May 15, 2000
Tigers Host Big 12 Outdoor Conference Championships
Beginning Friday, May 19, the Missouri track and field teams will be competing at the Big 12 Track and Field Conference Championships hosted by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. The meet is the fourth outdoor league championship since the inception of the Big 12 and the second time the Tigers have hosted the meet in the last four years.
At the 1999 championships, both Black and Gold squads finished in 10th place. At the 2000 indoor championships, the MU women placed sixth while the men were third. Following the indoor championships, head coach Rick McGuire was named as the men's Big 12 Coach of the Year and Christian Cantwell was named as co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
Peterson Looking For Eight
It is said that repeating a championship is one of the hardest achievements in sports. For MU senior standout Derrick Peterson, he will be going for his fourth outdoor 800m title this weekend and his eighth overall. Peterson is undefeated in conference championship meets in the half mile claiming as many titles as 800m races he has entered, seven.
Heading into the conference meet, Peterson has recorded the fastest time in the league during the 2000 outdoor season, 1:47.74. At the 1998 Big 12 meet, Peterson tore up his home track, posting a meet record time of 1:47.78 at Walton Stadium. In 1999, Peterson bettered the mark at Baylor University running the half mile distance in 1:47.39.
A 2000 victory would be the fourth consecutive outdoor championship for the Jonesboro, Ga. native. Peterson will also become the first athlete in the history of the Big 12 to conclude their collegiate career undefeated in a single event.
Automatic Pirtle
One Missouri athlete has established an NCAA automatic qualifying mark this season. Ryan Pirtle has reached this standard in the steeplechase. Pirtle achieved the mark at Penn Relays in his specialty event and along the way established a new MU school record. His time of 8:39.64 currently ranks him seventh in the country as many teams head into the conference championship weekend. The NCAA Championships are in Durham, N.C. from May 31 to June 3.
Provisional Standards
The Black and Gold tracksters are in the midst of the best year in school history. MU had nine athletes compete at the 2000 indoor NCAA Championships. Currently nine other Tigers besides Pirtle have achieved the NCAA provisional standards in their respective events. Adam MacDowell was the latest to record a NCAA provisional mark when he ran a six second personal best (8:53.35) in the steeplechase at the Cardinal Qualifier in Palo Alto, Calif. last weekend.
Mizzou's outdoor season opener at the Florida Relays was its most successful meet to date as five Tigers achieved provisional marks. Derrick Peterson has a time of 1:47.74 in the 800m and Espen Strindeberg has a decathlon point total of 7,283. Freshmen Russ Bell recorded a throw of 189-10 in the discus while Christian Cantwell threw the shot put 60 feet, 9 ? inches. Michelle Moran jumped, threw and ran to a provisional mark in the heptathlon with 5,193 points.
Senior Nick Smith achieved his provisional mark in the 10,000m run at Penn Relays with a time of 29:20.27. Junior Ashley Wysong ran her school record and provisional time of 2:05.49 in the 800m at Mt. SAC relays while fellow junior Sunny Gilbert ran her half mile three second personal best and provisional time of 2:06.03 at the Missouri Invitational two weeks ago.
Watchin' Wysong
Missouri's extremely talented half-miler, Ashley Wysong burst onto the national scene in 1999 after an impressive sophomore campaign. Wysong has been a threat on both the conference and national level for over a year now.
At the 1999 indoor conference meet, Wysong finished 6th in the 800m run. She followed that up with a 6th place showing and her first All-American honor at the indoor NCAA Championships in the 800m. Wysong was a All-Conference honoree at the 1999 outdoor Big 12 meet where she was the runner-up in the 800m. At nationals she placed 5th in the half mile for her second consecutive All-America honor.
In 2000, Wysong has not slowed down any, in fact she has gotten significantly faster. At the 2000 indoor league championships, Wysong again was the runner-up in the 800m to Texas senior Leigh Daniels. Wysong, however, was the highest Big 12 performer at the NCAA Championships were she finished 4th in a school record time of 2:03.95. Not only did Wysong garner her third All-America honor, she also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Throwers Make Their Marks
Senior Heather White is closing in on her school mark in the hammer of 180-6. White has thrown over 170 feet on four different occasions in 2000 with her best mark heading into conference standing at 176-11. For White, she is just thankful to be back in the ring. The senior captain underwent back surgery in January and has been improving with each competition.
