SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State track and field team looks to put the finishing touches on a strong indoor campaign at the 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. The competition from the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa gets underway on Saturday, Feb. 29 with the multi-events starting at 10:00 a.m., followed by field events at 2:00 p.m. and running events at 4:00 p.m. Action will continue on Sunday, March 1 beginning with the triple jump at 11:00 a.m. and the mile will kick off the track portion of the final day at 1:25 p.m.
Keeping Track of the Bears
- Missouri State enters the 2020 MVC Indoor Championship with 11 times/marks in scoring position on the Valley's performance list, including two relay teams that have top-8 times. Malia Watkins' 200-meter time (24.10) from the Husker Invitational stands as the top time in the MVC to go along with her runner-up ranking in the 60m (7.60) that she ran at the Pitt State Invitational. Edna Dar ranks third in the 800m (2:14.30) and fourth in the mile (4:57.84). Timeka Jordan (3rd) and Calandra Henry (8th) join Watkins on the 60-meter list while Henry ranks seventh in the 200m with her converted time of 25.13. In the field events, Jessica Haney's clearance of 1.71 meters in the high jump sits as fourth-best in the league while Jamilah James, the reigning Valley triple jump champion, ranks fourth in the event with an 11.90-meter mark. The MSU 4x400-meter relay team that set a season-best time of 3:49.11 in Nebraska checks in at fourth, trailing the next two spots by less than a second. The Bears' distance medley relay team posted the program's fifth-fastest time at the Gorilla Classic with an 11:59.33 which is second among Valley rivals.
- Missouri State (52) was picked sixth in the MVC Pre-Championship Poll, trailing Loyola (58) by just six points. Illinois State (100) was selected as the frontrunner, followed by Southern Illinois (85), Indiana State (80), and host UNI (75). Drake (36), Bradley (30), Evansville (19), and Valparaiso (15) round out the final four spots behind the Bears.
- MSU finished sixth at last year's indoor championship meet, finishing a half-point behind Loyola in the team scoring. James won the triple jump with her career-best indoor mark of 12.43 meters. Other returning scorers from the 2019 conference meet include Dar who finished sixth in the 800-meter run and Grace Breiten who turned in a sixth-place showing in the mile.
- The Bears have clinched a total of six team titles at the conference indoor competition, winning at least one in each of the three previous decades (1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2012).
- Competing for the second time in three weeks at Pittsburg State, the Bears took home two individual victories and continued to improve personal-best times at the Gorilla Classic (Feb. 14-15). Dar earned the 800-meter title by breaking the meet's four-year old record with her time of 2:10.03 and Haney won her first individual title as a Bear with a clearance of 1.71 meters (5-07.25) in the high jump.
- MSU battled against a competitive field at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational (Feb. 7-8). Watkins broke into the MSU record book by running a 24.10 in the 200-meter dash. Her time, which ranks third on the indoor 200-meter list, was the fastest mark for a Missouri State sprinter since Shavonne Husbands ran a 23.97 in 2013.
- At the Pitt State Invitational (Feb. 1), Dar claimed her second-straight title in the mile while Breiten (Mile) and Haney (High Jump) each posted third-place performances in their respective events. James hit a season-high mark of 11.90 meters to place fourth in the triple jump and Watkins clocked a personal-best 7.60 in the 60-meter prelims to send her to the finals where the freshman sprinter finished seventh.
- MSU earned three individual titles and a second-place finish in the team scoring at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational (Jan. 24-25). Dar (Mile), James (Triple Jump), and Adyson Delaney (3,000m) each earned top-marks in their events on Day Two of the meet. Overall, MSU completed its second competition of the indoor season with 11 top-3 finishes.
- The Bears had 13 newcomers make their MSU debut at the Arkansas Invitational on Jan. 17. Missouri State earned five top-10 finishes at Arkansas, highlighted by a second-place finish in the shot put from Kennedy Aurentz and a third-place showing by Haney in the high jump.
- Head coach Jordan Fife is in his first season at the helm for Missouri State after serving as the interim coach last year which followed a five-year stint as an assistant. This is his sixth season at MSU after being named the head cross country coach in 2014.
#MSUBears
