Missouri track and field did not start its 2017 campaign at full strength, bringing only certain athletes to its first tri-meet of the indoor season at the Border Battle in Iowa City, Iowa. Despite this, the Tigers had plenty to be proud of, bringing home two first-place winners, along with seven other top-three finishers.
The two first-place finishes both came on the women’s side with senior LaQuisha Jackson winning the 60-meter dash at 7.42 seconds. Sophomore Maya Cody was not far behind, coming in second with a time of 7.48. Jackson also ran on the 4×400 meter relay team, which finished third and included Cody, Sydney Wells and Valerie Thames.
The other first-place finisher was redshirt sophomore Gabi Jacobs, who won the shot put with a throw of 14.88 meters.
Other strong performances came in the field, where sophomore Shammai Ilis finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 11.53 meters and sophomore Karissa Roman registered 1.58 meters in the high jump.
On the track, freshman Karina Liz finished second in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:37.11. In the 1,000-meter run, senior Bailey Hession ran a 3:11.38 to place third. Redshirt freshman Samantha Farmer placed fifth in the mile run, and redshirt junior Kaelyn Balch ran a 10:47.97 to finish fourth in the 3-kilometer.
The men’s side did not fare as well but still produced strong performances. Sophomore Kahmari Montgomery, a returning two-time Southeastern Conference 400-meter champion, placed 13th in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:26.17. He also ran on the fourth place 4×400 meter relay team and placed seventh in the 60-meter dash. Redshirt junior Cain Winebrenner placed second in the 60-meter with a time of 1:20.76.
Sophomore Thomas George and redshirt senior Luca Russo finished third and fourth in the 1,000-meter run with times of 2:28.30 and 2:29.57, respectively. Following that, redshirt junior Ben Goodman finished third in the mile with a time of 4:14.81.
In field events, redshirt sophomore Avery Carter threw 16.79 meters in the shot put to place fourth. Redshirt senior Ahren Bohanan also contributed with a throw of 17.32 meters, good enough for third place.
The next meet for the Tigers is the Commodore Invitational, which will take place Jan. 13-14 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tigers will then return to Columbia for the Tiger Invitational on Jan. 20 at Hearnes Center.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_
