February 19, 1999
In the first day of competition at the 1999 Big 12 Indoor Championship, Missouri's strong suits came through with all-conference performances. For the second straight year, senior Rannveig Kvalvik was the top MU athlete in the women's pentathlon with 3891 points, a personal best, and a third place finish. It is also her second time as an all-Big 12 honoree in the event after a fourth place finish last year.
Eli Sommerfeldt (3637) and Jill Aholt (3590), also are 1999 all-Big 12 honorees, finishing seventh and eighth respectively, both women also set personal bests with their marks. MU's Jill Osenbaugh (3540) was ninth overall in the event and Michelle Moran finshed with 3418 points and an eleventh place mark.
Micah Shanks earned his first all-Big 12 honor in the 35 lb. weight throw with an eighth place finish. His throw of 58-1/4 also broke his own school record in the event. Also bringing home all-conference awards will be both the men's and women's distance medley teams. The women's distance medley relay team of Katie Meyer, Christina Page, Ashley Wysong, and Ann Marie Brooks earned all-Big 12 recognition in their event with a fourth place time of 11:47.74. In the last event of the day the Missouri DMR of Jeff Strong, Chad Shade, Derrick Peterson, and Ryan Pirtle finished second to Oklahoma State with a time of 9:52.03.
Overall MU qualified 12 athletes for Saturday's final events. Of those Tigers, Carlos Posey provisionally qualified for his second sprint event in the semi-final heat of the 60m dash and will compete in the conference final tomorrow. The junior ran a 6.70 race and has now provisionally qualfied for the NCAA Championships in both the 55m dash and 60m dash.
Missouri three-time All-American Derrick Peterson won his 800m heat Friday night and will attempt to win his third consecutive indoor 800m and remain undefeated in conference races on Saturday 5:20 pm.
The 1999 Big 12 Championships will conclude tomorrow at Ahearn Fieldhouse beginning at 9 am with the heptathlon's 60m hurdles. Missouri will have its first athletes in action at 10 am in the men's triple jump.
What the Tigers are saying..
Kvalvik on third place finish:
-"The event was so competitive, we didn't know who was going to win. There was no time to compare who had done what."
-"It is great to have finished well for the team"
Aholt on Missouri women pentathletes:
-"We don't really compete against each other its more like for each other. It feels so good for us to have done well. We knew that it would be tough when we looked that the lineup. In the end coach just said 'go out and do it'."
Sommerfeldt on Tiger team:
-"I'm happy to have done well, but I think we all knew we could do well as a group. So there wasn't alot of individual concern."
Coach McGuire on pentathlon event and Missouri performances:
-"The quality of this pentathlon was the deepest of any conference meet in my memory as a collegiate coach. Rannveig, Jill and Eli all had personal bests and they needed to do that in order to score and get the place that they did."
-"Jill Osenbaugh and Michelle Moran have struggled with health problems all season and they gave great efforts. I am proud of all five."