March 27, 2000
On the first weekend of the spring, the University of Missouri men's and women's track and field teams traveled to Gainsville, Fla. To compete in the Florida Relays. MU kicked off its outdoor season by making a statement competing against 67 other teams at the prestigious 57th annual event.
As a team, the Tigers won six events, had five individuals earn NCAA provisional standards, set two new school records and broke one meet record. In the end, things could not have started off much better.
On the first two days of competition, Espen Stridenberg and Michelle Moran led the multi-event athletes. After the two day event concluded, both Tigers met the NCAA provisional standard. Stridenberg, one of MU's captains, placed fifth while Moran, a five time All-Big 12 performer, finished third.
In the running events, the middle distance runner stole the show. The 4x800 Relay team of Timothy Dunne, Stewart Kimball, Phil Councilor and Derrick Peterson claimed the title in a Florida Relays record time of 7:22.49. Senior Derrick Peterson continued his dominance in the half mile winning the 800m. his winning time of 1:47.74 is currently the fastest time in the country. Junior Adam MacDowell ran a personal best time in the 3000m steeplechase by nearly 10 seconds on his way to dominating the race winning by five seconds.
The women runners were not to be forgotten as two relay teams won their events. Jessica Patton, Katie Meyer, Anna Gullingsrud and Ann Marie Brooks teamed up to win the 4x1500 Relay in 18:41.98. The time was 28 seconds faster than Air Force Academy who finished in second. The sprint hurdle relay team of Darrina Al-Uqdah, Eli Sommerfeldt, Fiona Asigbee and Michelle Moran placed second in a new school record time of 58.14.
In the field events, Mizzou defiantly left its mark on the rest of the competition. The collegiate discus saw MU claim three of the top five spots. Freshman Christian Cantwell won the event with a toss of 180 feet, 1 inch while fellow freshman Russ Bell placed second (175-0) and junior Darrell Meinke finished fifth (165-3). In the Invitational discus the following day, Bell won the event with a NCAA provisional mark of 189 feet, 10 inches. Cantwell also claimed the Invitational shot put title with a heave of 60 feet, 9 ? inches marking the best mark for a Tiger in a season opener.
Two Tigers broke the school record in the hammer throw on Saturday even though only one gets the actual record. In the first flight of the event, Bell set the mark at 184 feet, 5 inches, breaking the old mark by almost seven feet. The mark, however, did not hold for long as Micah Shanks set the new record at 189-10 in the second flight.
Mizzou will compete again this weekend at the first annual Missouri Relays. The high school portion will be on Friday, March 31 while the collegiate session is on Saturday, April 1. Both days the meet begins at 9:00 a.m. at Walton Stadium.