June 6, 1999

Boise, Id. - University of Missouri heptathlete RANNVEIG KVALVIK closed out her MU career by finishing sixth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships, which wrapped up today in Boise, Id. Kvalvik scored a personal-best 5,594 points to notch her first-ever all-America honors. She improved by 2,502 points on her total from the 1998 NCAA Championships, where she finished 13th with 3,092 points.

Kvalvik, a senior from Moss, Norway, notched personal bests in four of the seven events held over two days. She scored career highs point totals in the 200 meters (873 points), 800 meters (839), javelin (675) and the shot put (629), en route to her record total. Kvalvik was the heptathlon runner-up at the 1999 Big 12 Championships, but was the highest finisher at the national meet among Big 12 competitors in the event (Big 12 champ Candy Mason of Kansas finished 9th with 5,553 points). Tracye Lawyer of Stanford won the event going away, with a total of 5,855.

Kvalvik stood in 9th place entering the final day of competition. Her previous best point total was at the 1999 Big 12 Championships, where she was the runner up with 5,528 points.

In the team competition, Missouri finished 20th overall on the men's side, with 12 points coming on the strength of Derrick Peterson's national championship in the 800 meters (10 team points) and Darin File's 7th-place finish in the javelin (2 points). It is the most points the MU men have scored at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 14 years, when the Tigers scored 27 team points in 1985.

On the women's side, the Tigers finished in 41st place overall with seven points, thanks to Ashley's Wyson's fifth-place finish in the 800 meters (4 points) and Kvalvik's sixth-place showing in the heptathlon (3 points). It marks the first time since 1989 that the MU women have had two all-Americans at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (Natasha Kaiser and Teri LeBlanc).