Tigers Host Missouri Relays
4/5/2001 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
April 5, 2001
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri track and field team will spend the next two weekends in Columbia after starting the season with a long road trip to California last weekend. This weekend the Tigers host the Second Annual Missouri Relays at Walton Stadium.
The two-day meet begins Friday at 9:30 a.m. with the high school boys and girls 3200m run. Saturday's festivities begin with the college men's hammer throw at 8:00 a.m.
Wichita State, Illinois State, Missouri-Kansas City and Central Missouri are among the colleges slated to compete.
There's Bells Over Them Hils
(Records All Come Tumbling Down)
Sophomores Kerry Hils and Russ Bell set MU school records at the Stanford Invitational Mar. 31 and Apr. 1. Hils broke her own steeplechase record when she ran a time of 10:22.54. She finished second overall and her time is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Bell broke the school record when he tossed a 198-5 in the hammer throw. He finished third.
Brooks - Is Like Whoa!!
Junior Ann Marie Brooks was named Big 12 Female Athlete of the Week for the week of Apr. 2, and is one of six Tigers that have posted NCAA qualifying marks on the young outdoor season. She is also the first Mizzou trackster to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. She ran a 16:06.95 for a fifth place finish in the 5000m Sat., Mar. 31. The time is her career-best.
Wysong Starts The Outdoor Season Strong
Senior Ashley Wysong added her name to the list of Tigers that have posted NCAA qualifying numbers this season. She ran 2:07.37 at Stanford, placing third. Wysong is a six-time All-American and she ran a career-best 2:02.94 at the 2000 national championships for a third-place finish.
Tigers With Six At The Funky-fied Spot
Six Mizzou tracksters have qualified either provisionally or automatically this season. Sophomore Knut Harald Sommerfeldt was the first to qualify. He scored 7,367 points at the Texas A&M Multi-Event Invitational Mar. 17. His mark is a school record and thid nationally.
The sophomore throwing duo of Christian Cantwell and Russ Bell picked up where they left off from the indoor season. Cantwell posted a 62-2.50, while Bell recorded a 59-3.50 at the Stanford Invite Mar. 31. Kerry Hils took second place in the steeplechase (10:22.54) while setting a school record and provisionally qualifying. Rounding out the six are senior Ashley Wysong and junior Ann Marie Brooks, who qualified in the 800m and 5000m respectively.
Coach's Corner
MU Head Coach Rick McGuire (St. Lawrence University, 1969) is in his 18th year coaching the Tigers. He led the 2001 women's indoor distance medley team to the national championship.The 2000 Big 12 Conference Indoor Coach of the Year, McGuire has guided 27 Missouri tracksters to 73 All-American honors. He has been inducted into the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Drake Relays Hall of Fame and has been a member of the 1992 and 1996 Olympic staffs.
McGuire is joined on the sidelines this season by assistant coaches Brett Halter (8th year), Jared Wilmes (1st year), Rebecca Wilmes (2nd year), Matt Candrl (1st year) and Chad Shade (1st year).
