Missouri track and field ends season on high note

The Missouri track and field team wrapped up its indoor regular season with several strong performances at home in the Missouri Collegiate Challenge on Friday.
Senior thrower Chris Holly had an impressive day, setting the bar high at 18.84 meters after only his second attempt. Holly held the lead through all six rounds and only had one foul en route to the win.
“I am very happy with my performance,” Holly said. “I feel like I am improving everyday, and I’m on my way up there.”
The Collegiate Challenge was the last meet at the Hearnes Center for Holly. The senior was the No. 2 weight thrower in the Big 12 conference coming into the meet.
“This is a good win for me going into the Championships,” he said. “This serves as a big confidence booster for me.”
In the pole vault, Brian Hancock was the star. Hancock, who is ranked No. 19 nationally, came into the meet looking to reset the record for a Missouri vaulter. The All-American managed to break the record on his second attempt at 17- 7 3/4.
“Every meet, I had a shot at it,” Hancock said. “It just feels so good to finally get it, especially when I’m here at Hearnes with so many friends and family.”
Hancock said the pressure of the record wasn’t a big deal for him. He said he was more focused on the pressure he puts on himself.
“There wasn’t really any outside pressure,” Hancock said. “I put a lot of it on myself by expecting to finish top four in the country and qualify as an All-American.”
After breaking the record, Hancock went for the automatic qualifying height of 18-0-1/4 to put him into the NCAA Championships, but was unsuccessful. Hancock bested top competition including Nick Adcock, who is training for the U.S. National Team, to take the top spot.
“Brian was injured last season and unable to compete,” vaulting coach Dan Lefever said. “The fact that he can still put up better numbers than his season two years ago is incredible.”
On the track, only a few performances stood out. Missouri didn’t have many of its top runners competing because they were resting for the Championships.
Freshman Trés Chambers finished well ahead of his competition in the 60-meter dash preliminaries and followed that performance up with a first place finish in the finals.
“I’ve been hurt lately and unable to compete, so it felt really good to get back in there and just compete,” he said.
The race was close with Chambers only claiming the win by one hundredth of a second. The close win also set the new meet record in the 60-meter dash at 6.82 seconds.
“I knew the guy next to me was really fast, so I knew it was going to be a really close race,” Chambers said. “I did well this week, but I have to do better next week.”
The close of the regular indoor season is bright looking forward. The Tigers have several members in line to qualify for the NCAA championships in March. The Tigers will first have to put up a good showing at the Big 12 Championships in Lincoln, Neb. on Feb. 25.