| NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY CHAMPIONSHIPS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEET | LOCATION | DAY | TIME | TV | INFO |
| NCAA West Preliminary | Sacramento, Calif | Thursday, May 23 - Saturday, May 25 |
Thursday - 2:00 p.m. CT Friday - 2:00 p.m. CT Saturday - 4:45 p.m. CT |
FloTrack | |
THE MEET
- Mizzou Track & Field continues postseason competition with the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, May 23-25 in Sacramento, Calif. The three-day meet will decide who advances to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which will take place June 5-8 in Austin, Texas. The meet will begin on Thursday with the men's hammer throw at 2:00 p.m. CT, followed by track events at 6:30 p.m. CT. On Friday, the women's discus will kick off field events at 2:00 p.m. CT, followed by track events at 6:30 p.m. CT. The meet will conclude on Saturday with field events at 4:45 p.m. CT and track events at 8:00 p.m. CT. A live stream of the meet will be available through FloTrack.org.
JACOBS & WARD RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PODIUM
- Mizzou Track & Field captured two individual conference titles at the SEC Outdoor Championships, as redshirt senior Gabi Jacobs and redshirt sophomore Ja'Mari Ward won the discus and long jump SEC titles, respectively. Jacobs repeated as the SEC discus champion for the third consecutive season, as she became the first athlete in Mizzou history and third in SEC history to win three straight discus conference titles. After capturing his first conference title in 2017 as a true freshman, Ward returned to the top of the podium with the nation's second-best jump of 2019 in Fayetteville with a highly impressive mark of 8.10m (26-7).
A DOMINANT THROWS GROUP
- In what has become a staple with the Mizzou Track & Field program, the throws group is once again leading the way for Mizzou in 2019. For the women, Mizzou will have an impressive eight athletes and 10 entries competing for a trip to Austin for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Of Mizzou's 10 entries, eight enter the meet with a top-20 rank.
- Redshirt senior Gabi Jacobs will lead the way for Mizzou in the discus and shot put. She is the current school record holder in the discus (60.25m/197-8), and holds the No. 7 mark in the shot put (16.08m/52-9.25). Jacobs' mark ranks third in the NCAA West, as she is seeking her third straight trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she has posted back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2017 and 2018. Redshirt sophomore Sophia Rivera and redshirt junior Jordan McClendon also enter the meet with regional top-10 marks, as Rivera ranks third in the javelin and McClendon ranks sixth in the hammer throw. Rivera is the Mizzou school record holder in the javelin (55.73m/182-10), while McClendon holds the No. 2 mark all-time at Mizzou with a throw of 65.68m (215-6).
VILCHES' EMERGENCE
- Freshman Roberto Vilches, a highly-touted prospect out of Mexico City, has been nothing short of spectacular in his first season for Mizzou. Vilches enters his first NCAA West Preliminary meet with the nation's top mark in the high jump at 2.27m (7-5.25). The Tiger freshman's clearance at the Mizzou Spring Open was good enough to vault him to No. 2 on Mizzou's all-time top-10 list, and earned him SEC Field Athlete of the Week honors. Vilches has cleared seven-feet in each of his four meets this season and placed fifth at the SEC Outdoor Championships with a jump of 2.21m (7-3). During the indoor season, Vilches earned NCAA All-America Second Team honors after finishing 15th at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He also broke Mizzou's oldest school record at the Missouri Intercollegiate (Jan. 11), as Vilches broke Nat Page's 1977 high jump school record with a mark 2.26m (7-5). Vilches finished fifth in the long jump at the SEC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 2.22m (7-3.25).
WARD'S RETURN
- After redshirting during the 2018 outdoor season, redshirt sophomore Ja'Mari Ward recaptured the top spot in the SEC in the long jump as he won his second conference title at the SEC Outdoor Championships with a mark of 8.10m (26-7). Ward's mark was a season-best, ranks first in the NCAA West and second overall in the NCAA.
