April 6, 2005
Recap |
Complete Results
Complete News & Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COLUMBIA, Mo.--It has been six years since Missouri track and field has taken part in a four-team scored meet, and this weekend at the Pepsi Team Invitational, the Tigers will take on one tough contingent in Oregon, Indiana, and Washington in Eugene, Ore. Visiting historic Hayward Field for the first time in the regular season, the Tigers have visited "Tracktown USA" for nine NCAA Championships with the last coming in 2001.
As this is the first trip for Missouri to the Pepsi Team Invitational, Indiana is visiting for the third time with the last coming in 1997 - Washington is making its eighth trip, and has been part of the last two.
In 1999, the Tigers took part in four quadrangular meets as part of the U.S. Track Coaches' Collegiate Meet Series. Since, scored meets in the regular season has slowly become a thing of the past once again; however, Oregon is hosting this meet for the 16th season in a row.
The meet will begin on Saturday at noon, Pacific Time. The top eight individuals will score (9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) for their respective teams with a maximium of two scorers per team. The top three relays will also score (9-7-6-0).
The Field (courtesy, Geoff Thurner, UO Media Relations)
PEPSI MEN'S TASTER: Oregon Looks For Revenge Against Indiana.
The Indiana men, fifth in the recent NCAA Indoor Championships with 30 points, edged the sixth-place Men of Oregon by one point in Fayetteville in mid-March. Hoosier junior Aarik Wilson became the fifth collegian to win the long jump and triple jump in the same indoor collegiate finale (26-9 3/4; 55-6 1/4). Junior Sean Jefferson took second in the NCAA indoor mile in `05 (4:01.56) after he won the crown as a sophomore in `04, while twin brother John took second as a freshman in `03 and was seventh this year (4:03.96). Fellow All-America junior distance runner Stephen Haas dropped more than 30 seconds off his indoor 3,000 record in February to rank second on the collegiate season best list (7:51.00) and smash Olympic alumni Bob Kennedy's school record (7:55.93). Missouri is paced by senior All-America thrower Conrad Woolsey, a shot put All-American indoors in `04 (eighth) and `05 (eighth) and outdoors in `04 (seventh). The Tiger throws corps welcomed prep discus All-American and freshman Chris Rohr (209-8 prep discus) who was third in the 2004 U.S. Junior Championships. All-America decathlete Hans Uldal added sixth in the NCAA men's heptathlon in March (5,546). Sophomore Marcus Mayes was the U.S. junior 800 runner-up last year and ran a frosh PR of 1:49.94. The young Husky squad returns after an eighth-place Pac-10 finish last May in Tucson, and feature a pair of freshman All-Americans. Seattle area native Norris Frederick led the collegiate long jump qualifying list early in the indoor slate with a PR of (25-6 1/4) then took sixth in the NCAA finale (25-5 1/2). He also cleared 7-0 1/4 indoors in `05, and owned a prep best of 7-1 from `04. Fellow frosh Austin Abbott dropped his 1,600 PR from a prep best of 4:15.27 to 4:02.25 indoors in `05, and ran on the squad's All-America distance medley relay (fifth, 9:36.40). Outdoors in `05, he followed with an 800 PR of 1:48.57 in the Stanford Invite to join the UW all-time top-10. Last year's spectators may remember that the Huskies won the Pepsi 4x400 crown in a meet record (3:09.14), ahead of a pair of eventual top-five NCAA outdoor placers in Minnesota (second) and Oregon (fifth).
PEPSI WOMEN'S TASTER: Team Crown Up For Grabs.
Indiana's junior distance runner Jessica Gall made her NCAA indoor track debut in March in the 5,000 (14th, 16:37.42), and owned a season best of 16:03.27. Last fall she took All-America cross country honors with her 18th-place NCAA finish, while senoir Mindy Peterson was similarly decorated in 2003 (46th). Pole vaulter Emily Tharpe entered '05 with school records in the pole vault (12-10 outdoors, 12-11 3/4 indoors). Junior sprinter Ara Towns was an All-American in the NCAA 60 indoors in '04 (12th), and earned All-America relay honors in the 4x100 in '03 (fifth, 43.57) and '02 (seventh). Hoosiers with key points in the '04 Big Ten Oudtoor Championships include Gall (5K, third; 10K, fourth), sophomore 100 hurdler Courtney Johnson (second, PR 13.54) and senior high jumper Christina Archibald (second, PR 5-10). Missouri annually sports one of the nation's top middle distance units, and junior Ashley Patten added an All-America honor indoors in 2005 in the 800 (eighth, 2:11.90) in March. Junior Amanda Bales was an All-American in cross country in 2003 (23rd) and was 13th in the NCAA 5K outdoors last spring. Patten and Bales also ran the opening and closing legs on the distance medley with Whittney Stuart and Trisa Nickoley that took ninth in the '05 indoor NCAA finale (season best 11:18.62). Senior pole vaulter Jennifer Bennett was an indoor All-American in 2003 (sixth, 13-7 1/4). Washington is paced by pint-sized pole vaulter and Portland native Kate Soma who was second in the recent NCAA indoor meet (14-1 1/4) after additional All-America honors outdoors in 2004 (fourth) and `03 (seventh). Pole vault teammates Ashley Wildhaber was also an All-American in `05 (fifth, PR 13-9 1/4), and UW had two other entries in the meet (Stevie Marshalek, 13th; Carly Dockendorf, 17th). Sophomore hurdler Ashley Lodree was an All-American indoors in 2005 in the 60 hurdles (10th) and also qualified as a freshman in `04 (14th). In the distances, freshman Amanda Miller nabbed All-America honors indoors in her NCAA 800 debut in March (10th) after she ran a regular season best of 2:08.33, while Lindsey Egerdahl was eighth in the NCAA indoor mile (PR 4:43.86).
