Tigers Finish 3rd at Big XII Championships
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
November 1, 1998
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Tigers continue to come up big when the chips are down. For the second consecutive year the Missouri women finished third at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Lincoln, Neb.
"This was an amazing finish for the women," head coach Jeff Pigg said, "we were picked seventh coming into this race, so to finish third is unbelievable. I am just so proud of them, we came in and ran as well as we possibly could."
Freshman Kim Moore led the Tigers finishing 8th overall for her best finish of the year. Moore's time of 17:54.20 was 23 seconds faster than her time Oct. 16 in South Florida.
"I felt real good coming into this race. My plan was to run with Katie and Anne Marie and really try and push myself, so I am very happy with my finish," Moore said.
Katie Meyer(So.) and Anne Marie Brooks(Fr.) continued their excellent season by finishing 9th and 10th respectively. All three were selected for All Big 12 honors.
"Kim, Katie and Anne Marie ran a very smart race. They started fast and kept moving up," Pigg said, "they ran together and helped each other throughout the race."
Sophomore Justa Dahl finished 39th overall followed by Jessica Patton (Jr.) 43rd, and Sunny Gilbert (So.) 44th.
"Justa and Jessica ran their best races of the year, they did a good job of fighting through the field and really made the difference in the meet," Pigg said.
In one of the closest finishes ever, Missouri edged three teams by less than eight points. Texas finished with 110, Baylor with 113, and Oklahoma State with 114.
"It was the closest conference finish I have ever seen, four places were decided by just a few breaths, so we needed to make sure that we finished strong and the girls really stepped up," Pigg said.
The 17th ranked Missouri men had their best Big 12 finish in history. In the two previous Big 12 Championships the Tigers finished 4th and 5th. The third place finish marks a return to prominence after a long stint in the Big 8 cellar during the eighties.
"The Big 12 conference is the real deal, it was an absolute war out there," Pigg said, "it took a great race out of us to finish third, and I couldn't be prouder of this team."
Senior Ryan Pirtle led the Tigers finishing 14th, but was followed closely with Nick Smith (So.) and Joel McCune (Jr.).
"Joel went out really hard and I tried to move up and ran with him most of the race and then Ryan had an excellent finish to get both of us," Smith said.
Mike Larson (Jr.) and Adam MacDowell (So.) finished 26th and 27th respectively to round out the scoring for the Tigers.
Both teams have two weeks off before heading to Wichita, Kan. for the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 14.
Quotables:
Coach Jeff Pigg:
"I just can't express how proud I am of both teams, they have worked so hard all season, so to see it come together like this is just fantastic."
"A pair of finishes like this gives us a lot of confidence going into regionals. It makes these next two weeks of training so much better with the momentum that we have going right now."
Sophomore Katie Meyer:
"The plan was for Anne Marie and myself to go out and start strong with Kim to follow behind us. It was really exciting for us to all run together. We did a good job of communicating and pushing each other to the finish."
"The biggest difference between this years team and last's, is that we are very young. We have had to depend on each other a lot this year, and we have matured a lot throughout the season."
Freshman Kim Moore:
"I knew that if I could run with Anne Marie and Katie I could really help the team, and as it turns out a few spots made the difference in the meet for us."
Sophomore Nick Smith:
"It feels pretty good to make All Big 12 again, I was 14th last year so I am pretty happy about my finish."
"Joel likes to get out fast early in the race, so when I saw him in the top five I knew I needed to make a move. I just kept fighting my way through the field, and when I caught up with him I knew that we were going to finish well."
For the second consecutive year the Missouri women finished third at the Big 12 Championships. Katie Meyer was selected All Big 12 for the second consecutive year.
Missouri women by class competing at the Big 12 Championship: Freshman - 4 (Brooks, Moore, Grider, Froelker) Sophomore - 4 (Meyer, Dahl, Sunny Gilbert, Courtney Bell) Junior - 1 (Jessica Patton)
At the Naya Invitational on Sept. 11, Jessica Patton ran 21:30.50, today she ran 18:43.90; an improvement of 2:47.
Nick Smith earned all-conference honors for the second consecutive year.
Ryan Pirtle, Nick Smith, Adam MacDowell, Joel McCune, and Mike Larson have been Missouri's top five runners in the last 4 meets.
