University of Missouri
Missouri/EvianNaturalSpringWaterChallenge
Missouri Starts Season on Right Foot
9/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 10, 1999
COLUMBIA, MO., - Behind sweeps on both the men's and the women's sides, the University of Missouri men's and women's cross country teams began the 1999 season right where they left off in 1998. The Tiger men won the Missouri/Evian Cross Country Challenge with a perfect score of 15 points while the MU women claimed the title with a nearly perfect score of 17 points.
The other teams competing against the Black and Gold in the season opener were perennial Big 10 contender Illinois, cross-state rival University of Missouri-Rolla, Lincoln University and middle distance powerhouse Loyola-Chicago. The men were perfect with a 1-2-3-4-5 sweep led by Adam MacDowell. The junior's time of 25:00.14 was 27 seconds faster than his winning time from the 1998 Missouri Invitational. Rounding out the scoring positions for MU was junior Nick Smith who finished second. Junior Mike Pitts was Missouri's No. 3 runner and fellow junior Greg Speicher placed fourth. Senior Joel McCune was the Tigers fifth runner. Less than 45 second separated the five Tigers.
Things were almost as perfect on the women's side as Missouri finished 1-2-3-4-7 totaling 17 points. Ann Marie Brooks was the overall winner for the women in a time of 18:09.81. The junior was over forty seconds faster than her performance in 1998 at the Missouri Invitational. Freshman Amy Chipman made her collegiate debut as the Tigers No. 2 runner. Junior Katie Meyer finished in third while fellow junior Justa Dahl placed fourth. The Tigers fifth runner was junior Sunny Gilbert who placed seventh overall.
The Tigers will be taking on stiff competition in two weeks (Saturday, Sept. 25) as they travel to Minnesota to compete in the Roy Graik Invitational. The men will be competing against 21 of the countries best teams while the women will face 27 top teams.
Men's Results (Missouri Only) 1. Adam MacDowell 18:09.81 2. Nick Smith 25:18.11 3. Mike Pitts 25:26.79 4. Greg Speicher 25:41.05 5. Joel McCune 25:44.08 6. Mike Larson 25:50.58 7. Ryan Fitzgerald 25:58.81 9. Steve Wade 26:19.77 13. Dan Dellegrazio 26:40.25 20. Damien Smith 27:58.64 22. Timothy Dunne 28:23.23 27. Jason Franken 29:39.13
