ATLANTA, Ga. — University of Missouri track and field opened up the 2024 outdoor season with three event champions at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, hosted by Georgia Tech. Overall, the Tigers yielded 10 podium finishes and 21 top-10 results.
The day-long event started strong on the track, as Mizzou claimed wins in the day’s opening event. Austin Popplewell clinched Mizzou’s first win of the outdoor campaign in the men’s race, posting a personal-best 14:32.60.
In the men’s discus, the Tigers claimed all three spots on the podium, as Mitch Weber opened his final collegiate outdoor season with the fifth discus victory of his career with a 58.43m throw. Tarique George took second with a personal-best 56.12m mark in his Missouri debut, while Skylar Coffey took the bronze medal at 55.34m.
Erin Zimmerman topped the podium in the women’s javelin with a career-best outing. The Malvern, Pennsylvania, native recorded a personal-best 51.18m throw, which moved her into sixth place on Mizzou’s all-time women’s javelin list.
The Tigers also saw another program top-10 mark set in the men’s 4x100m relay, as the quartet of Quinton Brown, Robert Hines, Steven Marks and Marc Poland Jr. teamed up to take second with a 40.59 pace which ranks 10th in Mizzou history.
Among the podium finishers, Marks earned another runner-up finish in the men’s 200m while Coffey earned his second top-three result of the day by taking a silver-medal placement in the men’s shot put. Emanuele Bellanova made his collegiate debut by taking second in the long jump, while Skylar Ciccolini came in third in the women’s javelin.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will send groups to two different meets on the weekend of March 29-30, as a squad of Tigers will travel to Palo Alto, California, to partake in the Stanford Invitational, while another contingent will head south to Gainesville, Florida, for the Florida Relays.
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