April 25, 2000
Drake Relays Preview
The 91st annual Drake Relays, known as the America's Classic, is to be held in Des Moines, Iowa this Friday and Saturday, April 28-29 with several members of the Missouri men's and women's track and field teams qualifying to compete in the meet. Missouri has notorious competed well at the Drake Relays in the past. At the 1999 Drake Relays, the men's 4x800m and sprint medley relays claimed top honors. On the women's side, Katie Meyer was victorious in the 1500m run. Over the past 90 years, Drake Relays has become one of track and fields oldest and most prestigious events.
Tigers Tames Jayhawk Last Weekend
At the 73rd running of the Kansas Relays last weekend, Missouri showed up in dominant fashion both on the track and in the field. The Black and Gold was seen on the victory stand for six relay crowns, two individual titles and two top collegiate places. It was the first time in two years the relay meet was held due to renovations to Memorial Stadium and Hershberger Track.
In the end, the women's shuttle hurdle relay (Al-Uqdah, Sommerfeldt, Asigbee, Moran), the women's 4x800m relay (Hils, Leerssen, Froelker, Wysong), the women's DMR (Gilbert, Wysong, Rigel, Meyer), the men's 4x800m relay (Dunne, D. Smith, Councilor, Peterson), the men's DMR (Kimball, Peterson, Hansard, McCune) and the men's 4xmile relay (D. Smith, Kimball, Councilor, McCune) all ran to victory.
Individually, a pair of juniors, Sunny Gilbert and Katie Meyer each won an event. Gilbert came from behind to win the 800m run while Meyer led wire to wire to win the steeplechase in her first one of the season. Jay Meystedt claimed top collegiate honors in the high jump with his best leap of the season at 7-0 while Christian Cantwell put up the best collegiate mark in the shot put to lay claim on the win.
McGuire Goes Into the Hall
MU head track and field coach Rick McGuire, who is in this 18th year with the Tigers program, will be inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame on April 27th. The Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame was established in 1977 with six charter members and now has 67 inductees. McGuire has led Missouri to four relay titles at Drake, while Tiger athletes have won five individual crowns.
McGuire becomes Mizzou's fourth coach to receive the honor joining former Black and Gold greats Tom Botts, Bob Simpson and Bob Teel. Botts was inducted in 1979 followed by Simpson in 1983 and Teel in 1994. Bob Simpson was also inducted into the Hall of Fame as an athlete along with Jackson Scholtz in 1961, Mel Gray in 1985 and Natasha Brown in 1995.
Brown Returns Home For Relays
Natasha Brown, assistant coach and former Tiger great, will also be competing in the Drake Relays in 2000. The Des Moines, Iowa native will be making her 16th appearance at the meet when she competed in the women's special invitational 400m dash on Saturday, April 29.
Ironically, the last time Brown appeared at Drake Stadium, she won the women's special 400 at the 1998 Drake Relays in 51.79 before taking time off for maternity leave. Brown, who ranked second in the world in the 400m in 1993, led Missouri to a 1988 Drake Relays title in the women's sprint medley relay and was third in the special invitational 400. She finished second behind two-time Olympic gold medalist Gwen Torrence in the special 400 at the 1991 and 1992 Drake Relays.
She was the first recipient of the Gerry Cooley Sward, presented annually to the outstanding high school girls' performer, at the 1985 Drake Relays competing for Roosevelt High School. Brown won the girls' high school invitational 100 in the 1984 Drake Relays, while also anchoring Roosevelt to victory in the inaugural girls' high school sprint medley relay. She led the Riders to Drake Relays spring medley relay and 4x400m relay crowns in 1995.
In the Rankings
There are several Tigers ranked in the top-20 nationally in their events and in the top 10 within the conference. Derrick Peterson leads all Missouri athletes with a No. 2 national ranking in the 800m. Fellow half mile specialist Ashley Wysong is currently ranked sixth. In the men's steeplechase, Ryan Pirtle stands in the No. 10 spot while decathlete Espen Stridenberg is also ranked 10th in the country. MU's two freshman are both ranked in their best events. Christian Cantwell has the 13th best mark in the country in the shot put while Russ Bell is in 19th currently in the discus. Michelle Moran is ranked 20th in the nation in the heptathlon.
Within the Big 12 conference, here are the Tiger that are currently in the top-20 in their respective events:
Jill Aholt - 4th heptathlon Russ Bell - 3rd discus/8th shot put/8th hammer throw Ann Marie Brooks - 5th 3000m Christian Cantwell - 1st shot put/6th discus Brooke Ennen - 10th hammer throw Becky Froelker - 10th 800m Sunny Gilbert - 4th 800m Anna Gullingsrud - 7th 3000m William Hopson - 7th long jump Jennifer Leerssen - 8th 800m Adam MacDowell - 2nd steeplechase Katie Meyer - 10th 1500m Jay Meystedt - t-5th high jump Lindsey Miller - 8th triple jump Michelle Moran - 2nd heptathlon/t-7th high jump Abbe Ohneck - 8th heptathlon Derrick Peterson - 1st 800m Ryan Pirtle - 1st steeplechase Micah Shanks - 3rd hammer throw Nick Smith - 5th 5000m Eli Sommerfeldt - 3rd heptathlon/8th javelin Knut Harold Sommerfeldt - 6th decathlon/9th javelin Espen Stridenberg - 1st decathlon/10th javelin Heather White - 4th hammer throw Ashley Wyosng - 2nd 800m 8th Men's 4x100m relay (Benton, Ankele, McCurley, Dean) 8th Women's 4x100m relay (Evans, Page, Asigbeem Aholt) 8th Women's 4x400m relay (Evans, Page, Gilbert, Wysong)
Hils Stands Alone
Kerry Hils has already made a name for herself in the steeplechase. The freshman not only ran the third fast time in the world at Mt. SAC in the steeplechase, she also set the collegiate record in the event. Her time of 10:25.85 was over 40 seconds faster than the previous week when she made her debut in the event winning the Texas Relays. For Hils, the 2000 season is serving as a warm-up season for her in the event as the steeplechase becomes a competitive event at the 2001 NCAA Championships.