FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2008

Lions pick up 17 titles at MSSU Track and Field Festival

Complete Results

Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men's and women's track and field teams picked up 17 individual titles today at the Missouri Southern Track and Field Festival held at Fred G Hughes Stadium.

Jessica Selby-Tallman threw the shot put over 50 feet for the first time in her outdoor career and she set a new school record, picking up an automatic qualification for nationals in the event. Her distance of 50 feet, four and a half inches breaks her own school record of 49 feet, ten inches set last year at Emporia State. The mark is also tops in Division II this season. Erin Steffens finished third in the shot, while Jessica Self, Emilie Mieseler, and Courtney Vie were fifth through seventh.

Selby-Tallman picked up another automatic qualification in the hammer with a heave of 181 feet, five inches to win the event. Self and Vie were third and fourth, while Amanda Littlefield and Mieseler were 7th and 8th. Self, Littlefield and Steffens were 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the discus, while Vie was 6th. Jill Weeks picked up the title in the javelin, while Self was second.

The women were strong in the 3k, as well. Already holding the nation's best time in the 5k, Kimi Shank finished just in front of teammate Courtney Waltbillig to win the 3k with a time of 10:06.39. That time is a top ten performance this year. Kara Eckard and Ashley Bunch were fourth and fifth, while five other Lions placed in the top 20.

Channell Lloyd won the 100m hurdles and placed third in the 400m hurdles, while taking the title in both the long and triple jumps. Kate Brittan won the 1,500m, while Jessie Wood and Kayla Piley were first and second in the high jump. Erica Culver and Ciara Lipsey were 2nd and 6th in the pole vault.

In men's action, TJ Britton, competing in the long jump for the first time this season, cruised to a victory, jumping 22 feet, two and a quarter inches. Britton also finished second in the 800m and was part of the winning 4x400m relay team. Russell Ellis earned an automatic qualifying mark in the pole vault, finishing second with a height of 16 feet, five and a half inches, while Corey Shumate finished fifth in the event.

Andrew Wright won the 200m with a time of 22.52 and placed second in the 400m. Phillip Horn was first in the 110m hurdles, while Kevin Wright and Horn finished first and second in the 400m hurdles. Aki Nummela won the 3k steeplechase, while Brennon Benkert took the title in the 5k. Jarkko Jarvenpaa finished third in the 1,500m, while Corey Reynolds took home the title in the high jump. Chris Brown, in his first action since recovering from an ankle injury in the fall, finished fourth in the event.

Adam Sims finished third in the shot and sixth in the discus, while John Isenman was third in the hammer.