33 Missourians qualify for 2016 NCAA DI Outdoor Track Championships
June 8, 2016 Chris Auckley morunner@hotmail.com Twitter: @MOTrackFanatic
In what is almost surely a record amount, 33 athletes who are from Missouri, who competed at Missouri high schools or who compete at Missouri colleges have qualified for this year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. The championships began today at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon with the men’s decathlon, which will conclude tomorrow. The rest of the men’s events will be held today and Friday. The women’s heptathlon will be held Friday and Saturday, while the remainder of the women’s events will take place Thursday and Saturday. This is the second year the meet has been scheduled with men and women competing on opposing days so that team scoring and placing can get more attention.
The group of 34 includes 17 women in 16 entries, while there are 16 men in 18 entries. It includes 11 athletes that have already earned first-team All-American accolades with a previous top-8 finish in an individual or relay event at the indoor or outdoor championships. For most of the group-18 of them, the meet will be their first NCAA track and field championship. One athlete will look to repeat as national champion while another is the favorite after a runner-up finish last year. The qualifiers include four freshman. The University of Missouri is sending a record group of 14 athletes, while Missouri State will continue to add to their history of qualifying women’s relay teams with their 4×100 group. UMKC and Southeast Missouri each have one qualifier. The athletes had to finish in the top-12 at the preliminaries to advance to nationals, which will have 24 entries in each event, 12 coming from the West, 12 from the East Prelims.
Mizzou qualifies record 14 athletes to NCAA’s
Brett Halter appears to be building a good, all-around program in his sixth season as the head coach at Mizzou. This year has been the program’s best under Halter and the men are currently ranked ninth nationally, their highest ranking ever. Mizzou qualified a program record 32 athletes for the West Preliminary Championships that were held at Kansas two weeks ago. Mizzou had six men finish in the top-12 their to advance to nationals, while eight women, including both relays: the 4×100 and 4×400 advanced.
The Mizzou men are led by a pair of sprinters. Markesh Woodson (Colorado), is one of the 60/100 meter sprinters in the country. Woodson has a pair of All-American top-8 trophies from the 60-meter dash indoors, and is looking for his first outdoor. He sits 7th on the national performance list which includes the regular season performances before the preliminary championships. His 10.13 100-meter time also qualifies him for the Olympic Trials. Woodson finished 3rd at SEC’s and 3rd at the Prelims. Mizzou’s 4×100 finished 14th at the Prelims, just missing a national berth by two spots.
Freshman Kahmari Montgomery (Illinois) burst on the scene at the SEC Indoor meet where he won the 400-meter dash in a 45.78 from the slow heat. Montgomery also won SEC outdoors with a 45.13, a school-record that puts him second on the national list.
Freshman Mattew Ludwig (Ohio) broke All-American Brian Hancock’s school record in the pole vault, and sits 11th nationally with a season best of 17-11. Ludwig took 3rd at SEC’s with a 17-5 clearance, then tied for 1st at the Prelims with a 17-7.75 mark.
Mizzou has two triple jumpers qualified. Sophomore John Warren (Virginia), and senior Tony Carodine (Colorado). Warren was tied for 20th on the national list but improved to 16.27m/53-4.5 at the Prelims, which makes him the sixth seed from Preliminary results. Warren will look to improve on an 11th place finish last year as a freshman. Carodine was 27th on the national list before his preliminary performance that now seeds him 11th with a nearly 53 foot jump.
The final Mizzou men to qualify is junior Reinhard Van Zyl. The South African was seventh on the national performance list with a regular season best of 249’, while his preliminary finish of 224 puts him as the 22nd seed.
Senior Ser Whitaker (Illinois) had a personal best score of 7488 points to take sixth at the SEC Championships and put him 16th nationally to qualify for NCAA’s. Neither the heptathlon or decathlon are held at the preliminary championships, the top 24 performers in each at the end of the regular season advance to nationals.
On the women’s side, Mizzou qualified four individuals and both relays. Senior Sandrae Farquharson (Jamaica), is the 22nd seed in the 400 with a 53.80 at the Prelims. Farquharson was 78th on the national performance list with a regular season best of 53.70.
