After dominating local competition at the first two meets of the season, the Missouri men’s and women’s track team faced off against more formidable foes on Friday and Saturday at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa. Its competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference such as Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Other schools from across the country such as Baylor and Arizona also participated in the two-day meet.
Missouri only sent two male athletes, each placing in their respective events. Freshman Georgi Nachev placed third in the men’s triple jump with a finish of 15.03m and redshirt senior Will Fife finished second in the men’s shot put with a personal record (PR) of 18.25m.
The Tigers sent a much more sizeable contingent to compete in track events, the highlight of which was cross country star Kieran Wood. The freshman set a school and personal record in the men’s 3000-meter run with a finish of 8:04.03.
In the 60-meter dash, freshman Jayson Ashford set a personal record with a time of 6.85 seconds in the Premier division, closely followed by teammate Nylo Clarke in the Olympic Development division, with a time of 6.90.
Freshman Eduardo Favela had a strong showing in the men’s 400-meter dash, coming in seventh place with a time of 50.47 seconds. Chris Conrad and Dustan Davidson led the way in the men’s 800-meter Premier division, closely followed by teammates Robert Kuhlmann and Dylan Quisenberry in the regular division. All four runners finished with times under 1:56.00.
In the men’s mile run, freshman Martin Prodanov led the Tigers with a time of 4:09.06 in the Premier division, followed by redshirt senior and Columbia native Zach Cook, with a time of 4:17.26 in the regular division.
Jason Edwards completed the men’s 60m hurdles in 9.01 seconds, and the 4X400 relay team consisting of Ashford, Clarke, Favela and Caulin Graves finished with a time of 3:14.01 in the Premier division.
The women were also tested over the weekend, but enjoyed a similar level of success.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, Maya Cody placed third at 7.51 in the Premier division and Jazmyn Shumaker finished 10th at 7.92 in Olympic Development.
Other notable women’s finishes included the 800-meter Premier run. Jenna Lutzow placed seventh followed by Karina Liz in eighth. Faramola Shonekan achieved a new PR of 2:18.84 and finished sixth in her 800-meter run.
Also among the list of new PRs was Tori Findley in the mile run Premier finishing at 4:53.70. Melissa Menghini led the pack in the mile finishing seventh, followed by Findley in 11th and Mikayla Reed in 20th.
For field events, Arianna Fisher placed seventh in the triple jump with a 12.47m distance. Emily Stauffer also earned 5th in the shot put with a 15.35m throw.
Missouri will host the Mizzou Open on Friday Jan. 25 at Hearnes Center beginning at 11:30 a.m.
_Edited by Emily Leiker | eleiker15@themaneater.com_
