‘I know what I’m capable of’: Mizzou Tiger’s grit propels him to SEC Indoor title
Rounding the bend with just two laps remaining in Saturday’s 3,000-meter final, Missouri’s Drew Rogers ran in the eighth position, hugging the back of the lead pack.
Although he was cruising at a 4-minute, 14-second average-mile pace, Rogers, a junior, hadn’t led for a single second of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships race in College Station, Texas.
Having competed in the 5,000 two days prior, his legs felt heavy, his strides less powerful.
“Just stay in contention, stay in contention,” Rogers thought, counting seven heads in front of him.
Spending the previous 13 laps covering the moves of the conference opponents around him — matching their speeds and watching for surges — Rogers finally noticed he was in scoring position. At the very least, he could earn points for the Tigers.
“I can just hang onto this,” Rogers told himself with 400 meters remaining. “I just have to be tough for a minute.”
However, Rogers reached the 300-meter mark and changed his mind. He could be more than tough. He could be a champion.
With 250 meters left, he passed Oklahoma freshman Shadrack Kiptoo, overtaking the Sooner in the outside lane. Only six heads to go.
The final bell rang from up ahead and echoed throughout the walls of the Fasken Indoor Track & Field facility. Arkansas senior Yaseen Abdalla — who ranks No. 1 in the SEC and third in the nation amongst 3,000 runners — had just begun his final lap, Rogers just a second behind him.
With one lap left, he surged forward, weaving past two more runners. The fatigue in his legs vanished as he pushed even harder.
“I felt good,” Rogers recalled, “so I just went.”
Abdalla dropped from the lead position, overtaken by Razorbacks teammate Reuben Reina.
With just 100 meters to go, Rogers saw his opportunity. He swam around his competitors in the outside lane, his white Tigers jersey like a flash of lightning as he picked up speed. Four, three, two — just one head remaining.
But Reina was not going down without a fight.
With every ounce of energy remaining, Rogers flew down the final straightaway like a lion chasing its prey. With a final surge, he took the lead, crossing the line in 7:53.61, edging out the Springdale, Arkansas, product by an eighth of a second.
The newly crowned SEC champion let out a roar of defiance, having toppled a field of runners he was not expected to defeat.
“You get to college, and you dream about this,” Rogers said. “This is like the biggest stage, and it feels good to finally get it done.”
Rogers found his Missouri teammates lining the outside of the track, each of them providing him with a supply of high-fives and cheers of triumph.
“I definitely could not have done it without them or my coaches or my family or God,” Rogers said. “(My teammates) push me at practice every day to be my best, and we all just have a crazy drive and hunger to be the best. It’s starting to come to pass now, and I know all my guys are going to be there right with me.”
The Herscher, Illinois, product also attributed his success to the support of his loved ones.
“It was just so much support,” Rogers said. “When I finished, they’re crying, and it was just awesome to see how supportive they are and how loving they are, and the fact that they even came is special to me.”
Also waiting for Rogers after his title win was Mizzou alum and 25-year “SportsCenter” anchor John Anderson. The current MU professor interviewed Rogers for the SEC Network after his performance.
“One of us is a J-School grad, the other guy just ran 7:53 and won the SEC Championship,” Anderson said. “Not the same thing at all.”
Anderson asked what Rogers did to decide he would upset an Arkansas sweep.
“I knew I had talent all around me. All these guys are incredible, so I respected everyone in this race,” said Rogers, through heaving breaths and slumped shoulders. “But I know what I’m capable of, and I wanted to prove it out there.”
Rogers clocked 57.99 seconds in his final two laps, his fastest 400-meter split of the entire race.
While he was capping the winter with a championship title, Rogers’ indoor season was nothing short of historic.
He topped his own Tigers record in the 3,000, shaving 2.39 seconds off a Mizzou best he set at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
In the 5,000 two days prior to his title win, Rogers sped to a 13:45.49, shattering the program record by six seconds while taking fifth.
Both former program records belonged to MU alum Thomas George, who set them just two weeks apart during his breakout season in February of 2020.
“It feels crazy,” Rogers said. “The program’s been around for so long, so it just feels crazy, and there’s been so many good names here, and it just feels good to be amongst those now.”
Rogers didn’t make his season debut in an indoor meet until the Missouri Invitational on Feb. 7 at the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse, where he won the mile in 4:02.3 — the sixth-fastest time in school history. Just 22 days later, he became an SEC champion.
“It’s just, honestly, a lot of consistency; it’s nothing special,” Rogers said. “We just do a lot of thresholds and a few VO2 workouts, but we accumulated a lot of fitness in cross (country).
“So I’m still coming off of that, and it feels good to still have that fitness, but we’ve really just sharpened up, and (we’re) running probably about 80 miles a week.”
With the newly renovated Hearnes Center Fieldhouse at the Tigers’ disposal, the facility has lent itself into Rogers’ postseason success.
“It’s been amazing, especially with this winter being as harsh as it was,” Rogers said. “The track feels amazing; we’re so blessed to have it. It’s such a great tool to get the legs spinning on it.”
While his indoor season has come to a close, Rogers looks ahead to outdoor, where he’ll kick off his season March 28 at the Raleigh Relays at the Paul Derr Track & Field Facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.
With an SEC championship to his name, the distance standout sets his sights even higher for the spring. Rogers aims to claim the SEC 10,000 crown in the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on May 15 at the UK Track & Field Complex in Lexington, Kentucky.
He also aims for a spot on the prestigious All-American team — reserved for the top 40 finishers at the national championship.
With the toughness and grit Rogers displayed in College Station, Texas, no bar seems too high.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 5:59 PM.