Meet in Ames final chance to qualify

At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the sun was high and strong, the breeze light and gentle. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” was appropriately blaring from the baseball stadium. An hour away from game time, and one stadium over at the Audrey J. Walton Stadium, the Missouri track and field team gathered for its first outdoor practice this season. A few members of the team arrived early in shorts and tank tops to enjoy the warmth and lay in the sunshine before they got to work.

Although the turn in the weather has provided a much-needed change of scenery, the team still has a few more important indoor meets to focus on. This weekend, a handful of the athletes will look to use the Cyclone National Track & Field Qualifier held in Ames, Iowa, as their last chance to secure a slot in the NCAA Indoor Championships, which are a week away.

An electric pulse of nerves and excitement were released in playful bursts as the team gathered in a circle to stretch. The athletes were teasing, shoving, joking and laughing as they prepared their bodies for hard sprints, big jumps and powerful throws. But it was hard to tell if the buzz was from the present outdoor bliss, or the excitement building for what’s to come.

Although all of the Tigers headed to Ames this weekend have had great performances throughout the season, NCAA qualification for indoor competition is different than outdoor and, in some ways, much riskier. Instead of qualifying for the championships through a regional meet like in outdoor, indoor takes the top 16 performances in the nation from throughout the season. While this method provides several chances for the athletes to attempt to qualify, it also leaves room for those on the outskirts to be bumped out at the last minute. Thus, the athletes who will compete this weekend are hoping to squeeze their way in or trying to prevent getting pushed out.

Junior Marcus Mayes hopes to qualify in the 800-meter race. Mayes’ 1 minute, 49.48 seconds puts him in 19th place nationally, only three slots and .08 seconds away from qualifying.

Tipper O’Brien is in the 42nd slot with a 4:04.55 mile, but the 16th slot is a mere 2.52 seconds ahead.

“I have a lot of desire and ambition to move up,” O’Brien said. “I still have desire to do better and better. I feel like as long as I have that desire, I can continue to improve.”

Bill Hobson (19th) and Nate Englin (28th) are also going to Ames to improve their national rankings in the shot put. Englin also is in 31st in the weight throw.

Nearly all of Missouri’s weight throwers Chris Rohr (20th), Tyler Dailey (26th), Bobby Musil (30th) and Jason Morris (42nd) are within the top 50 in the nation. Morris is only 1.08 meters away from the 16th-place throw.

Bjorn Sommerfeldt is balancing in 15th place in the men’s heptathlon with a slight 5-point lead over the 16th slot and is grappling with whether or not he should compete this weekend. Athletes who participate in the combined events typically only compete three or four times a season to prevent wearing down, and Bjorn has participated in a meet every weekend for the past three weeks.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m kind of on the bubble with qualifying for the national meet,” he said. “But if I go, that will be three heptathlons in a row, and that’s not really optimal, you know.”

Among the women who will be competing, Elisha Hunt’s 19.40-meter weight throw puts her in 24th, only .38 meters away from going to Nationals.

Trisa Nickoley, whose 800-meter time of 2:07.71 is good enough for 28th place in the nation, will compete this weekend to try and erase the .77 second deficit that is keeping her from competing at Nationals. Earlier in the season, she commented on hoping to improve her time.

“I just want to get my time down back to what it was in high school,” she said. “It was close. It was 2:06, and I’m at 2:07. So I’m hoping to get it back in that range.”