Junior Valerie Thames (Wisconsin), broke the school record in the 100 hurdles and All-American Leslie Farmer’s school mark in the 400 hurdles this year. Thames finished the season tied for 28th on the national list with a 13.18 100 hurdles mark, and enters nationals as the 21st seed with a preliminary 13.21.
Sophomore distance standout Karissa Schweizer qualified for the NCAA cross country meet as a freshman in 2014. She qualified for the NCAA Prelims in both the 1500 and 5000-meters, advancing to Eugene in the 5k. She finished the season 14th on the national list in the 5k with a 15:58 and is seeded 20th with her preliminary 16:20 clocking.
Illinois native and Mizzou junior Alyssa Applebee will look to add to the Tigers vaulting hardware. Applebee was 35th on the regular season performance list with a best of 13-9, but at the West Prelims, improved to 13-10 to tie for second. She is tied for the 11th seed.
In the 4×100, Mizzou finished the regular season 27th nationally with a 44.40, but are seeded 15th with a 44.60 preliminary finish. The group includes freshman Maya Cody (Lutheran South HS, St. Louis), junior LaQuisha Jackson (Tennessee), senior Alyssa Felton (Georgia), and Farquharson. The 4×400 squad posted a regular season best of 3:34.20 for 26th on the national list. The Tigers improved to 3:34.10 at the Prelims and are seeded 22nd. That group includes Cody, Jackson, Farquharson, and Thames.
Missouri State will add to their NCAA relay history with their 4×100 qualifying squad. The Lady Bears have had their share of 4×100 and 4×400 relays qualify for the meet in the last 20 years. This year’s squad of Asha Cave, Marissa Kurtimah, Holly Pattie-Belleli, and Shavonne Husbands are the 23rd seed with their 44.78 preliminary mark.
SEMO senior Kevin Farley makes it back to the outdoor championships for the first time since 2013 when he was sixth in the shot put. Farley qualified in the shot put and discus. Farley was 24th on the performance list with a 61-11.5 shot put mark while he is seeded 12th with an improvement over 62 feet. In the discus, he ended the regular season 44th on the national list with a 183-6, but improved at the Prelims with a 191’ toss, making him the 14th seed.
UMKC junior Bryce Miller has experience competing at Hayward Field, as a freshman, Miller qualified for Team USA for the World Junior Championships in Oregon in the 3000-meter steeplechase. He finished 19th, running 9:06 and coming up short of making the final. Last year the sophomore and Wisconsin native missed the steeplechase final at the NCAA meet by less than a second and a half and two places. He took 14th in 8:44.89. This year, Miller blasted a couple of fast steeples in California. The latter came at the Payton Jordan meet at Stanford where he set a personal record of 8:38.59, which put him 5th on the national list. Miller’s 8:45 preliminary mark makes him the 16th seed.
Former Missouri Class 2 many-time state champion Caleb Hoover of College Heights Christian in Joplin is a fifth-year senior at Northern Arizona. He is looking for his third All-American honor, after getting one at the 2014 NCAA cross country championships and at the 2014 NCAA championships with his 7th place finish in the steeplechase. Hoover helped the Lumberjacks to two top-4 trophies in cross country in his career and will try to improve upon his 2014 steeplechase finish at this year’s meet. Like Miller, Hoover ran two fast steeples in California this year. At the Stanford Invitational he went 8:37.51 to put him top five nationally in the event. A month later he improved to 8:34.23 at the Payton Jordan meet which puts him 3rd on the national performance list before the Preliminary Championships. Hoover also ran a 13:58 5k this season which qualified him for the Prelims where he finished 29th in the event. Hoover placed 7th at the Prelims in the steeple and his his 8:44 there makes him the 14th seed.
The third Missourian to qualify for the steeplechase is Jordan Mann. The fifth-year senior Providence graduate student was a solid Class 3 All-State runner at MICDS, but in his final years at Brown University and this year at Providence College he has shown tremendous improvement and had great success. Indoors Mann had bests of 13:53 for 5k and 4:03 for the Mile. Mann finished the regular season 52 on the national list with a 8:52.36. However at the East Prelims, Mann blasted a huge PR of 8:38.28 to qualify for NCAAs. His performance makes him the third-seed.
