April 24, 1999

Des Moines, Iowa - At the first day of competition at the 90th Drake Relays, Missouri was led by two outstanding performances by their relay teams. The Tiger mens 4x800m relay team won their event at Drake as the team of Blair Hansard, Timothy Dunne, Damien Smith and Derrick Peterson finished first in 7:24.02. Missouris 4x400m relay team of Chad Shade, Kristian Fagerland, John Cunningham, and Thomas Woods qualified for Saturdays final by running a 3:11.55 race Friday. On the womens side, the distance medley relay finished fourth overall. The team of Ashley Wysong, Christina Page, Sunny Gilbert, and Katie Meyer ran a 11:32.00 race ten seconds behind the first place team from Oregon.

Several Tigers also competed in individual events in the first day. Lindsey Miller finished fifth with a 39-0.25 jump and Eli Sommerfeldt ended 13th at 37-1.25 in the triple jump while Tracey Holloman finished fourth in the womens javelin with a 150-6 throw. In the distance events Missouri posted three finishes, Kim Moore was 12th and Ashley McLeod 14th in the 10,000m run, posting times of 36:32.18 and 36:35.32 respectively. Ann Marie Brooks was 12th in the 3,000m run finishing in 10:16.69. Becky Rigel ran the 400m hurdles in 1:04.79 and Rannveig Kvalvik raced through the 110m hurdles in 14.69, both were first-day heat races.

William Hopson leaped 23-1.25 to finish eighth in the mens long jump and Darrell Meinke finished 16th in the mens discus with a 156-9 throw. Mike Larsen, running the 10,000m race, finished 17th in 31:34.07 for the Tigers and Kristian Fagerland posted a 56.45 time in the 400m hurdles, seventh place in his heat race.

The Missouri team continues competition Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, part of the Tiger team will also take part in the UMKC Invitational in Kansas City. For full results of the Drake relays, visit the events website at www.drakerelays.org.