Jan. 16, 2016
Results | Schedule | 2016 Indoor Results
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Missouri State track and field team competed in its second meet of the 2015-16 indoor season at the Arkansas Invitational here Friday. Sprinter Marissa Kurtimah tallied the lone first-place finish in an event at the meet while four individuals grabbed a second- or third-place finish for the Bears in five events. There was no team scoring at today's meet.
The most impressive performance of the day for the Bears was by the junior Kurtimah, who tied her career-best in the 60-meter dash in the preliminaries with a time of 7.50 seconds. Kurtimah stepped up to the line in the final and broke free crossing the finish line with a time of 7.46 seconds to write her name in the record book as the fastest indoor 60-meter dash runner in MSU history, replacing the record of 7.48 that was marked by Pernell Joseph in 2013.
"This was a very good meet for us," commented Bears' head coach Ronald Boyce. "We were able to accomplish what we came to do, and more, with Marissa's new school record."
Aside from Kurtimah's first-place finish, five competitors collected a second- or third-place finish in their individual events while the Bears' 4x400-meter relay team tallied a third-place finish. Asha Cave followed closely behind Kurtimah in the 60-meter dash, clocking in a time of 7.59 seconds to give her a second-place finish. Shani Adams crossed the finish line in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:33.30 to give her a second-place finish behind Arkansas' Ceara Watson. Distance-standout Cindy Forde knocked over 30 seconds off her personal best time in the mile to give her a third-place finish with a time of 5:02.16. MSU's 4x400-meter relay team composed of Adams, Holly Pattie-Belleli, Oarabile Babolayi, and Erin Roebuck clocked in a time of 3:46.09, which puts them as the 20th-fastest relay team in the nation.
On the field side, Melanie Raterman grabbed second-place finish in the weight throw for the Bears with a toss of 14.62 meters. Teammate Brittany McPike picked up two third-place performances with tosses of 10.63 meters in the shot put and 14.29 meters in the weight throw.
Senior Pattie-Belleli recorded personal bests in each event she competed in - 60-meter hurdles (8.67 seconds), high jump (1.60 meters), and long jump (5.51 meters). Six Bears joined Kurtimah, Cave, Forde, Pattie-Belleli, and McPike in the weight throw in picking up personal bests at the meet.
"Many personal bests were set today which is very exciting for us as a team," said Boyce. "We are looking forward to our next competition and hopeful that we will continue to see more exciting results."
The Bears will continue the indoor season when they travel to Pittsburg, Kan. for the Pittsburg State Invitational on Friday, Jan. 29.
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