April 14, 2012
Photo Gallery 
Tom Botts Results
The University of Missouri Men's and Women's Track and Field teams continued their impressive seasons with a
pair of great team performances at home on Saturday at the Tom Botts Invitational. On Senior Day at Audrey J. Walton Stadium, the
Missouri women walked away with a dominating team victory, while the men finished a solid runner-up to Iowa. Kearsten Peoples
(Ottawa, KS) led the charge, winning both the shot put and hammer throw, while placing second in the discus. For her efforts, Peoples
was named Most Outstanding Performer of the meet on the women's side.
The Tom Botts Invitational featured teams from Missouri, DePaul, Illinois, Iowa, Loyola (IL), and Missouri State. The meet is named
in honor of Tom Botts, the University of Missouri's legendary coach who led the Tiger tracksters from 1947 to 1972. Botts left an
athletic legacy which included the 1965 NCAA Indoor Track Championship, eight Big 8 Conference Titles, ninety-six Conference
Champions, five National Champions, and two USA Olympians.
Peoples got the day started by throwing nearly a two-meter personal best, an effort of 58.42 meters (191'8"), for a victory in the
hammer throw. Four other Tiger women placed in the top eight in the event as Melissa Coil (Clark, MO), Cortni Ervin (Marshall,
MO), Amanda Peiffer (Jackson, MO), and Bethany Pfeiffer (Boonville, MO) all garnered points.
Missouri continued the same dominance in the shot put. Once again led by a meet record from Peoples with a throw of 17.10 meters
(56'4.25"), Jill Rushin (Jackson, MO), Laura Greenfied (Liberty, MO), Ervin, and Katie Evans (Powersville, MO) swept the top five
places. Rushin's throw of 15.65 meters (51'4.25") also bettered the previous Botts Invitational meet record set in 2002. Peoples and
Rushin also finished second and fifth respectively in the discus.
Tiger women mid-distance and distance runners showed some depth of their own on Saturday, winning all four of their events.
2012 Big 12 Indoor Mile Champion Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, KS) got her outdoor season started off on the right foot with
a dominating victory in the 1,500 meters. Roxberg ran to a meet record of 4:23.91, while teammates Liz Reida (Springfield, MO)
and Bailey Belvis (Prosper, TX) finished second and third. Reida's personal best run qualifies her for the USA Junior National
Championships in the event. Freshman Courtney Wood (Neosho, MO) also hit a USA Junior Nationals qualifying time in her victory
in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:10.85. Landon Wachter (Jackson, MO) and Aimee Bonte (Fenton, MO)
completed the sweep winning the 800 meters and 3,000 meters respectively.
In one of the most exciting and emotional races on Senior Day, Tiger senior Leslie Farmer (Jefferson City, MO) just missed out on her
own school record in the 400-meter hurdles in her last meet at home. Farmer ran to victory with a time of 58.10, just .04 off from her
school record set earlier in the season.
Other notable performances on Saturday by the Tiger women included Lauren Flaker (Columbia, MO) finishing second in the 100-
meter dash with a personal best time of 11.91, second and third place finishes by Heather Green (Jefferson City, MO) and Katrine
Haarklau (Bergan, Norway) in the pole vault, Camille Hayes (Indianapolis, IN) jumping to victory in the high jump, and Haarklau,
Hailey Twietmeyer (Cheney, KS), and Pfeiffer placing third, fourth, and fifth in the javelin.
Missouri sophomore triple jumper Jeremy Lampley (Ballwin, MO) was the highlight of the day for the Tiger men on Saturday.
Lampley jumped to huge personal best of 15.48 meters (50'9.5") on his third jump of the competition. The mark currently ranks
Lampley 23rd in the NCAA and moved him into the top-five all time in Missouri history in the event. Finishing runner-up was
teammate Jonathon Ilori (United Kingdom) with a season best of 15.10 meters (49'6.5"). Completing the Tiger dominance in the
jumps was junior Malcom Pennix (South Bend, IN) with a victory in the long jump. Pennix won with a leap of 7.46 meters (24'5.75").
Junior Brooks Mosier (Lee's Summit, MO) and freshman MaCauley Garton (Shawnee, KS) led Tiger throwers to a slew of points
with victories in the shot put and javelin respectively. Mosier's throw of 17.77 meters (58'3.75") is a season best and moves him into
the nation's top 35 in the event. For Garton, it was his second victory at home in as many events in his young career, as he tossed the
javelin 61.73 meters (202'6") in his win.
Other highlights for the Tiger men on the day included a runner-up finish for junior Blake Irwin (Bettendorf, IA) in the 1500 meters,
senior Asa Wyatt (Poplar Bluff, MO) finishing second to his teammate in the javelin, and senior Tim Opfer (Higginsville, MO) on the
last throw of his collegiate career at home tossing a personal best of 54.44 meters (178'7") to finish second place in the discus.
In team competition, the Tiger women dominated the field, finishing with a total of 271.5 points, nearly double that of second place
Iowa with 130. On the men's side, Iowa walked away on top with 252 points, while the Tiger men finished in second place with 178.
To go along with Peoples as Most Outstanding Performers, Iowa junior Jordan Mullen won the honor for the men with his meet record
victory of 13.88 in the 110-meter hurdles.
