Track & Field Enters USTFCCCA National Rankings
2/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Feb. 18, 2014
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou women's track & field team cracked into the Top 25 National Team Rankings at No. 24 in the country, as released Tuesday morning by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The move comes after a successful weekend of competition in Fayetteville, Ark., where the teams took on the Tyson Invitational.
The ladies have been hovering in the top 40 throughout the season, starting at No. 32 for the first in-season release and moving into No. 36 and No. 39 before making the jump up into No. 24. This is the first time the women have been voted into the top 25 since the USTFCCCA began the in-season rankings in 2008, and the highest overall ranking since the team's seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2001.
The leap came after an exciting weekend of performances at the Tyson Invitational, which launched junior Kearsten Peoples into the top spot in the nation for the shot put, and 10 other Tigers into the top 15 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) rankings.
Peoples broke her fourth Missouri School Record this season on Saturday, throwing 17.51m (57-5.5) en route to a first-place finish in the shot put. She also broke the record in the weight throw earlier in the season (21.18m/69-6), and currently sits at No. 3 in the SEC and No. 8 in the NCAA.
Also making their marks in the rankings and record books were senior Landon Wachter and freshman Kaitlyn Fischer. Wachter placed fourth in the women's 800-meter run with a new lifetime best of 2:09.03. She now sits at No. 9 in the Missouri All-Time Top Ten list and is ranked 12th in the conference.
Fischer emerged from Tyson with a first-place finish in the 5000-meter run, her first on the track, where she finished in 16:51.16 to make her mark at No. 7 on the Missouri Top Ten list. She currently ranks 13th in the SEC.
The Tigers join seven fellow-SEC institutions on the list, the most out of any conference, including Florida (No. 2), Texas A&M (No. 3), Arkansas (No. 4), Kentucky (No. 6), Georgia (No. 7), LSU (No. 11), and Mississippi State (No. 22).
The teams are at home this weekend with the Missouri Collegiate Challenge on Friday, and will be back on the road next week for the SEC Championships in College Station, Tx. The meet is scheduled to run Thursday, Feb. 27 to Saturday, March 1. For the latest on your Tigers, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MIZ_TrackField.
Players Mentioned