After re-writing the record book in the weight throw during the indoor season, the MU throwers have been carrying on throughout the outdoor season. Micah Shanks broke the MU record in the weight throw five different times indoors and has already broken the hammer throw record on two different occasions outdoors. His new school mark of 195-11 is almost 20 feet further than the previous mark (177-9).
At the season's opening meet in Florida, freshman Russ Bell stepped into the ring and established the new mark at 184-5. Twenty minutes later Shanks threw the hammer 189 feet, 10 inches. Shanks set the current mark at the Tom Botts Invitational in Columbia, Mo. in mid-April.
Freshman phenoms Russ Bell and Christian Cantwell have had amazing rookie seasons and will be looking to take the conference by storm this weekend. Since setting the school record in Florida, Bell has since thrown the implement further than 177-9 four different times. Heading into conference, Bell is ranked fourth in the discus in the Big 12 with a throw of 189-10. He has won the event twice in 2000 and is currently ranked fifth all-time in MU history. Bell has also thrown the shot put 56-7 ?. Only two freshmen in Missouri history have recorded throws of over 56 feet in the shot put - Cantwell and Bell.
Cantwell has held the reigns of the shot put lead in the conference from the first meet of the season, but this week will actually be the deciding factor for the freshman. Cantwell has already achieved All-American honors in the shot put during the indoor season after finishing seventh at nationals. He has won five shot put titles during the 2000 outdoor season recording marks of over 60 feet twice. He has also thrown the discus 180 feet this season.
Multi-Event Women Make History in 1999
Four Missouri heptathletes scored over 5,000 points at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships at the 1999 outdoor conference championships with two All-Big 12 honors and three recording career bests. In doing so Missouri became the first collegiate track and field team to have four athletes score 5,000 points in the heptathlon in the same year. Former Tiger All-American Rannveig Kvalvik was the runner-up for the second year in a row scoring 5,528 points. Junior Michelle Moran had a breakthrough performance with a career best 5,206 points and seventh place for her second All-Big 12 outdoor award as well as her first career NCAA provisional mark.
MU's Eli Sommerfeldt was 10th at 5,064 followed by teammate Jill Aholt who posted a career best mark of 5,012 for 11th place. It is believed that these championships marked the first time in the history of NCAA competition that 5,000 points scored in a conference meet did not earn all-conference distinction. Eleven athletes in total went over the 5,000 points, including four Tigers, while only the top eight earn All-Big 12 honors.
Half Mile Dominance
The 800m run has become one of Mizzou's signature events over the last couple of years, in part due to Derrick Peterson and Ashley Wysong. Both the men's and women's 4x800m relay teams stated their claims as the fastest in the country with record-shattering performances at Drake Relays the last weekend in April.
The mens team's first goal was to defend its title from 1999, but no one knew it was going to be in such grand fashion. The team of Blair Hansard, Phil Councilor, Timothy Dunne and Derrick Peterson ran a school record 7:16.23 which was also the second fastest time in the meet's 91-year history. Not only did MU rally from behind to defeat Stanford, they ran the fastest time in the country. Mizzou broke the school record that was set at the Drake Relays back in 1964.
After the men recorded the nation's top time in 4x800m relay, the women were not going to be outdone. MU's 8:34.79 is also the fastest time recorded this season in the country. The women's race was not as dramatic as the men's due to the women dominating from top to bottom winning by a comfortable margin. Kerry Hils, Sunny Gilbert, Jennifer Leerssen and Ashley Wysong teamed up to claim the win along with a new school record.
Head coach Rick McGuire can not remember a time when Missouri has had two relay teams ranked first in the country. He remembers having two highly ranked teams ranked, but never two as the nation's best.
Hils Best Collegiate to Date
After winning her first-ever steeplechase race at the prestigious Texas Relays, Kerry Hils topped it by running 20 second faster the next weekend at Mt. SAC Relays. The freshman is ranked fifth in the world in the women's steeplechase with a time of 10:25.85. Since the steeplechase is not a NCAA event this year, Hils has been using 2000 as a warm-up period for when the event is in the NCAA line-up in 2001. However, Hils still holds the collegiate record in the event.
Lets Remember the Coaches
Head coach Rick McGuire is in his 17th season at Mizzou. He came to Columbia in 1983 as the women's head coach and assumed the men's team responsibilities as well in 1988. While at Mizzou, McGuire has coached some 54 All-Americans, two NCAA individual champions and 52 individual conference and relay champions.
