COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Tigers are off to Lexington, Ky., this weekend to take on their first real test of the indoor season at Kentucky's Rod McCravy Memorial Meet. The two-day meet, spanning Friday and Saturday (January 23-24), is slated to be one of the premier meets of the season, featuring 16 of the top 25 ranked teams in the NCAA. Included on that list are the Mizzou women, who entered the season at No. 24 in the pre-season rankings, as released by the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association). Events at the Nutter Field House will begin at 10 a.m. ET Friday with the season's first pentathlon and heptathlon for senior Morgan Whitson and junior Ser Whitaker, respectively.
THE MEET
Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets | Live Results
Nutter Field House, the site for the 2015 SEC Indoor Championships in February, is sure to see some record-breaking performances this weekend as 16 of the top-ranked teams in the nation make up the most highly-anticipated fields of the indoor regular season. Included in this list are six SEC teams, including the Mizzou women, who entered the season ranked in the top 25 in the country.
Ranked Women's Teams - 1. Florida | 3. Oregon | 4. Georgia | 5. Texas | 6. Kentucky | 7. Arkansas | 9. Florida State | 24. Missouri
Ranked Men's Teams - 1. Florida | 2. Oregon | 3. Arkansas | 8. Texas | 10. LSU | 11. Georgia | 20. Florida State | 24. Ohio State
The meet will be broadcast live on the SEC Network on Saturday starting at noon ET with Dennis McNulty announcing the events.
THE TIGERS
This weekend will mark the first multi-event competitions for the black and gold, as senior Morgan Whitson and junior Ser Whitaker kick off the weekend's events on Friday morning with the pentathlon and heptathlon, respectively. Both Tigers own spots in the All-Time Top Ten for the events, with Whitson sitting at No. 6 (3878 points) in school history, and Whitaker at No. 8 (5211 points).
Seniors Kearsten Peoples and Jill Rushin will make their official indoor debuts on Friday and Saturday after competing in the discus throw, an outdoor event, at the Border Battle in Iowa City, Ia., two weeks ago. The pair returns after an exciting 2014, which saw them both throwing nation-leading marks in the shot put at various points during the indoor and outdoor season. They were the sole Tiger qualifiers for the indoor NCAA Championships, with Peoples earning First Team All-American honors in the shot put and weight throw, and Rushin joining her on the podium for the shot put. Peoples currently holds Mizzou school records in the shot put (17.81m/58-5.25) and weight throw (21.18m/69-6), and Rushin follows close behind in the No. 2 spot (16.90m/55-5.50) for the shot put.
The triple jump should also prove to be an exciting event for the black and gold, with sophomore Danielle Williams continuing her comeback after not competing last year. On the men's side, juniors Tony Carodine and Jonathan Ilori will return to the triple jump runway for the first time this year, joined by freshman John Warren. Ilori and Carodine currently hold the No. 3 (15.76m/51-8.50) and No. 4 (15.70m/51-6.25) marks in school history, respectively. Warren, who has not yet competed in the event this year, arrived on campus only a few short weeks from representing the U.S. in the triple jump at the IAAF World Junior Championships. He was one of the top triple jump recruits for the 2014 class, hitting the top mark in the U.S. for the high school indoor season and the No. 3 mark during the outdoor season.
In the pole vault, the chase for the Mizzou indoor school record continues as sophomore Alyssa Applebee, junior Maggie Givens, and senior Katrine Haarklau return to the runway. All three hold top five marks in school history, with Haarklau currently sitting at No. 2 (3.04m/13-2.50) and Applebee and Givens tied for No. 3 (3.97m/13-0.25). The current school record, held by Jennifer Bennett, has held at 4.15m (13-7.50) since 2003.
On the track, junior Alyssa Felton returns to the 60-meter hurdles after clocking the sixth-fastest time in school history last weekend at the Missouri Invitational (8.72). Felton, along with junior Kyle Smith, will double-up with the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash. Smith currently sits at No. 2 on the All-Time Top Ten list for the hurdles (8.06).
