January 28, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri Tiger Track & Field team hosts their second home meet of the year Saturday, when the Bradley Braves and UMKC Kangaroos come to the Hearnes Buidling Fieldhouse. The meet begins with throwing events at 9 am, the final running events will commence at 12:30 pm, in a shortened schedule of events.
MU is coming off a good performance at the MU/KSU/KU Triangular in Manhattan, where the Tigers finished second, behind Kansas State, with 235 points. A combined score of men's and women's scores gave the Tigers their finish. MU won eleven events overall, eight by the men and three by the women, to build their score.
This will be the Tiger's second meet with UMKC, as the Kangaroos took part in the Missouri Invitational January 16 at the Hearnes Fieldhouse. Both the Missouri men and women won the event over UMKC and Illinois State to open the Tiger's season. Bradley, of the Missouri Valley Conference, is led by distance All-American Mary Ellen Hill. Last year, as a sophomore, Hill was an All-American in cross country and on both the indoor and outdoor tracks. Earlier this year, Mary Ellen competed at the cross country NCAA Championships.
Missouri will be after their second team win of the season on both the men's and women's side and their second win at home. Next Saturday, the Tigers travel to Ames, Iowa for the Cyclone Invitational and then host the Missouri All-Comers meet February 13 in the Hearnes Fieldhouse.
Posey Starts Off on the Right Foot
Carlos Posey had not run on a track in a while and he had not practiced his block start until the final call for the men's 55m Dash on Saturday. The Tiger figured to run a decent race using the speed that has also made him a starting conerback for Larry Smith's football Tigers. Instead Posey won the race, ran the best time of the year by a Big 12 runner, and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a 6.26 time. On the football field, the junior from Baton Rouge, La., started all eleven games for MU and registered 49 tackles. On the track he has emerged as one of the conference's top sprinters. No word yet on whether he is reguired to attend practice now after his stellar performance without any.
Shanks Uping the Ante
Micah Shanks continues to set records for the Tigers. The sophomore again set the MU record in the men's 35 lbs. weight throw Saturday, with a 54-8 3/4 throw to take third place. The toss bettered his old mark of 51-3 set at the Missouri Invitational to open the season. He has now set the weight throw mark three times since coming to MU.
Twice is Nice
Six Tigers made it two wins in a row Saturday in their individual events. Of the six, three runners raced to victory for a second time. Thomas Woods won the 200m, Chad Shade finished first in the 600 yd, and All-American Derrick Peterson was the winner of the 800m race, after winning the 1000m to start the year at the Missouri Invitational. Three MU athletes also won their second field event. William Hopson (long jump), Lindsey Miller (triple jump), and Michelle Moran (high jump) were winners for Ol' Mizzou on Saturday and at the Missouri Invitational.
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 nineth 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 earned All-American honors 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.