April 15, 2000
At the Fourth Annual Tom Botts Invitational held at Walton Stadium, Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, the men's and women's track and field teams put on a show. When the final count was complete, MU tallied 53 top-8 performances, including a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the women's 800m.
Micah Shanks turned in the top performance for the Tigers during the two-day event. The junior crushed his own school record in the hammer throw. Shanks threw 195 feet, 11 inches on his sixth and final attempt placing him second overall. He broke his previous mark in the event by six feet which was set at the season opener in Florida. At the beginning of the season, Shank's record stood at 177-9.
On the track, it came as no surprise when MU's middle distance group dominated its competition. In the women's 800m run, junior Sunny Gilbert led a 1-2-3-4 Tiger sweep. Her time of 2:09.16 was not only a season-best performance, it was also a personal best time for her during outdoor competition. Sophomore Jennifer Leerssen placed second with a time of 2:11.58 marking her season-best performance as well. Senior Becky Rigel and sophomore Becky Froelker finished third and fourth respectively.
The men's 800m run faired much the same of Mizzou. Junior Blair Hansard ran a season-best time of 1:51.11 to place second. It was a great finish as Hansard nearly won the event, crossing the finish line only two tenths of a second out of first. Senior Damien Smith placed fourth while junior Phil Councilor came in fifth.
The freshman stepped up big over the weekend for the Tigers as well. Avis Evans placed second in the 100m dash and third in the 200m dash. For Evans, both times were significantly faster than her previous times entering the competition.
In the throwing events, freshman Russ Bell and Christian Cantwell continued their streak of top-8 performances. Cantwell won the shot put for the third time this season. His throw of 60 feet, 6 inches was nearly a season-best. Bell had another solid weekend turning in a third place performance in the discus, a fourth place finish in the shot put and a fifth place showing in the hammer throw. For Bell, his toss of 181-6 in the discus marked the third time he has recorded at least one throw over 180 feet in competition.
Up next for the Tigers is the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kan. The meet begins on Thursday afternoon (April 20) with the hammer throw and continues through Saturday (April 22). MU will not be home again until May 6 when it hosts they Missouri Invitational at Walton Stadium.