Track and Field Competes For Little Brown Jug Saturday
1/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Jan. 25, 2000
MU Heads to Lawrence
The University of Missouri track and field teams are heading west to compete in the annual Missouri-Kansas State-Kansas Triangular held in Lawrence, Kan. The overall team winner of the meet gets the honor to take home the "Little Brown Jug" .
A Look Back
The 1999 MU-KSU-KU Triangular was held in Manhattan, Kan. with K-State claiming the team title with 265 total points. MU finished in second with 235 points while KU placed third with 193 points. For Mizzou, four athletes claimed individual titles. Junior Michelle Moran was the lone female to win an event claiming the high jump title with a leap of 5 feet, 7 ? inches. For the men, junior Dan Dellegrazio won the 1,000m run, senior William Hopson was victorious in the long jump and senior co-captain Derrick Peterson claimed the 800m title.
Looking To Regain the Jug
There are several Tigers who have stepped up in the first two meets of the season and will be relied up heavily to continue to compete hard. Missouri will rely heavily upon its youth to make an impact at the 1999 meet. MU has many new faces adding depth in several areas for the Tigers. A few of the new MU names to keep an eye out for this weekend include:
- freshmen Fiona Asigbee, Russ Bell, Christian Cantwell, Amy Chipman, Avis Evans, Kerry Hils, Josiah James, Stewart Kimball, Abbe Ohhneck, Kristin Pogemiller and Knut Harold Sommerfeldt
- senior Anna Gullingsrud
Trio Sets Stage
In one of the most exciting races of the season, three MU athletes turned in outstanding performances for this time of the year. Coming from behind on the final lap of the mile run, freshman Kerry Hils claimed her first victory wearing the Black and Gold. In her first-ever mile run, Hils led a 1-2-3-4 Tiger sweep, posting a time of 4:55.38, five second off the NCAA provisional mark.
Hils was followed closely by Sunny Gilbert who finished in second. Gilbert finished with a time of 4:56.63, marking the first time in her career, the junior had ever broken the five minute barrier. Gilbert is a two-time All-Conference honoree in the 1,000m run finishing third as a freshman and second as a sophomore in 1999.
Gilbert and Hils were paced for much of the race by Anna Gullingsrud who ended the race in third, also breaking 5:00 crossing the finishing line in 4:59.90. For the senior, it was the second consecutive week she had been under 5 minutes. Gullingsrud has been using the mile to gain speed for her primary races, the 3,000m and 5,000m runs.
MU's fourth place finisher was freshman Amy Chipman. Chipman ran the mile in 5 minutes, 05.47.
Shanks Sets New Standard
Junior Micah Shanks finished second for Mizzou in the 35lb. weight throw at the Tiger Invitational last Friday evening (Jan. 21). His heave of 60 feet, 2 inches was over two feet further than he had previously thrown in the event. He was also the first Tiger in school history to ever throw over 60 feet in weight throw. Shanks did not walk away from the event with a win, but he establish a new school record in the event. The record was previously held by the junior himself at 58-? inches. On his first throw in the finals, Shanks broke the mark with a toss of 58 feet, 4 inches only to break it two throws later.
Youngsters Leap To Top Spots
In only the second meet of the season, two MU newcomers have already made their mark on the Missouri track and field program. Freshman Abbe Ohneck and Fiona Asigbee finished in the top two spots in the long jump at the Tiger Invitational. Ohneck won the event with a leap of 17 feet, 10 ? inches. Pacing her was Asigbee who finished second with a jump of 17 feet, 9 inches.
Ohneck is a Columbia native who earned All-State honors five times during her high school at Rock Bridge High School. She was also named as the Women's Intersport Network for Columbia High Schools Sportswoman-of-the-Year. After suffering through an injury-plagued senior year at Rock Bridge, the freshman is currently training to become one of MU's next great heptathletes. This will require the Tiger newcomer to learn several new events during the indoor season.
Fellow freshman Asigbee came to Missouri from Iowa where she her high school conference's Track Athlete-of-the-Year in 1999. Asigbee also claimed the high school division long jump title at the Drake Relays during her senior season. Asigbee, like Ohneck, is training to become a multi-event athlete for the Tigers.
Peterson Does His Thing-Again
The 800m American Collegiate Record Holder did what he does best again Friday night (Jan. 21) at the Tiger Invitational, won another race. Not only did Derrick Peterson win the 800m run in the final 200m of the race, but he repeated the feat in the 1,600m relay. Peterson ran the anchor leg for Mizzou again making a late charge on the final turn outrunning Southwest Missouri State's anchor to claim the victory for MU.
