Nov. 11, 2000
WATERLOO, Iowa - The University of Missouri men's cross country team automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships with its second-place finish at the Midwest Regionals here Saturday morning. The MU women, ranked 19th in the latest FinishLynx National Coaches Poll, placed third and will find out Monday if they will run at nationals.
The MU men scored 98 points en route to the second spot behind Big 12 Conference rival Oklahoma State (68 points). Senior Nick Smith (30:51) led the Tigers with a third-place finish. Senior Adam MacDowell (30:55) placed 14th while junior Mike Pitts (31:05) came in 18th. Rounding out the top-five for Missouri were juniors Steve Wade (31:18) and Ryan Fitzgerald (31:23), who finished 29th and 34th respectively.
"We got a tremendous performance from our men today," said head cross country coach Jared Wilmes. "Individually our guys ran great, but it was a great team effort overall."
The Mizzou women turned in 124 points for third place behind Kansas State (61) and Minnesota (84). Sophomore Kerry Hils (21:02) was the top scorer for the Tigers, finishing seventh. Also in the top-20 for the Tigers, were junior Ann Marie Brooks (21:18) and senior Katie Meyer (21:28), who placed 12th and 17th respectively. Sophomore Ashley McLeod (22:19) finished 43rd and senior Sunny Gilbert (22:20) finished 45th.
"The women also ran great today and we will find out Monday if they will run at the NCAA Championships," Wilmes added.
The NCAA Championships will be held Mon., Nov. 20, at Iowa State University in Ames.