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COLUMBIA — Missouri hammer thrower Jason Morris has a lot of nicknames.
Bones, J-Money, J-Bones, Bone Swah, Swah. The list keeps going.
It’s just funny, because he’s a character so we like to call him different things,” junior thrower Chris Rohr said.
But Morris and his teammates on the Missouri Track and Field team can’t seem to get their stories straight about the origins of Morris’ myriad of monikers.
“I don’t know,” Rohr said. “There’s too many names.”
According to Morris, it started when fellow thrower Tyler Dailey called him J-Money, which then evolved into Bones, a slang term for money.
“(Dailey) originally started with the nicknames, and just kind of as the years went along he progressed with a new one each year,” Morris said. “So far this year I have gotten like four or five.”
But Rohr has a different story about the source of the nicknames.
“It all started when we talked about going to the bonus round, which meant going to finals, and then Jason got called Bones,” Rohr said.
After the first day of the Missouri Relays on Friday, Morris’ teammates have something new to call him: three-time Missouri Relays hammer throw champion.
Morris, a senior, won the event for the third consecutive year by throwing 211 feet, 11 inches. He set the meet record at last year’s Missouri Relays by throwing 214 feet, 6 inches.
Although he didn’t throw quite as far this year, Morris said he is still happy with his performance, especially at this early stage of the season. The Missouri Relays is the first outdoor meet for the Tigers.
“This is a great stepping stone, which is going to help me get to where I want to be, which is the Olympic Trials,” Morris said. “I couldn’t be happier with where I am at starting right now.”
Morris wasn’t the only Missouri thrower to perform well in the event. Rohr came in second with a throw of 208 feet, 1 inch. Rohr’s throw was his personal record at Missouri. Dailey finished third in the event.
With so many successful throwers on the team, each of them pushes the others to work harder.
“It’s constantly pushing each other,” Morris said. “In practice and in the weight room its kind of a friendly competition.”
In the women’s hammer throw, Missouri junior Krishna Lee won the event with a throw of 184 feet, 7 inches.
Because the team took a few days off for spring break and the poor weather over the past few days, Lee had only been able to practice the hammer throw twice prior to the event.
Missouri senior Elisha Hunt came in a close second, coming up just two inches short of Lee’s mark.
The Missouri throwers will be back in action on Saturday in the shot put and discus.
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