April 11, 2000
Up Next
The University of Missouri men's and women's track and field teams will be competing in two different meets this weekend. A few Tigers are headed to Walnut, Calif. to take part in the Mt. SAC Relays while the remainder of the squad will compete in Columbia, Mo. at the fourth annual Tom Botts invitational.
Tigers in Texas
Twenty-four MU athletes qualified to compete in one of the premier collegiate track meets in the country last weekend - the Texas Relays. The 73rd annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays featured many of the nation's best college athletes in what some might say was a sneak-preview of the NCAA Championships that are held May 31 to June 3 in Durham, N.C. When Mizzou's final athlete competed Saturday, MU had recorded 1 victory and 16 top-12 finishes.
The weather, however, posed a few problems for some of the athletes. The Friday evening session suffered a one hour rain delay pushing the competition back to the late hours of the evening. Both of Mizzou's distance medley relay teams along with Kerry Hils, Kim Moore, Mike Larson and Mike Pitts were forced to wait around to compete in their events. The athletes did rise to the occasion posting performances considering the circumstances.
Home Sweet Home
After traveling several members of the MU team to Austin, Texas last weekend, the majority of the team will get the weekend off from travel and showcase their talents here in Columbia, Mo. MU is hosting the fourth annual Tom Botts Invitational at the Audrey J. Walton Track-Soccer Complex, April 14-15. Several events will be held on Friday starting at 1:00 with the remainder of the events taking place Saturday morning beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Mizzou will be taking on some stiff Midwest and Big 12 competition at the meet as Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Illinois State and UMKC will all be in town. The meet will feature some of the Big 12's finest in both the field and running events.
Headed West
While the majority of the Black and Gold tracksters will be in Columbia, Mo. this weekend, 14 athletes are scheduled to compete in California at the famous Mt. SAC relays. Mt. SAC is notorious for being one of the finest outdoor meets of the season.
Six multi-event athletes along with eight middle distance and distance runners will be competing. The multi-event athletes making the journey are Jill Aholt, Michelle Moran, Abbe Ohneck, Eli Sommerfeldt, Knut Harold Sommerfeldt and Espen Stridenberg.
Kerry Hils, Adam MacDowell and Ryan Pirtle are running in the 3,000m steeplechase while Anna Gullingsrud and Nick Smith will run the 5,000m run. Timothy Dunne, Derrick Peterson and Ashley Wysong are all in the 800m. For Peterson and Wysong, the two All-Americans will be racing in the featured invitational sections of the half mile. Also competing is former Tiger standout and All-American Rebecca Wilmes. She is running in the 1500m and 3,000m runs.
The Man, The Legend
Missoui's track meet this weekend is named after legendary MU track coach Tom Botts. Botts served as the Tigers' head man from 1946 to 1972. Statistically speaking, the athletic achievements of the MU track teams under Botts run long as his teams compiled a 135-56-2 dual record.
During his tenure as head coach, Missouri won eight conference crowns, two Big Eight cross country titles and the 1965 national indoor track championship, one of only two MU national titles (the other being the 1954 baseball team).
Following the 1970 cross country team's Big Eight title and sixth-place national finish, Botts was named the university division cross country Coach of the Year.
When it was all said and done, Botts coaches 48 individual conference champions, 23 All-Americans, five national champions and two Olympians.
After 31 years of service, Botts retired in 1972. On March2, 1999, Tom Botts passed away at the age of 94. At the 3rd annual Tome Botts Invitational (April 10, 1999), the University of Missouri proudly unveiled a commemorative bust of Coach Botts in the Plaza of Champions, honoring a man who was and always will be a champion.
Miller Time
Senior Lindsey Miller is getting better with each outing. The school record holder in the triple jump has been suffering from patellar tendentious for much of 2000, however, she is not letting it slow her down. Miller, one of MU's co-captains, posted he best jump to date during the outdoor season with a leap of 38 feet, 7 inches. With that jump, she improved her season mark by over a foot.
Head for the Hils
Kerry Hils looked like a professional last weekend in Texas in the 3,000m steeplechase. No one would have guessed the freshman was competing in her first-ever steeplechase race. Hils, the 1998 and 1999 Missouri Class 3A 300m hurdle champion, won the event at the Texas Relays in a school record, meet record and Mike A. Meyers Stadium record time of 10:46.05.
The freshman was the lone person in the event to get stronger as the race went on. She was in second for much of the race. Then with two laps to go, she used her hurdling background to make up ground on the leader. In the end, Hils won the event by 12 seconds. She will get her second crack at the steeplechase this weekend in California.
Season Best
Even though the entire MU track and field team did not make the long trek to Texas, four Tigers turned in five season best performances. They include:
- Kerry Hils - steeplechase 10:46.05 - Lindsey Miller - triple jump 38 feet, 7 inches - Micah Shanks - shot put 54 feet, 3 inches - Heather White - hammer throw 171 feet, 3 inches, discus 146 feet, 8 inches