PITTSBURG, Kan. — The fourth-ranked Missouri Southern women’s track and field team picked up four All-American performances and finished eighth overall as the Lions competed at the 2019 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and FIeld Championships at the Robert W. Plaster Center.
The 8th-place finish for the Lions is the highest a women’s team has ever finished. The previous high was 11th, done last year and one more time before that.
Claire Luallen started the day with a 12th-place finish in the pentathlon. She finished seventh in the 60m hurdles to start off the day and also had a third-place finish in the long jump. Luallen finished the day with 3,515 points.
The Lions had three competing in the pole vault as Samantha Petry placed 16th and Elena Bisotto was 18th.
Payton Roberts was the Lions’ first All-American of the day as the junior finished third in the shot put with a heave of 51-11.00. Roberts got in to the finals as the 8th qualifier, but on her first throw of the final flight, hit her mark of 51-11 (15.82m) to secure her third-place finish. The distance is just off of teammate Desirea Buerge’s school record in the event. Buerge placed just outside of All-America contention in tenth with a distance of 49-03 (15.01m).
Southern’s second All-American performance of the day came from Morgan Smith as the senior raced to a fifth-place finish in the 60m hurdles, turning in a time of 8.51 in the event.
Jasmine Deckard then closed the day with two All-American performances and a tie of a school record. Deckard raced to a sixth-place finish in a time of 7.46 in the 60m dash and then tied her school record that was set yesterday in the prelims with a third-place finish in the 200m with a time of 23.98.
In total, the Lions had four All-American performances at the Championships and picked up 19 points to finish 8th overall.
Southern will now switch right over to outdoor track mode as the Lions will be back in action next week at Emporia State.
