2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships Missouri Qualifiers
Sixteen athletes who are Missouri natives, competed at Missouri high schools, or go to Missouri colleges have been accepted in to the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, set for March 14-15 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That number could change though as medical scratches can be made until next Tuesday the 12th, giving hopes to a few athletes left out.
One of those is Iowa State junior sprinter Kendra White. The St. Louis native, who starred for McCluer North High School in the 200 and 400 meters. White spent a year at LSU before transferring to ISU before the 2012-13 year. ISU’s distance medley relay squad sits one spot and one second behind the 12th and final qualifying spot. White wasn’t apart of the team that ran the time putting them just out of the final qualifying spot, but she did run the 400-meter leg on the ISU relay that is two spots back on the performance list, and less tan 4/10ths of a second back. So if there is a scratch, White may get a chance to to make her first NCAA Meet trip.
The current group of sixteen athletes who have qualified are split evenly, with eight men and eight women. Seven of the eight women have qualified for at least one previous NCAA Championship, whether track and field or cross country. So all seven of those have at least earned honorable mention All-American status, while six have earned at least one NCAA Track and Field top-8 finish trophy. The only woman not to have made a previous NCAA meet is LSU horizontal jumper Nataliyah Friar, who is in just her first season of college competition. Friar and Mizzou redshirt junior Jill Rushin will look to join the other six women and earn their own NCAA trophies.
On the men’s side, three of the eight are NCAA Meet newcomers. That includes Georgetown freshman Amos Bartelsmeyer. Bartelsmeyer, the MICDS middle-distance star whose high school career ended abruptly when reported a stress fracture was discovered the week of the state track meet last May. The injury cost Bartelsmeyer and MICDS chances at a Missouri Class 3 team title, state meet records, national meet appearances with All-American honors. The injury also cost Bartelsmeyer a chance at a sub-4:10 1600m/mile, the chance to at an all-time top Missouri mark, as well as one of the country’s best mark of the high school season.
Bartelsmeyer didn’t run a cross country race in the fall, but was back to his speedy self this winter. Bartelsmeyer sits 75th on the NCAA Division I performance list with a 1:50.50 800 meters, and 15th on the college list in the 1000 meters, with a 2:22. Amos will lead off the Distance Medley Relay for the Hoyas, running the 1200-meter leg in Albuquerque.
Andrew Pisechko is a former All-Stater for Webb City and is an alternate for Arkansas’ distance medley relay. Pisechko is a redshirt sophomore who sits just behind Bartelsmeyer on the performance lists, at 86th in the 800 in 1:50.82, converted from 1:51.44 at altitude. Pisechko also posted a 2:24 in the 1000, to put him 37th on the college list. Pisechko was one of three Missourians who were a part of the 2013 Arkansas squad who captured the NCAA Indoor track and field title last March. Piscechko, redshirt senior Eric Fernandez, and student assistant coach Rick Elliott celebrated the Hogs national title at their home track in Fayetteville.
Bartelsmeyer will be one of four Missouri men in the DMR. While Amos will lead off the, a pair of St. Louis area Missouri Track and Field Gatorade Players of the Year will battle in the 1600 meter anchor leg. Nick Happe, a law-school student in his first year at Notre Dame will run for the Irish after a stellar career at Francis Howell North, and four years at Arizona State. He will battle Daniel Everett, the Columbia University junior who starred at Westminster Christian. Arkansas redshirt sophomore Andrew Pisechko, an All-Stater at Webb City, is an alternate for Hogs, who is a 800/1500 specialist.
The other newcomer is Southeast Missouri junior Blake Smith in the long jump. The Jackson, Mo, native is the second straight Redhawk to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Meet in the long jump, a year after Blake Carter did so.
More to come… 16 qualifiers per event, 12 teams per relay Seed, Name, Year, School, Time/Mark, Hometown, High School Women 1 Mile Run Prelims 1 Colleen Quigley JR Florida State 4:32.11 St. Louis, Nerinx Hall ‘11 5000 Meter Run 2 Emily Sisson RSJR Providence 15:40.62 Chesterfield, Parkway Central ‘10 60 Meter Hurdles Prelims 4 Tiffani McReynolds SR Baylor 8.05 Kansas City, Ks. Pembroke Hill ‘10 4×400 Meter Relay 5 Texas Tech 3:34.12 4) Montenae Roye-Speight JR St. Louis, Ladue ‘11/LSU Distance Medley Relay 8 Florida State 11:01.59 4) Colleen Quigley JR St. Louis, Nerinx Hall ‘11 Pole Vault 11 Bethany (Buell) Firsick RSSR South Dakota 4.31m/14-1.75 St. Louis, Rockwood Summit ‘09 Long Jump 10/T9 Nataliyah Friar FR LSU 6.30m /20-8 Wentzville, Wentzville Holt‘13 Shot Put 1 Kearsten Peoples RSJR Missouri 17.81m /58-5.25 Ottawa, Ks. Ottawa ‘10 14 Jill Rushin RSJR Missouri 16.90m /55-5.5 Jackson, Jackson ‘10 Weight Throw 10 Kearsten Peoples RSJR Missouri 21.18m /69-6 Ottawa, Ks. Ottawa ‘10 Eight Women-10 Entries, Two in two events Men 60 Meter Dash Prelims6/T6 Markesh Woodson SO Missouri 6.60 Colorado Springs, Co. Fountain Ft. Carson ‘12 3000 Meter Run 8 Maksim Korolev SR Harvard 7:51.52 Harrisonville, Harrisonville ‘10 5000 Meter Run 7 Maksim Korolev SR Harvard 13:42.56 Harrisonville, Harrisonville ‘10 60 Meter Hurdles Prelims 1 Oladapo Akinmoladun SO Nebraska 7.61 Kansas City, Grandview ‘12 Distance Medley Relay 5 Georgetown 9:29.11 1) Amos Bartelsmeyer FR St. Louis, MICDS ‘13 6 Arkansas 9:29.37 5) Andrew Pisechko RSSO Webb City, Webb City ‘11 7 Notre Dame 9:29.43 4) Nick Happe RSSR St. Charles, Francis Howell North/Arizona State 10 Columbia 9:30.72 4) Daniel Everett JR Creve Couer, Westminster Christian ‘11 Long Jump 11 Blake Smith JR SE Missouri 7.73m/25-4.5 Jackson, Jackson ‘11 Eight Men-Nine Entries
Missouri Track Fanatic & Running Junkie 