Lion men, women do well at Nebraska indoor meet
Jan. 15—Several Missouri Southern track and field athletes finished with impressive results competing against Division I athletes at the University of Nebraska 2024 Graduate Classic indoor meet this past weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In the men's weight throw, Lion senior Peyton Barton, a McDonald County High School graduate, finished second with an NCAA-qualifying distance of 21.33 meters. University of Nebraska's Henry Zimmerman won the event with a 22.42-meter toss. MSSU sophomore Cedric Pearson (17.28 meters) and redshirt freshman Gabe Ford (15.88 meters) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, behind four additional Nebraska throwers and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville's Grant Milbrath.
MSSU captured two of the top three spots in the men's long jump, behind TrackVille club winner Michael Hoffer's 7.08 meters. Lion junior Caleb Manning finished second (6.91 meters), and sophomore teammate Peyton McBride finished third with a jump of 6.83 meters. Senior Taris Jackson, of Carthage, placed sixth (6.72 meters), and junior Devin Greene finished eighth with a personal best 6.69 meters.
Jackson also finished fourth overall with an NCAA-qualifying mark of 14.98 meters in the triple jump, the tenth best jump in Division II so far this season. Manning (14.07 meters) and Greene (13.74 meters) finished fifth and sixth in the event, behind University of Nebraska winner Micaylon Moore (15.67 meters). Moore's winning jump was the sixth best in the country so far this year in Division I.
In the women's pole vault, MSSU athletes finished in a tie for the runner-up spot behind Nebraska's Jessica Gardner (4 meters). Southern junior Mackenzie Moring set a personal best and sophomore Holly Robinson joined Moring in surpassing the NCAA-qualifying mark with vaults of 3.70 meters each. Junior Katie Candrl took seventh clearing 3.55 meters.
Lion Freshman Bastien Franck, from France, hit a personal best and NCAA-qualifying mark of 5.05 meters, good for second place in the men's pole vault. Franck's vault was the ninth best in school history and the fifth best in Division II this year. Fellow freshman Travis Greenfield set a personal best and placed third after clearing 4.65 meters. Nebraska's Till Steinforth won the event with a 5.05-meter leap as well but did so with no misses. Franck fouled on one of his attempts.
Southern sophomore Briar Gillum finished fourth in the women's shot put with a personal best and NCAA-qualifying mark of 14.30 meters. Gillum's put was the seventh best in MSSU history and ranks eighth in Division II this season. Nebraska took the top three spots in the event, with Cornhusker Mine De Klerk logging the third-best mark in Division I this year with a 17.45-meter put.
In the men's shot put, Ford improved on his eighth-place finish in the weight throw with a third-place finish and personal best with a NCAA-qualifying 16.68-meter put. Ford finished behind two Nebraska athletes, including winner Kevin Shubert's 19.25-meter put.
Lion junior Mallory Huber took fourth in the women's weight throw behind three Nebraska throwers with an NCAA D-II qualifying throw of 18.24 meters. Gillum placed seventh with a personal best throw of 16.66 meters.
Nebraska's Cammy Garabian won the event with a 19.82-meter throw.
In other events, Southern junior Luke Brumit, a Webb City graduate, was fifth in the men's high jump (1.95 meters). Freshman Gabrielle McPherson placed 10th with a time of 8.01 in the women's 60-meter dash and was 11th in the women's long jump with a 5.17-meter jump.
Athletes from more than 25 NCAA D-I, D-II and NJCAA schools competed in the two-day event.
Up next for MSSU is the Washburn Rust Buster on Jan. 20 in Topeka, Kansas.