- Ward won his first SEC Long Jump title as a true freshman in 2017, capturing the title with a mark of 8.13m (26-8.25), which still ranks second all-time at Mizzou. Following his performance in 2017, Ward won SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year honors.
- This season, Ward also produced a mark of 7.90m (25-11) at the Texas Relays. During the indoor season, Ward captured All-America honors for the second straight season following an eighth place finish in the long jump at 7.79m (25-6.75) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. At the 2018 NCAA Indoor meet, Ward finished fifth with a leap of 7.82m (25-8).
DYNAMIC FRESHMEN
- Mizzou appears to have two mainstays in the women's triple jump for the next four years, as freshmen Mirieli Santos, and Arianna Fisher currently hold the No. 1 and No. 4 program marks, respectively.
- Santos was the top freshman finisher at the SEC Outdoor Championships, as she produced a mark of 13.13m (43-1) to finish seventh and reset Mizzou's school record. She orginally set Mizzou's school record at the Tom Botts Invitational (April 20) with a mark of 13.01m (42-8.25). Fisher matched a season-best mark of 12.58m (41-3.25) at the SEC Outdoor Championships to finish 12th and rank fourth all-time at Mizzou. The duo currently ranks 15th and 39th in the NCAA West Region, respectively.
- During the indoor season, Santos earned NCAA All-America honors with an 11th-place finish in the triple jump at 12.88m (42-3.25) in the NCAA Indoor Championships. Santos set the school record and finished eighth at the SEC Indoor Championships with a mark of 13.21m (43-4.25).
MIZZOU RECORDS TWO CONFERENCE TITLES AT SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Mizzou closed the SEC Outdoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., with two conference titles and six top-three podium finishes. Redshirt senior Gabi Jacobs won her third consecutive discus SEC title, while redshirt sophomore Ja'Mari Ward won his second long jump SEC title. The Mizzou women finished the meet in seventh place with 53 points, its best finish at an SEC Outdoor Meet since finishing seventh in 2014 with 61 points. The Mizzou men finished 12th with 34 points.
- Jacobs continued her reign as the most prolific discus thrower in program history, as she is the only female Tiger to win three discus conference titles. Unlike years past, Jacobs left no doubt in this year's competition, as she produced a mark of 58.22m (191-0) with her first throw to win the event. No other competitor came within 15 feet of her mark. Jacobs is one of three athletes in SEC history to win three consecutive discus conference titles, as she joins Beth Mallory (Alabama, 2004-06) and Shelbi Vaughan (Texas A&M, 2013-16).
- After winning the long jump SEC title as a true freshman in 2017, Ward captured his second career conference title with a leap of 8.10m (26-7). The mark is a season-best for Ward, ranks as the second-best in the nation in 2019, and is just shy of his personal best mark of 8.13m (26-8.25). Ward continues a long tradition of Mizzou long jumpers, as his title marks the 16th outdoor long jump title in Mizzou's history.
- Redshirt sophomore Sophia Rivera joined Jacobs in the discus top-three, as she earned a bronze medal with a throw of 52.56m (172-5) to score six points. In the javelin, Rivera posted a mark of 54.22m (177-11) with her third throw of the competition to finish as the runner-up. The throw was Rivera's second-best of the season, trailing only her school record mark of 55.73m (182-10), which she posted at the John McDonnell Invitational (April 12).
- In the 3000m steeplechase, redshirt sophomore Melissa Menghini set a new school record, as she finished third at 10:07.76 and surpassed Kerry Hils' 2001 time of 10:08.61. Menghini set a personal record by more than 20 seconds, as she bested her previous best time of 10:31.89, which she set at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
- Mizzou had two athletes score in the hammer throw and shot put, as redshirt junior Jordan McClendon finished third and senior Becky Keating finished fourth in the hammer throw McClendon scored six points with a mark of 62.37m (204-7), while Keating scored five points with a throw of 61.52m (201-10).