Junior LaQuisha Jackson, who broke the women's 60-meter dash school record for the second and third time during the preliminary and final rounds at the Missouri Invitational will bump up a bit this weekend, set to line up in the 400-meter dash. This will be the first time that Jackson will compete in the event as a Tiger.
On the men's side, junior Markesh Woodson will take to the blocks in the 60-meter dash after a week off. He currently holds the school record in the event (6.60), a record that was first broken by Woodson in Kentucky two years ago.
In the distance events, returning SEC Cross Country Freshmen of the Year, sophomores T.J. Carey and Kaitlyn Fischer and freshman Karissa Schweizer will all take to the line, joined by several fellow All-Time Top Ten performers. Schweizer and Carey will both take on the mile, with Carey doubling back in the 3000-meter run. Joining him in the 3000-meter will be current All-Time Top Ten performers sophomore Tyler Schneider (No. 8, 8:13.73) and sophomore Dan Roe (No. 10, 8:15.14).
Also featured in the 3000-meter run is Fischer, who will start off her weekend on Friday evening the 5000-meter run. Fischer, who holds the outdoor 10,000-meter run school record (33:12.37) is No. 7 for the indoor 5000-meters (16:51.16). Rounding out the All-Time Top Ten performers in the distance events is sophomore Drew White, who will be the lone Tiger in the men's 5000-meters. He currently sits at No. 10 in school history (14:28.07).
Events at Nutter Field House will begin at 10 a.m. ET with the start of the women's pentathlon. For the latest on your Tigers, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MIZ_TrackField.
TIGERS IN THE FIELD
Pentathlon - Morgan Whitson, Sr.
Heptathlon - Ser Whitaker, Jr.
High Jump, Men - Mitch Hatten, Sr.
Long Jump, Men - Tony Carodine, Jr. | Jonathan Ilori, JR | John Warren, FR
Triple Jump, Women - Danielle Williams, So.
Triple Jump, Men - Tony Carodine, Jr. | Jonathan Ilori, Jr. | Thomas Taylor, So. | John Warren, Fr.
Pole Vault, Women - Alyssa Applebee, So. | Maggie Givens, Jr. | Katrine Haarklau, Sr.
Shot Put, Women - Kearsten Peoples, Sr. | Jill Rushin, Sr.
Weight Throw, Women - Camille Hackamack, Sr. | Kearsten Peoples, Sr.
Weight Throw, Men - Ahren Bohanan, So. | Brian Duncan, Sr.
TIGERS ON THE TRACK
60m Dash, Women - Alyssa Felton, Jr.
60m Dash, Men - Kyle Smith, Jr. | Markesh Woodson, Jr.
400m Dash, Women - Ayo Adewole, Jr. | Sandrae Farquharson, Jr. | LaQuisha Jackson, So.
400m Dash, Men - Matt Gilmore, Jr. | Jerrad Mason, Fr. | Kwadarrius Smith, Fr.
800m Run, Women - Valeska Halamicek, Fr.
800m Run, Men - Will Crocker, Jr. | Ben Goodman, So. | Mark Sheridan, Fr. | Cain Winebrenner, So.
Mile, Women - Liz Reida, Jr. | Karissa Schweizer, Fr. | Madison Waymire, Fr.
Mile, Men - T.J. Carey, So. | Will Crocker, Jr. | Sam Dickerson, Jr.
3000m Run, Women - Teylar Adelsberger, So. | Kaitlyn Fischer, So.
3000m Run, Men - T.J. Carey, So. | Jordan Cook, So. | Sam Dickerson, Jr. | Marc Dubrick, So. | Chandler Dye, Jr. | Chris Mooneyham, Fr. | Dan Roe, So. | Tyler Schneider, So.
60m Hurdles, Women - Alyssa Felton, Jr.
60m Hurdles, Men - Kyle Smith, Jr.
5000m Run, Women - Courtney Brown, Jr. | Megan Cunningham, Fr. | Kaitlyn Fischer, So. | Sam Garrett, So. | Courtney Wood, Jr.
5000m Run, Men - Drew White, So.