February 16, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - As the Missouri track and field team heads to Mahattan, Kansas this weekend for the Big 12 Indoor Championships, they seem to be doing what all good teams do at post-season time:peak. MU's athletes have continued to improve over the course of the season giving the impression that this year's conference indoor meet could be a very good one for the Tigers.
In its last trip to Manhattan three weeks ago, Missouri broke a school record and provisionally qualified one runner for the NCAA Championships. Those marks were set by Micah Shanks, who broke his own 35 lb. weight throw record and Carlos Posey, who ran a 6.26 55m Dash in his first track race since high school, to qualify for the national meet. At the MU/KSU/KU Triangular , the Tiger team showed all-around talent, with several strong performances throughout the day.
For Missouri junior Derrick Peterson, winning may not be everything, but in Big 12 races it has been the only thing. Derrick has never lost a Big 12 Conference 800m race in four tries as a Tiger. Last year at the the conference indoor meet in Lincoln, Nebraska, the three-time All-American won the event in 1:50.86, trailing early but eventually winning the race by more than one second. During the 1999 indoor season, Peterson owns the fastest time among Big 12 runners in the 800m, a 1:48.37 mark he posted at the Cyclone Invitational. The time also provisionally qualified Derrick for his third straight NCAA Indoor Championships, where Peterson was last season's national runner- up.
Hopson Named Community Champion
Missouri junior long jumper William Hopson has been named one of 36 NationsBank Community Champions from the Big 12 Conference. Each Big 12 school nominates their athletes for three spots to represent the school as Community Champions. Hopson joins women's basketball forward Julie Helm and football quarterback Corby Jones as MU's representatives. Along with being an all-Big 12 selection last year indoors on the track, Hopson is one of MU's most active student-athletes off the track making appreances as a guest speaker throughout the Columbia and Central Missouri area. NationsBank will now select one athlete of the 36 Community Champions as the Community Champion of the Year.
Missouri Coaching Staff
Head coach Rick McGuire is in his 16th season at Mizzou. He came to Columbia in 1983 as the women's coach and assumed the men's team responsibilities as well in 1988. While at Mizzou, McGuire has coached come 47 All-Americans, two NCAA individual champions and 47 conference individual and relay champions. Assistant coach Jeff Pigg is in his ninth year at Missouri, coaching the distance runners and cross country teams. This past fall he led both the men's and women's cross country teams to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. Pigg is a three-time NCAA Midwest Region Cross Country Coach of the Year. Assistant Coach Natasha Brown is now in her sixth year as a full-time assistant coaching the Tiger sprinters. As a Mizzou athlete, Natasha was a six-time All-American and a five-time Big 8 champion. She also brings her experience from international competition as a silver mealist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and as a World Champion as a member of the 1,600m relay team at the 1993 World Championships. Assistant coach Brett Halter coaches MU's throwers for the second season as a full-time assistant, his sixth with the Missouri program. In just the last three years, Mizzou's throwers have established eight school records, have earned two conference championships and have earned All-American status three times.
HEARNES FIELDHOUSE RENNOVATED
In late 1998, the Hearnes Building Fieldhouse received a major facelift for track seasons to come. It now features a Martin ISS-2000 enscapulated, polyurethane surface for a six lane, 200 meter track. The resurfacing and updating of the facility has escalated it into a top-notch indoor track environment. Now along with the Audrey J. Walton Track and Soccer Complex, Missouri Tiger track has two teriffic homes for its program.
BIG XII Championships
Schedule of Events
Friday, February 19
8:00am 60m Hurdles Pentathlon
8:40am 60m Dash Heptathlon
9:00am High Jump Pentathlon
9:30am Long Jump Heptathlon
10:45am Shot Put Pentathlon
11:45am Shot Put Heptathlon
12:00pm Long Jump Pentathlon
1:15pm High Jump Heptathlon
1:45pm 800m Pentathlon
FIELD EVENTS
1:15pm Shot Put WOMEN
3:00pm Long Jump MEN
3:30pm Pole Vault WOMEN
5:45pm Long Jump WOMEN
7:00pm Weight Throw MEN
RUNNING EVENTS
3:30pm 55m Hurdles/Prelims WOMEN
3:50pm 55m Hurdles/Prelims MEN
4:10pm 55m Dash/Pre WOMEN
4:30pm 55m Dash/Pre MEN
4:50pm Mile WOMEN
5:10pm Mile MEN
5:30pm 55m Hurdles/Semis WOMEN
5:40pm 55m Hurdles/Semis MEN
5:50pm 55m/Semis WOMEN
6:00pm 55m/Semis MEN
6:10pm 600yd WOMEN
6:25pm 600yd MEN
6:40pm 400m WOMEN
6:55pm 400m MEN
7:10pm 1000m WOMEN
7:25pm 1000m MEN
7:40pm 800m WOMEN
7:55pm 800m MEN
8:10pm 200m WOMEN
8:30pm 200m MEN
8:50pm 5000m WOMEN
9:15pm 5000m MEN
9:40m DMR WOMEN
10:00pm DMR MEN
Saturday, February 20
MULTI-EVENTS
9:00am 60m Hurdles Heptathlon
10:00am Pole Vault Heptathlon
12:45pm 1000m Heptathlon
FIELD EVENTS
10:00am Triple Jump MEN
11:00am Shot Put MEN
11:30am High Jump MEN
1:00pm Pole Vault MEN
2:00pm Triple Jump WOMEN
4:30pm High Jump WOMEN
4:30pm Weigh Throw WOMEN
RUNNING EVENTS
3:00pm 55m Hurdles WOMEN
3:10pm 55m Hurdles MEN
3:25pm 55m WOMEN
3:35pm 55m MEN
3:50pm Mile WOMEN
4:00pm Mile MEN
4:10pm 600yd WOMEN
4:20pm 600yd MEN
4:30pm 400m WOMEN
4:40pm 400m MEN
4:50pm 1000m WOMEN
5:00pm 1000m MEN
5:10pm 800m WOMEN
5:20pm 800m MEN
5:30pm 200m WOMEN
5:40pm 200m MEN
5:50pm 3000m WOMEN
6:25pm 3000m MEN
7:00pm 1600m Relay WOMEN
7:15pm 1600m Relay MEN