@MIZ_TrackField Set for NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham

Friday, March 8

Birmingham, Ala.

Noon CT

Missouri

NCAA Indoor Championships

3/7/2019 8:14:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field

Mizzou sends most entries to NCAA meet since 2013

NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEET	LOCATION	DAY	LIVE STREAM	INFO
NCAA Indoor Championships	Birmingham, Ala.	Friday, March 8 - Saturday, March 9	Friday - ESPN 3 Saturday - ESPN 3	Meet Schedule Heat Sheets Meet Notes

Mizzou Track & Field will close the indoor portion of its schedule at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala. A live stream of the meet will be broadcast on ESPN3 beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday and 5 p.m. CT on Saturday. Mizzou will have its most entries at the meet since 2013, as four Tigers will be in competition at the Birmingham CrossPlex. For the men, freshman Roberto Vilches will compete in the high jump and redshirt sophomore Ja'Mari Ward will compete in long jump. For the women, redshirt junior Jordan McClendon will compete in the weight throw, while freshman Mirieli Santos will compete in the triple jump.

Freshman Roberto Vilches, a highly recruited prospect out of Mexico City, has been nothing short of spectacular in his first season for Mizzou. Vilches 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). The mark was the top mark in the nation at the time of the jump, currently ranks fourth in the nation, and matched a facility record set by current Mizzou Associate AD Brian Brown, who set the same mark in a 1991 meet while competing as a professional. Vilches finished fifth in the long jump at the SEC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 2.22m (7-3.25).

Redshirt sophomore Ja'Mari Ward seeks an All-America finish for the second consecutive season at the NCAA Indoor meet after finishing fifth in the 2018 NCAA Indoor meet with a leap of 7.82m (25-8). Ward has competed in the long jump at three meets this season, producing a season-best mark at the Missouri Intercollegiate with a mark of 7.81m (25-7.5). Ward is the current school record holder in the long jump after producing a mark of 7.97m (26-1.75).

Redshirt junior Jordan McClendon, who is coming off a bronze medal performance at the SEC Indoor Championships, will make her debut at the NCAA Indoor meet in the weight throw. The Tiger junior finished third in Fayetteville with a mark of 21.04m (69-0.5) to earn All-SEC honors for the first time in her career. Her season-best mark of 21.76m (71-4.75) was set at the Husker Invitational (Feb. 1) and is the second-best mark in program history, and currently ranks 13th in the NCAA this season.

Freshman Mirieli Santos, who has only jumped twice in her debut season in the Black & Gold, finished eighth at the SEC Indoor Championships with a mark of 13.21m (43-4.25). It was the second time in as many meets that the Tiger freshman set the triple jump school record, as she originally set the mark at the Tyson Invitational (Feb. 9) with a mark of 13.00m (42-8).