The 1999-2000 season has been a banner campaign for McGuire. In December 1999, McGuire was inducted into the Missouri Track and Field Associations Hall of Fame. McGuire was then named the 2000 indoor men's Big 12 Coach of the Year. During the outdoor season, McGuire served as a referee at the Kansas Relays before being inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame in April.
Assistant coach Jeff Pigg is celebrating his 10th anniversary at Missouri. Pigg coaches the middle distance and distance runners and is the leader of the men's and women's cross country teams. This past fall, he led both teams to a historic day for MU as both squads automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. Pigg is a three-time NCAA Midwest Region Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Assistant coach Natasha Brown is now in her seventh year as a full-time assistant coaching the Tiger sprinters. In 1999, Mizzou led Chad Shade to a Big 12 Championship as well as numerous 1,600m relay teams to All-Conference honors. As a Tiger athlete herself, Brown was a six-time All-American and a five-time Big Eight champion. She also brings her experience to the track from her international competitions as a silver medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Assistant coach Brett Halter coaches the MU throwers who have single-handly re-written the Tiger record books under his tutelage. The 2000 season marks Halter's third season as a full-time assistant and his seventh with the MU program. In the last four years, the Black and Gold throwers have established 10 new school records and have earned three conference championships. Two different MU hurlers have also earned four All-American honors under his guidance.
Returning All-Big 12 Outdoor PerformersJill Aholt Heptathlon 5th 1998 Justa Dahl 10,000m 3rd 1999 Timothy Dunne 800m 5th 1999 Sunny Gilbert 800m 8th 1998 800m 6th 1999 William Hopson Long Jump 3rd 1999 Adam MacDowell Steeple 6th 1998 Steeple 5th 1999 Joel McCune 1500m 8th 1999 Darrell Meinke Discus 6th 1998 Discus 6th 1999 Katie Meyer 3,000m 4th 1998 Jay Meystedt High Jump 6th 1997 Lindsey Miller Triple Jump 6th 1998 Triple Jump 7th 1999 Michelle Moran High Jump 8th 1998 Heptathlon 7th 1998 Heptathlon 7th 1999 Derrick Peterson 800m 1st 1997 800m 1st 1998 800m 1st 1999 Ryan Pirtle Steeple* 8th 1996 Steeple 5th 1997 Steeple 5th 1998 Becky Rigel 800m 7th 1999 Eli Sommerfeldt Javelin 8th 1998 Heptathlon 4th 1998 Espen Strindeberg Decathlon 2nd 1998 Heather White Discus 8th 1997 Hammer 8th 1998 Ashley Wysong 800m 2nd 1999
*All-Big 8
Did You Know...
* Head Coach Rick McGuire earned the men's Big 12 Coach-of-the-Year honors following the team's third place performance at the conference championships.
* MU's 3rd place finish at the 2000 Indoor Big 12 meet was its highest under McGuire
* Freshman hurler Christian Cantwell was named co-Big 12 Freshman-of-the-Year following his outstanding indoor campaign.
* At this point in the 2000 outdoor season, 7 school records have been broken: - Kerry Hils (steeplechase) - Ryan Pirle (steeplechase) - Micah Shanks (hammer) - Nick Smith (10,000m) - Women's Sprint Hurdle Relay - Women's 4x800m Relay - Men's 4x800m Relay
* Missouri has 3 current student-athltes who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Three former Tigers have also qualified for the meet to be held in Sacramento, Calif. July 14-23. - Darin File (javelin) - Ray Hughes (steeplechase) - Derrick Peterson (800m) - Ryan Pirtle (steeplechase) - Rebecca Wilmes (1500m) - Ashley Wysong (800m)
* Micah Shanks has broken seven school records in two different events during the 2000 indoor and outdoor seasons
* Freshman Christain Cantwell and Russ Bell are two of the best throwers in the country. After the indoor season, Cantwell was the #2 ranked freshman in the 35 lb. weight throw while Bell was ranked No. 3.
* 2000 Indoor All-Americans - Christian Cantwell (shot put) - Derrick Peterson (800m) - Ryan Pirtle (mile) - Ashley Wysong (800m)
* Thus far into the 2000 campaign, 10 Tigers have met NCAA Qualifying standards: - Russ Bell (discus) - Christian Cantwell (shot put) - Sunny Gilbert (800m) - Adam MacDowell (steeplechase) - Michelle Moran (heptathlon) - Derrick Peterson (800m) - Ryan Pirtle (steeplechase) - Nick Smith (10,000m) - Espen Stridenberg (decathlon) - Ashley Wysong (800m)