University of Missouri
NCAA Indoor Championships
Schweizer Wins Fourth National Title at NCAA Indoor Championships
3/9/2018 7:36:00 PM | Track & Field
Schweizer wins fourth national title, Ward earns All-America honors with seventh-place finish in the long jump
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Mizzou Track & Field claimed two All-America honors on the first day of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) won her fourth career national championship in the 5000m run, while redshirt freshman Ja'Mari Ward (Cahokia, Ill.) finished seventh in the men's long jump. With the national title, Schweizer becomes the first student-athlete in Mizzou Athletics history to win four NCAA Titles, surpassing Mizzou Wrestling's J'den Cox (2014, 16-17).
Karissa Schweizer
Schweizer led the race wire-to-wire, as she pulled away from 2017 NCAA Cross Country National Champion Ednah Kurgat (New Mexico) with two laps remaining to finish at 15:43.23 and secure her fourth national title. Schweizer's 2018 title is the fourth 5000m run national title in program history, as she is preceded by Sabrina Dornhoefer's 1985 outdoor title, as well as her own indoor and outdoor titles in 2017. With the win, the Tiger senior becomes the fifth female in NCAA history to win back-to-back indoor 5000m run national championships (event began in 1989), and the first since Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino won in 2013 and 2014.
It's the sixth overall 5000m run All-America honor in program history, as the four title-performances are joined by a sixth-place finish from Ann Marie Brooks at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Meet, and third-place finish from Schweizer at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Meet. The race was Schweizer's final indoor 5000m run in her collegiate career, as her time of 15:17.31, which she set at the BU Season Opener (Dec. 2), currently ranks as the fifth-best time in collegiate history.
Ja'Mari Ward
Ward posted a mark of 7.82m (25-8) with his fifth attempt to finish seventh in the men's long jump and earn First-Team All-America honors, the first of his career. The seventh-place finish is Mizzou's best long jump finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 1978 when Ajayi Agbebaku finished third. Ward's All-America honor is the fourth-ever indoor long jump All-America honor by a Mizzou male, the seventh overall, indoor or outdoor and the first since 2013 when Malcom Pennix finished 14th at the NCAA Indoor Meet.
The All-America honor caps an impressive debut indoor season for Ward, who set the school record in the long jump, earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors and posted a program top-10 mark in the triple jump. Ward received SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Week honors on Feb. 20, following a school record performance at the Missouri Collegiate Challenge (Feb. 16) where the Tiger freshman set a season-best mark of 7.97m (26-1.75). Ward surpassed a 34-year-old record with the leap, as he surpassed Yussuf Alli's 1984 mark of 7.91m (25-11.75). At the SEC Indoor Meet (Feb. 24), Ward was the top-freshman finisher in the long jump, as he finished fifth at 7.75m (25-5.25), while his jump of 15.66m (51-4.5) in the triple jump at the Tyson Invitational (Feb. 10) ranks sixth all-time in program history.
QUOTABLES
Mizzou senior Karissa Schweizer
On her performance in the race…
"I feel very good about it. I'm never really comfortable leading the whole thing, but I think I did better than I have done in the past, and I was excited about that. I had a lot of confidence in the pace I was running and I had to make sure I was feeling comfortable, and was ready at the end."
UP NEXT
Schweizer will be the lone Tiger in action on day two of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as she is slated to compete in the 3000m run at 6:25 p.m. (CT) Saturday with a live stream available on ESPN3. Last season, Schweizer finished runner-up at the event for her second All-America honor of the 2017 NCAA Indoor meet.
For all the latest on Mizzou Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MIZ_TrackField).
RESULTS - TRACK EVENTS
5000m Run, Women: 1. Karissa Schweizer, 15:43.23
RESULTS - FIELD EVENTS
Long Jump, Men: 7. Ja'Mari Ward, 7.82m (25-8)
Players Mentioned
