Women's Cross Country Heads To Nationals
11/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 17, 1999
Next Stop for Tigers - NCAA Championships
The University of Missouri men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Bloomington, Ind., next Monday, Nov. 22, for the NCAA Championships. The men's 10,000m race will start at 11:00 a.m. with the women's 5,000m race beginning at 12:15 on the Indiana University Cross Country Course.
The MU women finished 21st with the entire scoring squad returning as well as the addition of three newcomers. Kim Moore finished 60th as the Tigers' No. 1 runner followed by Katie Meyer who cross the line in 92nd place. Ann Marie Brooks placed 94th, Justa Dahl entered the shoot 185th and Sunny Gilbert came in 190th.
Three other men's Big 12 teams and four women's teams are invited to the championship. Colorado and Missouri are the only conference teams to earn automatic bids for both the men's and women's teams. The other league teams that qualified on the men's side are Texas A&M and Oklahoma State while Nebraska and Texas round out the other women's league teams to qualify.
History Making Day
Missouri made history on Saturday, Nov. 13 at the Region V Championships in Champaign, Ill. Both the men's and women's teams earned automatic berth to the NCAA Championships with their second place finishes at the Region meet marking the first time in school history both teams automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships. Nine Tigers also earned All-Regional honors by finishing in the top-25, marking another first for Mizzou.
Women's Notables
The Tigers have had stellar performances out of several harriers in the postseason, including all five scorers that finished in the top-20 at the Regional Championships earning All-Regional honors. The five scorers were senior Anna Gullingsrud, 10th, freshman Amy Chipman, 12th, sophomore Ann Marie Brooks, 13th, junior Katie Meyer, 17th, and Kim Moore 19th.
- Anna Gullingsrud was again Missouri's No. 1 runner for the third time this season. The only race the senior was not one of Mizzou's scorers was the season opener. Gullingsrud was also the only Tiger to be named as a Big12 Runner-of-the-Week following her runner-up performance at the Notre Dame Invitational October 1.
- Amy Chipman has finished in MU's top-three at every meet this season including the conference championships and the regional championships. In fact, she has been Missouri's No. 2 runner on three separate occasions including her collegiate debut at the Missouri Cross Country Challenge when she also finished as the overall runner-up.
- Kerry Hils has been gradually improving throughout her freshman campaign. During the course of the season she has improved her time by nearly 1 minute, 30 seconds turning in her fastest 5k race at the regional championships last Saturday.
MU In The Polls
After finishing second at the Midwest Regional Championships, the Tigers jumped up five places in the latest poll to No. 16. There are four other Big 12 schools also ranked in the FinishLynx Women's Cross Country Rankings
Team Region Pts LW 1. Stanford W 300 1 2. BYU MT 283 3 3. Arkansas SC 280 2 4. Wisconsin GL 263 5 5. Colorado MT 246 4 6. Georgetown MA 232 6 7. Washington W 228 10 8. North Carolina SE 216 8 9. Kansas State MW 209 7 10. Arizona State W 175 9 11. NC State SE 173 11 12. Villanova MA 172 22 13. Providence NE 167 17 14. Michigan State GL 128 19 15. UCLA W 124 14 16. MISSOURI MW 108 21 17. Michigan GL 90 15 18. N.Arizona MT 76 20 19. Nebraska MW 74 23 20. Brown NE 71.5 NR 21. Duke SE 62 NR 22. Minnesota MW 53 16 23. Boston U NE 42 18 24. Oregon W 40 25 25. Texas SC 31 NR
NE= Northwest, MA= Mid-Atlantic, SE= Southeast, GL= Great Lakes, MW= Midwest, SC= South Central, MT= Mountain, W= West, S= South
