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COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri had 13 of its track and field athletes and both the men’s and women’s teams represented on the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s All-Academic team, it was announced on Monday afternoon.
From the women’s team, Skylar Ciccolini, Ava Curry, Claudina Diaz, Petra Gombas, Emily Offenheiser, Kelsey Schweizer, Isabella Sokolova and Erin Zimmerman. The men were represented by Skyler Coffey, Rece Rowan, Callan Saldutto, Sterling Scott and Mitchell Weber.
The women’s team, who finished the year with a 3.66 grade-point-average (GPA), have now been represented on the association’s All-Academic Team every year since the recognition began in 1999 (no release in 2002 or 2004). This is the fourth-consecutive year the men won the award with a 3.27 GPA.
To earn recognition for the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field or for the multi-events and the season ranked in the top 48 in the East or West for the most recent outdoor season, certifiable by their place on the NCAA Division I. To earn the All-Academic team honor, a program must have at least a 3.00 cumulative team GPA.
Ciccolini claimed fifth in the javelin and advanced to the finals with a season-best mark of 55.40m (181-9) on Friday, June 28 at the United States Olympic Trials. She finished the finals in 10th place.
Curry capped off the year at the NCAA West First Round with her season-best javelin throw of 48.88m (160-4). Diaz’s top performance of the year was a pair of 1.80m high jump attempts at the Kansas State DeLoss Dodds Invitational and the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in February.
At the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Gombas set a new career-best in the hammer throw with a total distance of 57.91m (190-0) to finish seventh in the conference. Offenheiser also set a new record mark for herself in the 2024 postseason, throwing for 55.04m (180-7) in the discus event.
To cap off the season, Schweizer broke the school record in the 800m at 2:02.39 on June 6 during day two of the NCAA Championships. Her time placed her above former Tiger Ashley Wong, who ran a 2:02.94 in the event back on June 2, 2000. The senior ran a previous-best 800m time of 2:03.84 during NCAA Round One just weeks prior.
Sokolova won the women’s long jump at the Florida Relays with a personal-best 6.21m leap in her first attempt of 2024. The standout from Sofia, Bulgaria, jumped three spots in Mizzou’s program record book in the event, moving into seventh place all-time in the women’s outdoor long jump.
Zimmerman capped off the conference slate with the best SEC Outdoor Championship finish of her career, taking fourth with a personal-best 52.94m throw that bumped her to fourth in Missouri history.
Coffey picked up two podium finishes at the Pepsi Florida Relays by finishing runner-up in the men’s shot put with a 17.70m mark and third place in the men’s discus with a 53.43m throw. Rowan’s career-best in the shout put earned him the title at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Feb. 3 and gave Mizzou its second first-place finish to cap off the event.
Scott ended his impressive freshman season with a 14th-place finish in the triple jump following a leap of 15.80m (51-10) on day three of the NCAA All-American Championships on June 7. The placing earned him second-team All-American honors.
Weber set a new school record in the discus at 63.23 (207-5) and advanced to the finals at the Olympic Trials on Thursday, June 27. He broke Ben Plucknett’s top mark of 61.52m (201-10) set at the USA Championships on May 29, 1979. Until then, it was the oldest program record held at over 44 years old.
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