Peterson Poised For NCAA Repeat
3/11/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 11, 2000
By the Columbia Tribune's staff
Derrick Peterson moved a step closer to repeating as national champion in the 800 meters by winning his preliminary heat in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Fayetteville, Ark., last night.
Peterson and 800 runner Ashley Wysong of the women's team will be the only Tigers competing tonight. Wysong broke the school record with a time of 2:04.67 to finish second in her heat behind the national leader.
The record run earned Wysong a spot in the Olympic Trials this summer as well.
But the first day of action belonged to MU freshman Christian Cantwell, who threw 61-feet, 5-inches in the shot put to earn all-American honors with a seventh-place finish.
Cantwell is the only freshman in the field.
"Some of the coaches were talking and we can't remember a freshman doing that well here, much less throwing 61 feet," MU track coach Rick McGuire said. "It was just unbelievable."
While Peterson, who used his trademark kick to post his 1:48.06 time in his win, and Wysong will run in the finals tonight, several other MU athletes completed their NCAA adventure.
The women's distance medley team of Ada Ibe, Sunny Gilbert, Kerry Hils and Ann Marie Brooks entered the race seeded 11th and finished 10th in the finals.
The qualifying time of 11:21.86 would have required the MU team to set a school record.
Ryan Pirtle fell victim to a fast heat and did not qualify in the mile and Timothy Dunne finished 14th to miss out on the 800 qualifying.
