April 5, 2008
Results
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -
The Missouri track and field teams finished competition in the inaugural Jefferson Cup on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. The Tiger men topped Virginia in its first dual meet since 1984 by a 105-97 score. It came down to the 4x400-meter relay on the women's side, but Virginia prevailed to win 103-99. Tiger sophomore decathlete Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) led all scorers with 11¼ points on the day while senior Trisa Nickoley was a double winner on the women's side, winning the 800- and 1500-meter races. In addition, the Tigers recorded seven new NCAA-regional qualifying marks on the weekend while improving six marks on the national list.
Out of 19 scored events, the Tiger men took 10 event titles while the women took eight in their contests.
In the men's team race, Mizzou took an early lead on the backs of the throwing contingent. Before a track event had been contested, the Tiger men had a 23-10 advantage after wins in yesterday's hammer throw, the morning's javelin and shot put. Junior John Thies, the converted baseball hurler, claimed a personal best in the javelin with a 192 foot, 6 inch (58.67m) measure to win. Meanwhile, in the shot, senior Nate Englin (Mounds View, Minn.) continued an impressive weekend in winning the shot with a 60-8 (18.51m) toss. Chris Rohr was third at 56-7¼ (17.25m) while sophomore Andy Oaker was fourth at 55-7½ (16.95m), earning his first NCAA-regional qualifying mark.
The lead spread to 14 after the eighth event, the 1500-meter run where senior Tipper O'Brien took the tape easy in 3:48.89 while senior Brian Graybill improved his all-time best by three seconds at 3:52.88 to take third.
UVA pulled the deficit to four after a sweep of the 100, but Mizzou responded with a sweep of the high jump. Senior
Jason Miller (Stafford, Va.) won in his home state with a collegiate-outdoor personal best leap of 6-10¾ (2.10m) to become a first-time NCAA-regional qualifier and enter Mizzou's all-time top 10 in the event. Miller would later place second in the triple jump.
Nick Adcock took second at 6-6 (1.98m), very soon after taking second in the 110-meter hurdles with a PR clocking of 14.48, second in the javelin, and fourth in the long jump. Adcock would also later be on the winning 4x400-meter relay team to claim 11¼ points on the weekend to lead all scorers in the meet.
An impressive run by freshman Rick Scheff in claiming the 800-meter crown at 1:50.93 helped Mizzou to a 12-point lead. Scheff, who used another backstretch kick to pass s slew of Virginia runners, was able to nip Virginia's Andrew Lobb at the tape by one tenth of a second. O'Brien, who won the 1500 earlier, took third with a PR 1:51.84 clocking.
The Cavilers used the 200-meter dash to pull the score within four again at 88-84, but a great 3000-meter race put Mizzou in more comfortable territory. Freshman Phillip King (Columbia, Mo.) challenged the field with two laps to go and was in the back of the chase pack before going after a UVA runner with a 30-meter lead. Junior Garett Jeffries would follow suit, and along with Virginia's Ryan Collins, would be part of a thrilling final 500-meter back-and-forth battle. While Jeffries would beat Collins to the tape at 8:25.07, King, who would place third at 8:26.00 was labeled as the race's hero in his efforts to stir the pot for Mizzou.
With a 100-94 advantage, Mizzou couldn't be caught going into the 4x400, but it didn't stop the competition. The Tiger squad of freshman Ryan Blackwell, sophomore Jerron Forte, Adcock, and freshman Chris Davis virtually ran toe-to-toe with UVA for the entire race. Davis, who placed second earlier in his first collegiate 400-meter hurdle race, was shoulder-to-shoulder with the Virginia runner coming down the homestretch, and with fans and both teams in an uproar, Davis would take the tape in 3:13.00 over UVA who clocked 3:13.07.
The women's competition would be just as thrilling. The competition came down to the final event, the 4x400-meter relay. Should Missouri would have won that race, the scored would have ended tied.
After three throwing events and the high and long jumps, Mizzou had its biggest lead of the day at 21 with a 38-17 advantage. After sweeping the hammer throw yesterday, the Tigers swept the long jump as JaNay Woolridge would take the crown with a 19-4¾ (5.91m) leap, and would later run second in the 100-meter hurdles. Sophomore Lana Mims, as part of a career day, added nearly a foot to her outdoor personal best in placing second, coming back later to be declared the champ of the 200-meter dash.
Freshman Meaghan Brougher won the high jump with a 5-5¾ (1.67m) clearance. Senior Shernelle Nicholls, coming into the weekend in the nation's top 15 in the shot, won the event with a 54-1¼ (16.49m) throw to claim a new season's best. Nicholls would later place second in the discus. Junior Krishna Lee was second with the shot at 53-3 (16.23m) in claiming a new outdoor personal best. Junior Elisha Hunt became the fourth Tiger to earn an NCAA-regional qualifier with a 48-11¾ (14.93m) toss for fifth. Elizabeth Robe was fourth.
Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.), the leading scorer between both teams on the women's side, raced to a 12-second personal best in winning the women's 1500-meter race at 4:34.50, coming back an hour later to win the 800 in 2:10.65. Nickoley also ran a leg on the 4x400-meter relay team that finished second.
In the javelin, freshman Hope Harris claimed victory with a 154-2 (46.70m) throw to extend her NCAA-regional mark and move to third all-time in Mizzou history in the event.
After 14 of the 19 events, the Tigers trailed for the first time and by just a point at 76-75. Senior Kate Greer (10:00.04) and freshman Kinsey Farren (10:07.88) paired for a 1-2 sweep of the 3000-meter race to give the Tigers a chance at the title in the 4x400-meter relay.
While the Tigers were not favored in the "Mile" relay, it was neck-and-neck after three legs. Freshman Layne Moore led off for Mizzou and was even with UVA in passing to Nickoley. Sophomore Keyonna Smith ran a very impressive 55.8 third leg to pull the team even once again. But, UVA's Talia Wise proved too much for Mizzou's Katie Wenger as the Cavs would win by over two seconds and only four points overall in the meet.
Also today, sophomore Brian Hancock won the men's poie vault with a 16-¾ (4.90m) clearance while freshman Scott Betcher was third with a collegiate personal best of 14-7¾ (4.45m).
Frosh decathlete Lars Rise added nine inches to his PR in the long jump with a 23-3¼ (7.09m) winning leap.
Senior Jason Morris was second in the discus with a season's best throw of 168-8 (51.40m).
The weekend has been filled with history lessons and connections with Thomas Jefferson and the two Universities. Tomorrow, the Tiger squad will visit Washington, D.C., with the Jefferson Memorial among the stops.
Next weekend, Mizzou will host the Audrey Walton Combined Events Thursday and Friday and the Tom Botts Invitational on Friday and Saturday with BYU and Tulsa as guests.
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