Tigers shine in Missouri Relays

The Missouri Tigers track squad opened the home portion of its 2011 outdoor schedule Friday at Audrey J. Walton Stadium with the Missouri Relays.
The Tigers fared well in only their fourth meet of the outdoor season. In total, Missouri captured 10 titles. The women won three titles and the men won seven.
The women did particularly well in the hammer throw event, taking five of the top six spots. Freshman Kearsten Peoples took first overall with a distance of 52.83 meters. Peoples also took first in the shot put while competing unattached. In third was sophomore Megan Collins at 51.56 meters. In the men’s hammer throw, Chris Holly took third with a throw of 59.28 meters.
The Tigers did well in all aspects, but really shined in the field events. In the long jump, Tucker Bounds took the best finish for the men in second place at 6.91 meters. For the women, Erika Miller took the top finish in the event at 5.47 meters.
Freshman Camille Hayes cleared a final height of 1.64 meters to take second place in the women’s high jump and fellow freshman Hailey Twietmeyer took second in the javelin. She threw 42.06 meters to claim the runner up spot.
In the men’s triple jump, freshman Jeremy Lampley won the event with a distance of 13.87 meters. Sophomore Brooks Mosier won the men’s shot put with a distance of 17.67 meters. Mosier achieved his person best at the meet.
Moving on to the track, three Tigers earned second place finishes in the sprints. Freshman Trés Chambers took second in the men’s 200-meter with a time of 21.56. He would have taken first overall if not for team Nike’s Ivory Williams. He was the fastest collegiate runner in the event.
“Taking first out of all the college runners feels great,” he said. “Ivory is an Olympic caliber athlete. He’s a tough guy.”
Freshman JT McCarthy, who finished second for the Tigers in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, said that as a team, they showed a lot of improvement.
“At the Stanford Invite, we had three top ten finishers, and here we took seven first place spots,” He said. “That’s a huge improvement, and I think we’re only going to keep getting better.”
As for his individual performance, he said he hopes to do better in the future.
“I took sixth place overall," he said. "I think I can do better than that. I’ll just keep working for that No. 1 finish.”
In the men’s pole vault, senior All-American Brian Hancock cleared 4.90 meters to take first place. He was accompanied in the top three by fellow Tigers Matt Krogman and Kyle Wessel who both cleared heights of 4.60 meters and 4.45 meters respectively. For the women, it was Heather Green who won the event. She cleared 3.65 meters to take the title for the Tigers.
Missouri placed first in both the men’s 4x400-meter and 4x100-meter relays. Chambers said he is proud of the team.
“Winning a relay is a big thing as a team,” he said. “To go out and take two relays in our first home meet is a big statement.”
The women took second in the 4x100-meter relay with their team consisting of Shawntè Middlebrook, Sierra Gant, Cara Fortè and Lauren Flaker. They finished with a time of 47.55, just under a minute behind top finisher South Dakota State.
The Tigers will be back in action at home this weekend for the Tom Botts Invitational.