Track and Field Set to Open the New Year at Missouri

Friday, January 20

Columbia, MO

All Day

Missouri State University

Tiger Invitational

Track and Field Set to Open the New Year at Missouri

January 18, 2017 | Women's Track & Field

By: MSU Athletics Communications

SPRINGFIELD – After taking a month off from competing, the Missouri State track and field team will continue the 2016-17 indoor slate at the Tiger Invitational, hosted by the University of Missouri Tigers, on Friday (Jan. 20). Long jump will begin field events for the Bears at 2 p.m., while running events are scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Missouri State Track and Field at the Tiger Invitational
Date	January 20, 2017 - All Day
Location	Columbia, Mo.
Site	Hearnes Center Fieldhouse
Meet Information	Schedule of Events \| Final Results
MissouriStateBears.com	Track and Field Homepage
Connect	@MSUBearsTrackXC \| Bears on Facebook \| Bears on Instagram \| #MSUBears

Keeping Track of the Bears

For the second time in three seasons, Missouri State will compete at the Tiger Invitational at the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse in Columbia. In 2015, eight current Bears – Savannah Beaver Aleckson, Rachel Campbell, Kadisha Francois, Daijha Heron, Melanie Raterman, Georgia Richardson, Erin Roebuck and Miche-Ala Woods – combined for five top-five performances in four different events.
A total of 31 student-athletes are projected to compete for Missouri State on Friday. Newcomers Chelsey Linton and Sidne' Williamson will be the busiest Bears, competing in four events apiece.
The Bears opened the indoor slate at the Bob Timmons Challenge (Dec. 2, 2016) on the campus of the University of Kansas. Six personal bests and 10 top-five performances highlighted the indoor season opener.
For the second-straight year, Marissa Kurtimah was awarded the Missouri Valley Conference's first Female Track Athlete of the Week honor (Dec. 6) after her performance at the Bob Timmons Challenge. The sprinter finished second in the 60-meter dash (7.50 seconds) before clocking in the winning time of 24.75 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
Director of track and field and cross country, Ronald Boyce, enters his 21^st season at the helm in 2016-17. In his time at MSU, his indoor and outdoor track and field teams have claimed nine Missouri Valley Conference Championships and have been Valley runners-up six times.
The Bears return five letterwinners – Shani Adams, Marissa Kurtimah, Asha Cave, Kadisha Francois and Daijha Heron – from last season's indoor squad. This group of student-athlete combined for 21 top-five finishes during the 2015-16 indoor season in their respective individual events.
Three 2016 All-Missouri Valley Conference performers return to the indoor squad, including Marissa Kurtimah, who broke the MSU school record in the 60-meter dash for the third and final time last season at the conference championships with a winning time of 7.37 seconds.