Derrick Peterson Wins 2nd National Championship
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 5, 1999
Boise, Id. - University of Missouri half-miler DERRICK PETERSON won the men's 800-meters at the 1999 NCAA Track & Field Championships tonight with a time of 1:46.97. Today was the third day of competition at the championships, which wrap up tomorrow in Boise, Id.
The win gave Peterson a clean sweep of the NCAA championships this year, as the junior from Jonesboro, Ga., won the 800 meter national title in the 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships back in March in Indianapolis, Ind.
Peterson's time marked a personal best outdoors. His previous best came at last year's NCAA meet, when he finished fifth in 1998 with a time of 1:47.14. His time tonight was a quarter-second better than runner-up Patrick Nduwimana of Arizona, who was second with a time of 1:47.22. Roman Oravec of SMU was third in 1:47.66. He is now the first Missouri athlete to win indoor and outdoor national titles in the same year, and joins Dick Cochran (1959 and 1960 NCAA discus champion) as the only Tigers to win more than one national title at MU.
In other action involving Tiger athletes, sophomore ASHLEY WYSONG earned all-American status in the women's 800 meters as she finished 5th with a school-record time of 2:05.38. The Nevada, Mo. native bested her own school standard of 2:05.75, and surpassed her all-American finish at the 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships, where she finished sixth in Indianapolis. Claudine Williams of LSU won the event with a time of 2:03.38, just .06 seconds ahead of runner-up Liz Diaz of Texas, who was second in a time of 2:03.44.
Senior DARIN FILE closed out his stellar Tiger career by earning his third-straight all-American honors. The Beloit, Kan. native tied for 6th in the men's javelin, with a distance of 233'-9". File improved from an 8th-place finish at the 1998 NCAA Championships. He finished 5th as a sophomore in 1997. His toss tonight was nearly four feet better than his previous NCAA meet best of 229-10, which he notched last year. File is the MU record holder, with a distance of 244-7.
Senior heptathlete RANNVEIG KVALVIK stands in 9th place in the heptathlon with a first-day total of 3,300 points. Through the first four events (the final three will be contested tomorrow), the Norway native is on pace to break her personal record of 5,528 points, and she is just 50 points out of 6th place. If she finishes among the top eight, she'll earn her first-ever all-American honors. Tracye Lawyer of Stanford leads after the first day, with a total of 3,721 points.