"It was nice to see the seniors perform really well in their last meet here at home", said Head Track & Field Coach Brett Halter. "We
continue to get more consistent and better overall week in and week out. The next few weeks doesn't get any easier with us facing top
competition from all over the country as our student-athletes prepare for the Big 12 Championships and NCAA Championship Rounds
next month. It will be exciting to see how the team continues to perform."
Along with honoring Coach Botts on Saturday, the team also honored its eighteen graduating seniors with a ceremony following the
meet. Those seniors included: Aimee Bonte, Ryan Blackwell (Fenton, MO), Melissa Coil, Leslie Farmer, Kinsey Farren (Dallas, TX),
Pat Fitzgerald, Kellyn Fogarty (Marshalltown, IA), Sierra Gant (Wichita, KS), Phillip King (Columbia, MO), Kevin McKee (Kansas
City, MO), Layne Moore (Emporia, KS), Tim Opfer, Michael Pandolfo (Littleton, CO), Amanda Peiffer, Matt Pickerel (Columbia,
MO), Kyle Rood (St. Peters MO), Matt Willingham (Cape Girardeau, MO), and Asa Wyatt.
Next week will serve as a busy one for Missouri, as the team splits to travel to a few meets across the country. From Wednesday
through Saturday, the Tigers will be visiting Lawrence, KS for the Kansas Relays. Missouri will also again be in action on the west
coast as they travel to the Los Angeles area. On Thursday and Friday the Tigers will participate in the Mt SAC Relays, and on
Saturday compete in the Long Beach Invite.
Follow the team on twitter @MIZ_TrackField.
Missouri Weekend Performances:
Tom Botts Invitational - Women
Tom Botts Invitational - Men
| |
| Hammer |
| 1st | Davis Fraker | FR | Illinois | 63.03m | 206'10" |
| 4th | Jacob Bullinger | JR | Missouri | 58.37m | 191'6" |
| 6th | Brian Duncan | FR | Missouri | 54.79m | 179'9" |
| 7th | Brooks Mosier | JR | Missouri | 54.39m | 178'5" |
| 8th | Tim Opfer | SR | Missouri | 52.58m | 172'6" |
| |
| Discus |
| 1st | Gabe Hull | FR | Iowa | 57.52m | 188'8" MEET RECORD |
| 2nd | Tim Opfer | SR | Missouri | 54.44m | 178'7" |
| 4th | Alex McDonald | SO | Missouri | 51.52m | 169'0" |
| 6th | Brooks Mosier | JR | Missouri | 50.86m | 166'10" |
| 10th | Jacob Bullinger | JR | Missouri | 47.00m | 154'2" |
| 11th | Brian Duncan | FR | Missouri | 45.47m | 149'2" |
| |
| Shot Put |
| 1st | Brooks Mosier | JR | Missouri | 17.77m | 58'3.75" |
| |
| Javelin |
| 1st | MaCauley Garton | FR | Missouri | 61.73m | 202'6" |
| 2nd | Asa Wyatt | SR | Missouri | 60.58m | 198'9" |
| 4th | Tim Gilman | FR | Missouri | 56.98m | 186'11" |
| 5th | Ser Whitaker | FR | Missouri | 52.99m | 173'10" |
| 8th | Nicholas Ford | FR | Missouri | 45.89m | 150'7" |
| |
| Pole Vault |
| 1st | Matthew Bane | SO | Illinois | 5.11m | 16'9.25" |
| 5th | Kyle Wessel | SO | Missouri | 4.66m | 15'3.5" |
| |
| Long Jump |
| 1st | Malcom Pennix | JR | Missouri | 7.46m | 24'5.75" |
| 3rd | DaWon Baker | FR | Missouri | 6.79m | 22'3.5" |
| |
| Triple Jump |
| 1st | Jeremy Lampley | SO | Missouri | 15.48m | 50'9.5" MEET RECORD |
| 2nd | Jonathon Ilori | FR | Missouri | 15.10m | 49'6.5" |
| |
| High Jump |
| 1st | Graham Valdes | SR | Iowa | 2.01m | 6'7" |
| 3rd | Mitchell Hatten | SR | Missouri | 1.91m | 6'3.5" |
| |
| 100m |
| 1st | Josh Larney | JR | Iowa | 10.64 |
| 2nd | Malcom Pennix | JR | Missouri | 10.68
|
| |
| 200m |
| 1st | Jade Ackerman | FR | Illinois | 21.53 |
| 2nd | Ryan Blackwell | SR | Missouri | 21.59 |
| 5th | Matt Pickerel | SR | Missouri | 21.95 |
| |
| 400m Hurdles |
| 1st | Ethan Holmes | JR | Iowa | 51.73 |
| 4th | Kellyn Fogarty | SR | Missouri | 53.11 |
| |
| 1500m |
| 1st | Jeff Thode | JR | Iowa | 3:49.40 |
| 2nd | Blake Irwin | JR | Missouri | 3:51.66 |
| |
| 4x100m Relay |
| 1st | Missouri | 41.99 |
| |
| 4x400m Relay |
| 1st | Iowa | 3:09.56 MEET RECORD |
| 2nd | Missouri | 3:13.09 |
|
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