COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Track & Field is set to open the 2016 outdoor campaign this weekend, traveling to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Arkansas Spring Invitational on Friday and Saturday (March 25-26).  This is the first in a quick series of meets for the black and gold, as they begin the season on the road in Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.

THE MEET
Schedule  //  Live Results
It will be a competitive start to the season for the Tigers, as they prepare to match up against a strong field at the Spring Invitational.  Included in the 14 attending teams is the host Arkansas, whose men and women are both ranked in the top-five of the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) preseason release (fifth and third, respectively).  Also featured in the weekend's competition is the No. 15 Tulsa men, No. 24 Oklahoma State women, and fellow-SEC competitors, Ole Miss.

Events at the John McDonnell Field wil begin Friday afternoon with the men's and women's hammer throw.  The meet will be back in full swing Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m. CT with the field events start, followed by the track events at 3:30 p.m. CT.

#MIZTF LAST TIME OUT
This is the first meet back for the Tigers since the NCAA Indoor Championship meet, where senior Markesh Woodson and freshman Kahmari Montgomery both ran to Second Team All-American honors in the 60m and 400m honors, respectively.

#MIZTF NOTES

• For nine of the 13 members of this year's senior class, this weekend marks the final season debut of their Mizzou careers.  Seniors Ayo Adewole, Tony Carodine, Sam Dickerson, Alyssa Felton, Sam Garrett, Erika Lark, Jacqueline Obi, Nick Sublett, Ser Whitaker, and Markesh Woodson will all kick off their final season on Friday and Saturday.  Liz Reida, Will Crocker and Kenny Cushing round out the senior class, and will look to open their season in the next few weeks.
• While nine Tigers prepare to make their final season debut, two will have their first, as freshman Rebecca Keating and junior Reinhard Van Zyl look to don the black and gold for the first time.  Keating, the No. 1 ranked female hammer thrower in the UK last year, will be featured in Friday's field at 3 p.m. CT.  Van Zyl also enters the season as one of the top young athletes in his event, having won the World Youth title in the javelin in 2011, and the NJCAA championship in 2014.  He will compete at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday alongside sophomore Alex Pascal, one of the returning All-Americans from the 2015 outdoor season.
• Junior Kaitlyn Fischer is also returning to the track for the first time since last year.  The Mizzou school record holder in the 10,000m run, Fischer will be one of six Tigers featured in the women's 1500m field on Saturday.
• Seven Mizzou school record breakers from the indoor season will begin their outdoor season on Saturday, including freshman stand-out Kahmari Montgomery.  Montgomery broke the 400m dash record with an SEC title-winning 45.78-seconds, one of the top ten indoor times in the world for 2016.  He also broke the 200m dash record during that meet, bumping senior Markesh Woodson off the top of the record board with a 21.03 performance.
• The remaining six records out of the indoor season came from the women's team, with junior LaQuisha Jackson breaking her own 200m dash record (23.57), junior Alyssa Felton taking down the record time in the 60m hurdles (8.50), and junior Alyssa Applebee making the record board in the pole vault (4.22m // 13-10).  The women's 4x400m relay team also found themselves making history as LaQuisha Jackson, freshman Maya Cody, junior Valerie Thames, and junior Sandrae Farquharson raced to the two fastest times in Mizzou history.
• Other names to watch out for this weekend includes freshman Matthew Ludwig in the pole vault, senior Markesh Woodson in the 200m dash, senior Tony Carodine and sophomore John Warren in the triple jump, and senior Ayo Adewole in the 400m dash. 

HEAR FROM COACH HALTER
"We're looking forward to starting up the outdoor season and getting things going down in Arkansas.  We're coming off an exciting indoor season, and I feel like the team's transitioning and preparing well for outdoor.  We have a few short weeks ahead of us with a quick turnaround to the Florida Relays and another quick turnaround down in Georgia, so we'll be working our way pretty quickly into the season.  Just looking forward to getting through April and using that to set up for May."