The Tigers at Last Weekend's Missouri Relays
With over 1,200 participants Missouri Track and Field hosted the sixth annual Missouri Relays this weekend with over 40 high schools and colleges competing with beautiful March weather at the two-day event. The Tigers fared well with 11event champions and three throwers gaining marks good for entry into the NCAA Regional Championships.
On Friday, Tiger redshirt freshman Jason Morris (St. Louis, Mo.) qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships with a toss of 183 feet, 9 inches (56.01m) in the men's hammer throw. Morris also broke into the Tigers' all-time top five in the event with his second-place performance.
Saturday, discus throwers Melanie Uher (Wilber, Neb.) and Bobby Musil (DuBois, Neb.) qualified for the regionals in the discus throw. Uher won the women's discus with a throw of 158 feet, 7 inches (48.34m). Musil took fifth in the men's competition with a hurl of 168-8 (51.42m).
Ashley Patten, Kristin Hansen, Nicole Johnson, and Trisa Nickoley led the Tigers to victory in the women's 4x800-meter relay with a meet record time of 8:58.79. The Tigers also took the men's 4x800-meter relay with Tipper O'Brien, Wade Souza, Marcus Mayes, and Jimmie Jones leading Missouri to a meet record win of 7:43.29.
Jill Petersen won the women's steeplechase early Saturday morning, running in 10:53.2. Jenny Bybee won the women's high jump with a leap of 5-7 (1.70m). Lyndsey Tait took the top spot in the women's pole vault, launching over the bar at 12-1½ (3.70m).
Senior David Mertens won the men's 5000-meter on Friday night in a time of 14:52.61. Sophomore Colten Green took the title in the men's 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:25.49 on Friday evening. Freshman Brian Graybill (Liberty, Mo.) won his inaugural 3000-meter steeplechase race in a time of 10:09.46.
Senior Jesse Sims won the men's high jump, improving on his outdoor season best to 6-11¾ (2.13m). Junior Chris Horn tied a meet record in the men's long jump, winning with a leap of 23-9 (7.24m).
Next ... The Walton Combined Event & Tom Botts Invite
After the Pepsi Invite, the Tigers will come home and prepare for two home meets in one weekend, as Missouri will host the Audrey Walton Combined Event and the Ninth Annual Tom Botts Invitational with Kansas, Iowa, and Iowa State as guests.
First Women's Decathlon In America* to be hosted by Mizzou next weekend
History will be made on the University of Missouri campus starting in eight days, as the first decathlon held in the United States exclusively for women will begin as part of the second annual Audrey Walton Combined Event. Starting on Thursday, April 14, the two-day festival will feature a four-person field in the women's decathlon highlighted by 2004 Lithuanian Olympic heptathlon silver medalist and former Kansas State athlete, Austra Skujyte, who will attempt to break the newly ratified world record in the event. The Walton meet will also feature a traditional women's heptathlon and men's decathlon.
"The heptathlon for women is and has been a major part of international, national, and collegiate track and field for the past 24 years," said Dr. Rick McGuire, Head Coach of Missouri Track & Field. "There has been a movement to make the decathlon the standard for women to make the two genders equal in the combined events. When I first started to coach track and field, the 800-meter was the longest event for women to run on the track; since then, track and field has extended the standard to 10,000 meters, equal to the men. The pole vault is now in its sixth year for women, all these events are normal now. There was this thought by some that `Women can't do that', and I think we are dispelling that everyday. Adding the ultimate challenge to athletes, the decathlon, to a normal female program is the last barrier to be broken."
The current standard for women is the two-day, seven-event heptathlon. As in the men's decathlon, the women's decathlon modifies the heptathlon by adding the 100-meter dash, discus, and pole vault, and extends the 200-meter dash to 400 meters and the 800-meter run to 1500-meters.
The recent ratification of a world record in the women's decathlon by the IAAF (the world's track and field organization), has put the event in the threshold of significance, McGuire said. "Several competitions have been held in Europe and I think it's time for the U.S. to see the significance of the event. For the honor and for the good of the sport, [Kansas State] Coach [Cliff] Rovelto and I decided to make this part of the Audrey Walton meet this year, and we are excited to put this on the front burner of the track and field world."
McGuire and Rovelto have been two of the major contributing coaches to the combined events in the past 20 years. Skujyte, one of Rovelto's prized pupils, along with current Wildcats, Breanna Eveland and Lindsay Grigoriev, and Missouri's Liz Young will be part of the historic field.
"Austra has been progressively excited about it," said Rovelto. "Obviously with a new event, a person would probably have some anxiety before attempting for the first time. No one has seen her pole vault before, but she's been working on that since after her senior year and she's shown nice progress in the event. With having significant experience in all of the other events, and with where she is in her training, she's in good shape to break the world record."
The current world record is held by France's Marie Collonvillé, as she scored 8,150 points in September of last year.
"When you're talking about a world record, you can't just automatically say that you are going to break it, it's a tough record," Rovelto added. "But, if the weather is good, and if she makes solid marks across the board, and even if she has a sub-par event, the record could be in trouble."