Lafayette High School hurdle standout and Texas Tech senior Chris Caldwell will look to earn his second NCAA top-8 trophy after his 2015 Indoor 60-meter hurdles runner-up finish. Caldwell has a season’s best of 13.63 adjusted for altitude, while he is seeded 18th with his Prelims time of 13.74.
Iowa junior and former McCluer North state champion Aaron Mallet will seek his fourth NCAA top-8 trophy. Mallet took third at this year’s Indoor nationals in the 60-meter hurdles, while placing sixth and fifth at last year’s indoor and outdoor short hurdles races. Mallet has a season best of 13.48 which ties him for fifth on the regular season performance list, while his 13.77 Prelims performance makes him the 19th seed. Mallet will also run a leg of the Hawkeyes 4×100 relay which is seeded 21st with a 39.93.
Wisconsin redshirt-sophomore Josh McDonald, a state champion thrower for Timberland High School, will compete in the discus. McDonald sat at 75th on the national list with a regular season best of 178-6, but had a more than a meter PR of 183-2 to earn the 12th and final qualifying spot at the West Prelims.
Mississippi State senior and Jennings High School graduate Alfred Larry will look to improve on his 11th-place finish from last year in the 400-meter dash. Larry ran a 46.19 to miss the finals by less than 3/10ths of a second. He did however pick up his first NCAA trophy helping the Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the 4×400 in 3:04.96. Larry added another trophy in March, helping MSU to a sixth-place finish in the 4×400 at the NCAA Indoor meet. Larry placed 9th individually at the meet in the 400, just missing the finals by one spot and 4/100ths of a second, in 46.64. Larry sits 17th on the regular season performance list with a 45.75. He ran a 46.11 at the East Prelims and is the 15th seed. His 4×400 squad has the 10th best time of the regular season with a 3:04.99, while they ran 3:04.01 at the prelims and are the 5th seed.
It didn’t take long for Cardinal Ritter state champion Charles Jones to have success at Texas Tech. Jones earned a top-8 NCAA trophy his first season at the 2015 NCAA Indoor meet in the 4×400. At the outdoor meet last year, Jones was rounding the final turn in the 4×400 prelims when he pulled a hamstring and crashed to the track. This year, Jones’ Red Raider squad just missed another trophy indoors, placing ninth in the 4×400. This year Tech was 11th on the regular season performance list without Jones in the lineup with a 3:05.18. Jones and teammates ran a 3:04.87 at the Prelims, making them the 10th seed. Jones came up short of qualifying in the 800, he was 26th on the regular season list with a season’s best of 1:47.34. He captured the Big 12 title, and finished 15th at the West Prelims, just missing it to Eugene in the event by less than 3/10th’s of a second.
Former Hazelwood Central state champion sprinter Ashley Henderson is having a breakout sophomore year for San Diego State University. Henderson has qualified in 100, 200, and 4×100-meter relay. Henderson finished the regular season third in the country in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. In the 100 she ran an 11.01 with 4.0 mph wind at her back while in the 200 she ran a 22.44 with 2.3 mph wind behind her. She finished second and sixth at the West Prelims and is seeded fourth and 15th in those events. Her 4×100 squad is seeded 12th with a 44.43
The other female Missouri native sprinter to qualify individually is UCLA freshman Anglerne Annelus, a state champion and state meet record holder for Grandview. Annelus finished the regular season with a 23.24 200-meter best that put her 48th nationally. She ran a 23.22 at the West Prelims to take 12th and earn the final qualifying spot. She is seeded 24 and will run a leg of the Bruins 4×100 relay that is seeded 22nd in 44.77.
Courtney Frerichs will wrap up her college career this weekend in Eugene, and hopefully for her it will be the first of two great performances for her at Hayward Field in the next month. A solid runner at Nixa High School, Frerichs became one of the country’s best at UMKC before moving on to New Mexico this year. In 2012, Frerichs finished in the top-two at the USA Junior Nationals to earn a spot on the US World Junior Championships team. She finished 16th in Barcelona in 10:35, not making the final.
