson Invitational to place first once again with a big PR of 17.51m (57-5.5).
Peoples took the weekend before the SEC Championships off from competition in the shot put, and Rushin stepped in to place first at the Collegiate Challenge with her third PR of the season: 16.90m (55-5.5). That mark would have passed up Peoples' school record mark from 2013, which stood at 16.87m (55-4.5), had it not been for Peoples' PR's from the Armory and Tyson.
Follow the Action Live
ESPN3 will be streaming events from the Albuquerque Convention Center live starting at 7:55 p.m. ET on Friday, and 7:50 p.m. ET Saturday.
Live results will be available via Flash Results.
There will also be a highlight show on ESPNU on Saturday, March 22, at 6:30 p.m. ET.
For more information on the meet, check out the Championships page on USTFCCCA. For the latest on your Tigers, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MIZ_TrackField.