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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lions open up outdoor
track season at Pittsburg and Florida State Pittsburg, Kan./Tallahassee, Fla. -- The Missouri Southern track and field teams opened up the outdoor season this weekend as the men traveled to Pittsburg State and the women went to Florida State in the outdoor season openers for both squads. The men brought their throwers to the PSU/Wendy's Open this afternoon at Carney Smith Stadium. Adam Sims finished third in the shot put with a distance of 47 feet, 11 and a quarter inches, but was the top collegiate performer. Former Southern thrower Mike Hines won the event with a throw 52 feet, seven and a quarter inches. Kyle Hancock was fifth in the event. Sims was ninth in the discus, while John Isenman finished third in the hammer and was the top collegiate performer. The women had a tremendous meet at Florida State as two school records fell at the FSU Snowbird Invite. Already holding the indoor 5k record after setting it earlier this season, Kimi Shank secured the outdoor record and automatically quallified for nationals, finishing ninth with a time of 17:09.11. Shank broke the previous record of Sonia Eudy (17:33.68) from 1998. Ironically, it was Eudy's indoor record that Shank broke earlier in the year. Kara Eckard won the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 11:08.87, breaking the previous school record of 11:24.55 set by Jen Noelken in 2004. Eckard's time was also a strong provisional qualifying time. Jessica Selby-Tallman continued her strong senior season as just like in her first indoor event of the year, Selby-Tallman picked up an automatic qualifying mark in the shot put, winning the event with a distance of 49 feet, five and a half inches. Jessica Self, Emilie Mieseler, Erin Steffens and Courtney Vie finished 11th through 13th in the shot. Selby-Tallman finished second in the hammer throw with a provisional distance of 176-11. Self was sixth, while Vie and Amanda Littlefield were 13th and 14th. Self was seventh in the discus, followed by Vie and Steffens at 11th and 12th, while Littlefield was 18th. Sophomore Jill Weeks finished fifth in the javelin, while Kayla Piley was 14th. Piley also finished seventh in the high jump. Erica Culver and Ciara Lipsey finished fifth and seventh in the pole vault and Allison Walker was sixth in the 800m. Olga Bulgarova was tenth in the event, while Shannan Borgard, Courtney Waltbillig and Kaitlin Wilkinson were 15th, 24th and 28th, respectively. Shank finished ninth in the 1500m, while Victoria Kline and Waltbillig were 13th and 14th. Kate Brittan finished 20th and Krista Merrill was 29th. Brittan, Taylor Whitacre and Merrill were 8th through 10th in the 3k, while Kelly O'Toole finished 16th. The Southern men and women will be back in action a week from today when the Lions travel to Arlington, Texas to compete at UTA. |