Frerichs is a three-time cross country All-American, including her fourth-place finish last fall that led her Lobo squad to the national title. Frerichs is a three-time All-American in track with a sixth-place finish in the steeplechase in 2013, a fifth-place finish in the 5k Indoors in 2015, and a runner-up finish to Colleen Quigley last year in the steeple in 9:31.36, the sixth fastest time ever for a collegian at the time. This year the fifth-year senior graduate student ran a 9:29.31 for the fastest time in the world on May 1st and moved her past Quigley by 1/100th of a second to become the third fastest collegian ever. She will be shooting for Jenny (Barringer) Simpson’s collegiate record of 9:25.54. Frerichs mark put her 18 seconds up on the nearest competitor on the regular season performance list and after her 9:51 victory at the Prelims, she is the top-seed. Frerichs will be a contender in the event for a spot on Team USA at the Olympic Trials next month in Eugene.
Arkansas fifth-year senior and former Neosho High School star Jessica (Jackson) Kamilos will look to her haul of individual and team trophies at this year’s meet. Kamilos was a member of the Razorbacks distance medley relay team that captured the national title indoors in 2015, helping Arkansas to the team title. In 2014, Kamilos placed seventh in the steeplechase in 9:49 to earn her first NCAA top-8 trophy. Her third All-American honor came in March when she ran on the DMR squad that finished fifth, as the team took second overall. Last year, Kamilos looked to improve on her seventh-place steeple finish from the year before, but while getting in some extra barrier jumping practice the week before NCAA’s, Kamilos got injured and was unable to compete. She cheered on her team with crutches though to a fourth-place finish. Kamilos is third on the regular season performance list with a 9:48. 16 as she won the SEC title. She ran a 10:04 at the Prelims, making her the 16th-seed.
Nebraska junior and former Missouri state champion for North Kansas City and Blue Springs High Schools Jazmin McCoy will seek her second All-American Trophy. McCoy surprised as a freshman as the lowest seed in the field at the 2014 NCAA outdoor meet when she placed sixth in the long jump with a 20-8.5 jump. Her second NCAA meet was last year outdoors where she placed 17th with a 19-11.5 mark. Just as in 2014, McCoy snagged the final qualifying spot at the West Prelims with a 12th-place finish with a 19-8.75 mark.
Last, but certainly not least is Deanna Price. The fifth-year senior chose wisely when she decided to take a scholarship to throw at Southern Illinois University instead of an scholarship to play softball at Lindenwood University. Price was an All-State thrower for Troy High School, and placed 10th at the NCAA championships as a freshman in the hammer throw. A few weeks later, she placed in the top-two in the event at the USATF Junior National Championships to earn a spot on Team USA for the World Junior Championships. In Barcelona, at the World Juniors, Price finished 18th with a toss of 189-8. A year later, she placed eighth in the hammer to win her first NCAA trophy. An injury cost her most of 2014, but in 2015, she took third indoors in the weight throw. At the 2015 NCAA outdoor meet, she led the hammer throw competition just about the whole way. With the victory in hand with a best toss of 224-2, Price had one final throw. She launched the hammer 234-6 for the meet record, winning by almost 14 feet. A few weeks later, Price improved to 237-2 to take second at the US Championships and earn a berth at the World Championships. Price finished 18th at Worlds in Beijing, with a toss of 225-4.
Price has dominated the event this season. She leads division I athletes by more than 14-feet this year in the hammer throw with a best of 238-5 in April. That toss of 238-5 is just 11-inches off the collegiate record, and currently puts her 12th in the world. She has posted four of the top 10 marks in college history this season. Price also has a season best of more than 53-1 in the shot put, but did not compete in it at the Prelims. She did capture the shot put and hammer titles at the Missouri Valley Conference meet, the first time that had been done on the women’s side in a long time. Like Frerichs, Price will be seeking a spot on Team USA at the Olympic Trials next month.
