COLUMBIA, MO ? Kansas University’s Andy Morris won the decathlon at the Big 12 track and field championships Saturday at the University of Missouri’s track.
Morris, a junior from Carmel, Ind., won the 400 and 110 low hurdles in totaling a personal-best 7,315 points. He bested runner-up Guy Emry of Nebraska, who tallied 7,183 points.
KU’s Dorian Jordan finished ninth with 6,612 points.
“Andy was on a mission. It was his goal to win. He made the dream come true,” KU coach Gary Schwartz said of Morris, who won the Kansas Relays decathlon in April at Memorial Stadium.
I think Andy came in mentally focused, confident and prepared to have a shot at winning it,” Schwartz added. “He kept his composure, his focus and successfully went from event to event.”
Morris’ performance helped KU’s men to a fifth-place finish after two days. Missouri leads entering the final day with 46 points, followed by Nebraska (42), Texas (34), Texas A&M (32) and Kansas (31). KU’s women enter the final day in eighth place with 15 points. Nebraska leads with 64, followed by Kansas State (45. 3), Missouri (29) and Texas A&M (27).
Morris recorded personal best marks in the hurdles, pole vault and discus on Saturday after earning personal bests in the 100, long jump, shot and high jump on Friday.
KU junior Andrea Branson placed second in the pole vault in 13-11/2. Kansas State’s Erin Anderson won in 13-51/4. KU’s Ashley Pyle was third in a personal-best 11-81/2.
“It was a very good competition, back and forth,” Schwartz said. “The winds kept switching. Ashley’s performance’s was by far her best. She PRed by a foot. Getting third was big.”
Also for KU, Ryan Speers placed fourth in the shot put in 57-91/2.
KU’s Benaud Shirley placed seventh and Jerreme Jackson ninth in the long jump at 22-101/2 and 22-51/4 respectively. Jackson is a sophomore out of Lawrence High.
Jennifer Foster placed eighth in the discus in 145-11. Also, Brandi Taylor earned ninth in the long jump (18-3 1/4).
Charlie Gruber had the fastest qualifying time for today’s 1,500 run. Also, Jabari Wamble and Jennifer Wonder qualified for today’s 400 and 100 hurdles respectively.
In highlights around the conference, Missouri’s Derrick Peterson will be seeking his eighth straight conference title a clean sweep for his career counting indoor and outdoor competition today in the 800 meter final. He had the best time by nearly a second, 1:49.92, in the preliminaries on Saturday.
Peterson, who has a personal best of 1:46.75, is the defending NCAA champion. The Olympic Trials also loom this summer.
Brandon Couts of Baylor, the defending champion in the 400 and another Olympic hopeful, was was the second qualifier in 45.65, behind the 45.31 of Oklahoma’s Michael Blackwood.
Heptathlon champion Michelle Moran of Missouri won in a personal record 5,590 points Moran is ranked third in the NCAAs, with the national meet coming up in two weeks in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. She also qualified for the Olympic Trials.
The Texas men won two titles on Saturday with high jumper Mark Boswell and long jumper Chris Hercules both repeating. Boswell, the defending NCAA champion, won at 7-33/4. Hercules won at 25-4 1-2 after tying Bashir Ramzy of Texas A&M on his final attempt. He finished first because his second-best jump, 24-9, was better.
The Missouri men received another Olympic Trials qualifying effort from freshman shot putter Christian Cantwell, who won at 64-61/2. Jamie Beyer of Iowa State was a distant second at 60-8 1-2.
