@MIZ_TrackField Takes on Columbia Challenge in NYC

Friday, January 26

New York, NY

5 PM

University of Missouri

Columbia Challenge

1/25/2018 1:45:00 PM | Track & Field

Mizzou has more than 30 student-athletes competing Thursday-Saturday

COLUMBIA CHALLENGE
MEET	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	Media
Columbia Challenge Meet Schedule	New York City, N.Y.	Jan. 25-27	Thursday - 5:45 p.m. ET Friday - 10:15 a.m. ET Saturday - 9:30 a.m. ET	Live Results Heat Sheets

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Track & Field will make the journey to the Big Apple for the Columbia Challenge, Jan. 26-27, in New York City, N.Y. The bulk of Mizzou's competitors will compete on Saturday, with Tigers entered in 11 track events and 10 field events.

At the meet will be 15 Division I Track & Field teams, including SEC foe South Carolina, whose women's team enters the meet ranked No. 19, and Oregon, whose women's team is ranked atop the USTFCCCA Indoor Track & Field National Rankings. The multi-events will kick off the meet on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. (ET)/4:45 p.m. (CT), followed by more multi-events Friday morning (10:15 a.m. (ET)/9:15 a.m. (CT)) and track events in the evening. Saturday will be a full day of action, as Mizzou will have more than 30 student-athletes in action. Both track and field events are slated to begin at 9:30 a.m (ET)/8:30 a.m. (CT) on Saturday. Live results of the meet will be available through armorytrack.com.

Senior Rauno Liitmae (Estonia) will be in multi-events action for the first time this season, beginning with the 60m dash on Thursday. Last season, Liitmae posted the seventh-best heptathlon score in program history with 5,296 points at the SEC Indoor Championships (Feb. 25). On Friday, Mizzou will run its first relay races of the season, as Mizzou will enter a men's and women's team in the distance medley relay. The women's team of redshirt senior Valeska Halamicek (Weldon Spring, Mo.), sophomore Karina Liz (Aurora, Ill.), junior Maya Cody (St. Louis, Mo.) and redshirt senior Megan Cunningham (Eureka, Mo.) will toe the line at 6:19 p.m. (ET), while the men's team of redshirt senior Ben Goodman (Colorado Springs, Mo.), freshman Chris Conrad (O'Fallon, Ill.), redshirt senior Jerrad Mason (Bridgetown, Barbados), freshman Austin Hindman (Wildwood, Mo.) will race at 6:32 p.m. (ET).

Two Tigers in invitational heats highlight Mizzou's Saturday on the track, as Cody will run in the 200m dash invitational at 1:11 p.m. (ET), followed by senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa), who will run in the mile run invitational at 1:48 p.m. (ET). Both Tigers enter the meet with top-10 program marks in their respective events, as Cody holds the third-fastest 200m dash time (24.07) and Schweizer the second-fastest mile run time (4:35.61).

Redshirt freshman Ja'Mari Ward (Cahokia, Ill.) is slated to begin his indoor campaign on Saturday, as he will compete in the long jump (9:30 a.m. ET) and the triple jump (2:45 pm. ET). Ward redshirted last year's indoor season before making his presence known in the outdoor season, as he won the SEC Long Jump Conference title and was named the SEC Outdoor Field Freshman of the Year. Ward holds top-10 program marks in both the outdoor long jump (No. 2 – 8.13m/26-8.25) and outdoor triple jump (No. 8 – 15.44m (50-8).

For all the latest on Mizzou Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MIZ_TrackField).