Meet Results (PDF)
DES MOINES, Iowa – Highlighted by personal bests and podium-worthy finishes, the Missouri State track and field team concluded the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor championships with a fifth-place team finish here Sunday afternoon.
"I'm so proud of the effort and energy that this team brought all weekend," said head coach Jordan Fife. "Each and every one of them rose to the occasion and left it all out there. We surpassed our projected point total by 27 points and finished higher than we were picked in the coaches poll, so we really couldn't have asked for more this weekend."
Jamilah James jumped to a runner-up finish in triple jump for the Bears, recording a mark of 12.65 meters. The distance smashed her former season-best of 12.19 meters recorded at the Arkansas Twilight. Also in the event, Brooke Jenkins finished seventh with a distance of 11.63 meters, matching her personal best.
Competing in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash finals, Calandra Henry earned top finishes in both events. In the 100-meter, the Clarksville, Tenn. native earned a second-place finish, racing a time of 11.63 seconds, .01 shy of her lifetime best which she clocked in the event preliminaries. Henry followed up her podium-worthy performance with her second of the day, finishing third in the 200-meter dash. Her time of 24.04 seconds was another lifetime best, beating her former time of 24.43.
Sierra Williams and Edna Dar were back in action on day three of the championships, competing in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter finals after qualifying on Friday and Saturday. In the 800-meter, Williams earned a seventh-place finish, racing a time of 2:12.06. Dar finished one spot behind her, with a time of 2:14.35. In the 1,500-meter run, the duo earned top-10 finishes as well as lifetime bests, with Williams finishing fifth with a time of 4:29.75 and Dar finishing ninth (4:30.44).
MSU wrapped up its individual events with the 5,000-meter run, where Shelby raced a lifetime best of 17:34.31 beating her former time of 17:40.60 which she raced last year at the championships.
"This was our best meet of the season by far and it's always nice to see a team pull off that feat. We had representation all across the board and everyone contributed," continued Fife.
The Bears finished the championships with 85 points, with a one-point edge over sixth-place Bradley. Illinois State finished the meet in first (180), with Indiana State (143) and Southern Illinois (138) rounding out the top three.
"It looks like we also have a couple of athletes who have a really good chance to represent us at the NCAA prelim round in two weeks based on their performances this weekend which would make the results this weekend even better," finished Fife.
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Team Standings
1. Illinois State (180)
2. Indiana State (143)
3. Southern Illinois (138)
4. Northern Iowa (94)
5. Missouri State (85)
6. Bradley (84)
7. Loyola (59)
8. Drake (33)
9. Evansville (2)
