Track successful at Tom Botts Invitational
The women started strong to take a quick lead.
Published April 13, 2009
The Missouri men and women's track teams wrapped up their home portion of the 2009 schedule by calling it a draw with Indiana State in the 13th Annual Tom Botts Invitational.
The Missouri women coasted to a 225.5 to 173 win against Indiana State, and the men fell to the Sycamores 199.5 to 191. Finishing third and fourth in both team scores were Air Force and Tulsa, respectively.
"I'm thrilled with it, we had some great things happen," coach Rick McGuire said of the meet.
On senior day, three graduating Tigers inflated Missouri's team scores with their performances. Tim Cornell, JaNay Woolridge and Krishna Lee all took at least one event title and said goodbye to Walton Stadium in style.
Cornell notched first place in the 1500-meter run with a meet record and regional qualifying time of 3:46.42. McGuire called Cornell's personal-best performance classic.
"We had five guys in the race and all five of those guys are really quality runners," Cornell said. "Today it just happened to be me. Any given day it's going to be one those guys."
Also on the track, Woolridge did one better by winning two individual events.
In addition to running a leg of Missouri's winning 4x100 meter relay, Woolridge took home the long jump and 100-meter hurdles titles.
"By the time we get to the Big 12 Championships, she'll be a terror," McGuire said.
Lee's performance in three field events earned her Female Athlete of the Meet honors. She won the hammer throw and shot put while taking second in discus. All three of her distances were regional qualifiers.
"I felt really good with the good start in hammer throw," Lee said. "I threw a lot better last weekend but, considering the training we are in right now, I think the technique was where it needed to be."
The Missouri men were missing a key piece of their puzzle as junior Nick Adcock rested from the meet. Adcock participated in four events in last week's Jefferson Cup and took first place in the 110-meter hurdles.
With Adcock sitting on the sidelines, McGuire saw an opportunity for his teammates to step in.
"The big hitter wasn't in there, so some other people got to do some things," McGuire said. "We said, 'Lets see how they do.'"
Despite Adcock's absence, the Tiger men stayed close to Indiana State throughout the meet. After 13 events, the Tigers and Acorns were dead even at 135 points but during the final six events, Indiana State pulled away to an insurmountable lead.
Things went easier for the women as they led 15 to 7 from the first event and didn't look back the rest of the competition.
Freshman Ashley Mark helped fuel Missouri's quick start by taking first in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:53.90.
Among the other Tiger women to take home event titles were freshman Stacy Swineburg in the high jump, junior Shannon Leinert in the 800-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay team who set a school-record time of 3:41.11.