Sept. 20, 1999
Missouri Heads to Minnesota
The University of Missouri men's and women's cross country teams will be heading to Minnesota for the Roy Griake Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 25. The men's 8,000m race is set to begin at 11a.m. with the women's 5,000m race following at 12:00 noon.
This Saturday's invitational will bring together several schools from around the country ranked in the top-30 including 1998 men's and women's team champions Providence. A few of the other teams that MU will be competing against will be PAC 10 teams Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Oregon, Big 10 powers Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin along with Big 12 rivals Iowa State and Nebraska. The women's No. 2 ranked, BYU, will also be in attendance. The men's course record is held by Jonah Kiptarus of Nebraska with a time of 23:57, which was set in 1996. On the women's side, Villanova's Vicki Huber owns the course record with a time of 16:19, set in 1989. For more information check out the University of Minnesota's cross country website at: www.gophersports.com or www.appleraceberryjam.com
Missouri Opens Season with Two Wins
The Missouri men's and women's cross country teams opened their season in spectacular fashion last Friday afternoon (Sept. 10) at A.L. Gustin Golf Course. Both teams overwhelmed the competition as the men claimed the top seven places while the women finished in a 1-2-3-4 sweep with their fifth runner placing seventh.
Men Ranked 26th Best in the Country
After an outstanding first meet and a successful 1998 season, the men's team is earning respect early into the 1999 season. The Cross Country Coaches Association has ranked the Tiger men as the 26th best team in the nation.
The men have high hopes for the season as they started out better than a year ago that saw them return to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 21 years. The season looks promising for the men and the women. The women maintained their rank of 18th in the nation.
Teams Excited to Compete
After taking last weekend off, the Missouri Tigers are ready to hit the road and see exactly how they match up against the rest of the country.
"The first meet broke the ice for the team," said head coach Jeff Pigg. "It gave the freshman a chance to get their feet wet."
The Roy Griak Invitational will give MU a chance to see how they stack up against the rest of the country and allow them to see exactly what needs to be done throughout the remainder of the season.
"We are looking forward to seeing the other teams," Pigg said. " Everybody is giddy, but ready to line up and race. There will be some positives as well as some negatives as there is with every race, but we can not wait!"
At the home opener the squads ran hard to see what they had individually. At the Roy Griak Invite, they are going to try and stay together and see what they have as a team.
MU Struts Its Stuff at Home Opener
"Last weekend was exciting," said Pigg. " It was great to see all their hard work from the summer pay off. Until you actually line up on the start line, you really do not know how fit you are."
The men were perfect with a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 sweep totaling just 15 points. Junior Adam MacDowell tore away from the pack to cross the finish line in first place at 25:00.14. Following behind here were juniors Nick Smith at 25:18.11 in second , Mike Pitts at 25:26.79, Greg Speicher was fourth with a 25:41.05 and senior Joel McCune was Missouri's fifth runner with a time of 25:44.08. Finishing in sixth was senior Mike Larson at 25:50.58 and sophomore Ryan Fitzgerald at 25:58.58.
"It was the best season opener we have ever had," Pigg said. "We lined up with the best teams we have ever had here at Missouri. We have talked about how good we are going to be so it was nice to see the kids run better than we expected. It showed me how hard they all worked this summer and now we know how good we can be."