Track and Field Set for SEC Championships

Thursday, May 14

Starkville, MS

All Day

Missouri

SEC Championships

5/12/2015 4:53:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field

The Tigers will take on the three-day conference meet starting on Thursday

Meet Home //  Meet Schedule //  Live Results
Heat Sheets -  Thursday // Friday // Saturday
SEC Network+ Live Broadcast - Friday (starting 3:40 p.m. CT) //  Saturday (starting 2:50 p.m. CT)

COLUMBIA, Mo. - It's championship season for Mizzou Track & Field, as they set off for the first post-season meet of the outdoor season this week with the three-day SEC Championships in Starkville, Miss.

The most prestigious conference meet in the U.S., the SEC Championships are set to start Thursday (May 14) and go through Saturday (May 16) at Mississippi State's Mike Sanders Track Complex. Featuring nine of the top 25 men's and women's teams in the U.S., including the No. 25 Mizzou women, the SEC leads the rest of the country in the rankings released weekly by the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association).

SEC Men in the Rankings - 1. Texas A&M // 2. LSU // 3. Florida // 8. Arkansas // 9. Georgia // 12. Alabama // 18. Mississippi State // 22. South Carolina // 24. Tennessee

SEC Women in the Rankings - 1. Arkansas // 3. Georgia // 4. Florida // 6. Kentucky // 8. LSU // 9. Texas A&M // 16. Alabama // 19. Mississippi State // 25. MIZZOU

Forty-seven Tigers will don the black and gold for the first of three championship meets of the outdoor season, including three returning SEC Champions, eight returning All-SEC finishers, and four current Mizzou school record holders.

RETURNING CHAMPS
Included among the three returning SEC Champions is senior Kearsten Peoples, who will take to the ring one final time with the hopes of clinching a fourth conference title in the throwing events. Peoples has already collected three first-place finishes at the SEC meet in the indoor and outdoor shot put and, most recently, the indoor weight throw. She enters the weekend with a top mark of 66.17m (217-1) in the hammer throw, good for not only the lead in the current SEC rankings but also her fifth Mizzou school record.

Fellow-senior Jill Rushin is also preparing for her final SEC Championship, joining Peoples in the ring for the shot put and discus competitions. Rushin threw a PR in the shot put during the final home meet of her career at the May 1-2 Tom Botts Invitational, hitting 17.72m (58-1.25) to take the second position in the current SEC rankings. She is the reigning champion in the outdoor shot put for the conference after she claimed her first conference win in the event last year.

This weekend marks the beginning of the end for Peoples and Rushin in the Tiger uniform. The pair has been one of the most successful 1-2 punches in the NCAA for the throwing events throughout the past four years, taking turns leading the nation in the shot put and earning a combined total of five conference titles, ten all-conference finishes, and 12 All-American honors.

Junior Markesh Woodson is the third returning SEC Champion for the Tigers after he claimed the program's first conference title in 2013 with his school record performance in the 60m dash (6.60). Woodson has earned two All-SEC honors since, placing third at the 2013 outdoor championships in the 100m dash and second during the 2015 indoor championships in the 60m dash. He enters this weekend ranked fifth in the conference for the 100m dash with his season's best finish, 10.24.

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
Be on the lookout for an exciting group of all-conference finishers, including the four members of the third-place men's DMR team from the 2015 indoor season - Sam Dickerson, Will Crocker, Jerrad Mason, and Ben Goodman. Crocker enters the weekend ranked fourth in the conference in the 1500m run, while Dickerson sits at fifth for the 3000m steeplechase, and Mason is ninth in the 400m hurdles.

Senior Jonathan Ilori rounds out the returning All-SEC finishers for the Tigers with his third-place finish at the 2013 indoor championships in the triple jump. Ilori enters his final SEC Championshp meet ranked ninth in the conference, tied with Tiger freshman John Warren.

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR...
Senior Macauley Garton, who threw the No. 2 javelin mark in school history during the Tom Botts Invitational (73.91m / 242-6) and comes into the weekend ranked fourth in the conference, eighth in the NCAA.

Junior Tony Carodine and freshman John Warren, who have battled in the triple jump all season, including going 1-2 at the prestigious Penn Relays. Both hold marks in Mizzou's All-Time Top Ten list for the triple jump.

Sophomore LaQuisha Jackson, who ran a school record 23.52 at the Tom Botts Invitational in the 200m dash.

Freshman Kaitlyn Fischer, who will take on her Mizzou school record event this weekend with the 10k run. Fischer comes in ranked fourth in the event with her season's best 33:43.05.

TIGERS IN THE SEC RANKINGS
Men's 100m Dash - 5. Markesh Woodson (10.24)
Men's 1500m Run - 4. Will Crocker (3:43.66)
Men's 400m Hurdles - 9. Jerrad Mason (52.09)
Men's 3000m Steeplechase - 5. Sam Dickerson (8:51.69)
Men's Triple Jump - 9. John Warren (15.75m / 51-8.25) // 9. Jonathan Ilori (15.75m / 51-8.25)
Men's Javelin - 4. Macauley Garton (73.91m / 242-6) // 8. Alex Pascal (68.65m / 225-3)

Women's 800m Run - 10. Liz Reida (2:08.74)
Women's 10,000m Run - 4. Kaitlyn Fischer (33:43.05)
Women's 3000m Steeplechase - 9. Courtney Wood (10:30.81)
Women's High Jump - 9. Morgan Whitson (1.76m / 5-9.25)
Women's Pole Vault - 10. Katrine Haarklau (4.05m / 13-3.50) // 10. Alyssa Applebee (4.05m // 13-3.50)
Women's Shot Put - 2. Jill Rushin (17.72m / 58-1.25) // 3. Kearsten Peoples (17.10m / 56-1.25)
Women's Discus - 6. Kearsten Peoples (53.98m / 177-1) // 7. Jill Rushin (52.56m / 172-5)
Women's Hammer - 1. Kearsten Peoples (66.17m / 217-1)