Women Qualifiers-18 Total, 16 Entries
Ashley Henderson, So. San Diego State, Hazelwood Central HS
100-14th 11.30, 200-15th-22.82, 4×100-12th-44.43
Anglerne Annelus, Fr. UCLA, Grandview HS
200-24th-23.22, 4×100-22nd-44.77
Sandrae Farquharson Sr. Mizzou, Jamaica HS,
400-22nd-53.80, 4×100-15th-44.60, 4×400-22nd-3:34.10
Valerie Thames, Jr. Mizzou, Wisconsin HS,
100Hurdles-21st-13.21
Courtney Frerichs, Sr. New Mexico, UMKC, Nixa HS
Steeplechase-1st-9:51.48
Jessica (Jackson) Kamilos, Sr. Arkansas, Neosho HS
Steeplechase-16th-10:04.76
Karissa Schweizer, So. Mizzou, Iowa HS,
5k-20th-16:20.79
Mizzou 4×100-15th-44.60
Maya Cody, Fr. Lutheran South HS
LaQuisha Jackson, Jr. Tennessee HS,
Alyssa Felton, Sr. Georgia HS,
Sandrae Farquharson, Sr. Jamaica HS,
Mizzou 4×400-22nd-3:34.10
Maya Cody, Fr. Lutheran South HS
Valerie Thames, Jr. Wisconsin HS,
LaQuisha Jackson, Jr. Tennessee HS,
Sandrae Farquharson, Sr. Jamaica HS,
Missouri State 4×100-23rd-44.78
Asha Cave, Fr. Barbados HS,
Marissa Kurtimah, Jr. Canada HS,
Holly Pattie-Belleli, Sr. England HS,
Shavonne Husbands, Sr. Barbados HS,
Alyssa Applebee, Jr. Mizzou, Illinois HS,
Pole Vault-13th/T11th-4.22m/13-10
Jazmin McCoy, Jr. Nebraska, North Kansas City HS, Blue Springs HS
Long Jump-24th-6.01m/19-09
Deanna Price, Sr. Southern Illinios, Troy HS
Hammer Throw-1st-71.66m/235
Men Qualifiers-16 qualifiers-18 entries
Markesh Woodson, Sr. Mizzou, Colorado HS
100-T5th-10.22
Kahmari Montgomery, Fr. Mizzou, Illinois HS
400-12th-45.95
Alfred Larry Sr. Mississippi State, Jennings HS,
400-15th-46.11, 4×400-5th-3:04.01
Charles Jones, So. Texas Tech, Cardinal Ritter HS,
4×400-10th-3:04.87
Jordan Mann, Sr/GS. Providence, Brown, MICDS HS,
Steeplechase-3rd-8:38.28
Caleb Hoover, Sr. Northern Arizona, College Heights Christian HS,
Steeplechase-14th-8:44.05
Bryce Miller, Jr. UMKC, Wisconsin HS,
Steeplechase-16th-8:45.43
Chris Caldwell, Sr. Texas Tech, Lafayette HS
110 Hurdles-18th-13.74
Aaron Mallet, Jr. Iowa, McCluer North HS,
110 Hurdles-19th-13.77, 4×100-21st-39.93
Matt Ludwig, Fr. Mizzou, Ohio HS,
Pole Vault-5th/T1st-5.38m/17-7.5
John Warren, So. Mizzou, Virginia HS,
Triple Jump-6th-16.27m/53-4.5
Tony Carodine, Sr. Mizzou, Colorado HS,
Triple Jump-11th-16.14m/52-11.5
Kevin Farley, Sr. SEMO, Illinois HS,
Shot Put-12th-18.93m/62-1.25, Discus-14th-58.34m/191-5
Josh McDonald, So. Wisconsin, Timberland HS
Discus-24th-55.83m/183-2
Reinhard Van Zyl, Jr. Mizzou, South Africa HS
Javelin-22nd-68.27m/223-11.75
Ser Whitaker, Sr. Mizzou, Illinois HS,
Decathlon-15th-7488pts
Meet Info:
http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=206261960
Entries/Heat Sheets: http://www.rtspt.com/ncaa/d1outdoor16/
Live Results: http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/track-field/results/d1/outdoor16/final/index.htm
Tv: ESPN2, Watch ESPN app, http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index
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