2000-2001 MU Track and Field Recap
7/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
July 10, 2001
Men's Cross Country
The University of Missouri kicked off the 2000 season by winning the Missouri Cross Country Challenge in front of a home crowd in Columbia. The MU men were ranked 25th in that week's National Coaches Poll and scored 20 points en route to the victory.
The very next week the Tigers faced some of their toughest competition of the season when they traveled to the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. Eight of the teams in the race were ranked among the top-25 cross country teams in the country.
The Mizzou harriers took the top three spots at the Lakefront Invitational and combined with the women's team to make it an MU sweep.
The Tigers' coming out party was at the Big 12 Conference Championships where they finished third and scored 113 points and beat out 23rd ranked Nebraska by 40 points and 26th ranked Texas by 28 points. The MU men followed the Big 12 Championships a second-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
The 2000 season marked the third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships for MU. The Tigers were led all season by their big guns, seniors Nick Smith and Adam MacDowell. Smith placed in the top-60 of every race that he ran. He recorded a season-best 24:40 at the Lakefront Invitational. He placed third at the NCA Midwest Regional, which is the highest finish for a Tiger harrier in recent memory. Smith capped the 2000 season with a 57th-place showing at the NCAA Championships.
MacDowell opened his senior campaign with a win and fastest time of the season (24:59.19) at the Missouri Challenge. For his efforts, he was named Big 12 Runner of the Week for the week of Sept. 10. He finished third at the Lakefront Invitational in Chicago three weeks later and was 25th at the Big 12 Championships. His 14th place finish at the Midwest Regionals was the second highest on the team and he helped lead the Tigers place 27th as a team at the NCAA Championships.
Another Tiger veteran who turned in big numbers was junior Mike Pitts. Pitts came off an injury-plagued sophomore campaign to place in the top-30 in three races. He had the third-highest time of the season (25:00) at the Lakefront Invitational. He will likely be the top returning harrier in 2002.
Women's Cross Country
The MU women open the 2000 season with a win as the Tigers hosted the Missouri Challenge. The Missouri women were ranked 20th nationally and took the top five places and six of the top eight.
The following weekend, Mizzou traveled to Minnesota to run in the Roy Griak Invitational, where seven of the competitors were ranked in the top-25 in the nation. The Tigers meet the tough competition and showed mettle finishing 12th in the field.
The Tigers ended the season on a really solid note with a win at the Lakefront Invitational followed by a 19th-place showing at the Iowa State Pre-Nationals. The ladies then mirrored the men placing third at the Big 12 Championships. They also came in third at the Midwest Regionals and turned in a 16th place finish at the NCAA Championships to close the 2000 season.
The two cogs for the successful campaign were junior Ann Marie Brooks and sophomore Kerry Hils. Brooks finished in the top-100 in every race of the season and in the top-20 in every thing but the NCAA Championships. She won the Lakefront Invitational and ran a season-best 21:03 at the Big 12 Championships.
Hils opened her 2000 season with a win on the home course at the Missouri Challenge. She was runner-up two weeks later at the Lakefront Invitational. Hils posted a team best 21:01 in the 6K at the Big 12 Championships and she was the highest Tiger finisher at the NCAA Championships (79).
The MU harriers also got a glimpse of the future from sophomore Amy Chipman and freshman Katherine Bonugli. Chipman ran in every race of the season and came in 26th place at the Big 12 Championships. Bonugli had her best performance of her career at the Midwest Regional. She recorded a time of 22:22 and a 47th place finish.
Indoor Track
The University of Missouri track and field team opened the 2001 indoor season at home in the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse by winning 15 of the 31 events at the Missouri Invitational. Sophomore Christian Cantwell qualified for the NCAA Championships on his first throw of the season. He continued his great start of 2001 with an All-American honor and the school record in the weight throw (70-3.75). Freshman Lyndsey Tait also got off to a good start by breaking the school record in the pole vault (11-0).
The Tigers hosted the Tiger Invitational and the then 23rd-ranked MU women were paced by senior Michelle Moran's victory in the pentathlon. Junior Ann Marie Brooks won the mile and for the men senior Jay Meystedt took the top spot in the high jump.
The following week the Tigers hosted the MU-KU-KSU Triangular. The Triangular was also an opportunity for the competing school to display a bit of philanthropy as the student-athletes from each school donated toys to the Ronald McDonald House. The Triangular is the only meet in the country in which one combined team score is given. The team that wins the meet is awarded the "Jug." Missouri fought hard to win the jug for the second time, but the Tigers were bested by Kansas State. The Tigers scored 253 points and were led by seniors Ochuko Ekpere in the long jump and Eli Sommerfeldt in the triple jump. Cantwell ripped his school record in the weight throw at the Triangular and provisionally qualified in the shot put.
Mizzou hit the road and competed in the two-day Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. Three Tigers posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks in Indiana. Senior Jay Meystedt won the high jump with a mark of 7-1 and Brooks took the top spot in the mile in 4:54.04. Junior Brooke Ennen won the women's weight throw (49-1) and senior Michelle Moran won the women's high jump (5-7). Christian Cantwell continued to post big numbers during the 2001 indoor season winning the weight throw (67-7.50) and posting provisional marks in the weight and the shot put (58-4.5)
Cantwell and Russ Bell were the big stories the following week at the MU All-Comers Meet. Cantwell set a school record in the shot put with a 63-6.75 effort. His mark was an NCAA automatic qualifying mark. Bell also went over the 60-foot mark posting a 60-2 throw. It marked the first time the Tigers have had two 60-foot shot putters in the same season. Sophomore Christi Myers picked up the win and a provisional mark in the high jump (5-9.75).
The Tigers traveled to Lincoln, Neb., the next week to try to win their first Big 12 Conference Championship. The women scored 60.5 points and finished fifth. The MU men scored 53.5 points and placed sixth. Ann Marie Brooks paced the women winning the 3000m in a time of 9:16.47. Her time was an automatic qualifier and her career-best. She was also a part of the women's distance medley relay team that won the conference championship on day one. The other members of the eventual National Champion DMR team were Ashley Wysong, Sunny Gilbert and Kerry Hils. Cantwell was the Tigers' other individual conference champion, winning the shot put with a throw of 62-0.50.
Five Tigers traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the indoor National Championships. The Missouri women scored 21 points en route to a seventh-place showing. The DMR team posted a time of 11:06.77 and was six seconds off the American collegiate record of 11:00.71 (set by Villanova in 1987). The Tigers finished the 2001 indoor season with the best DMR time in the world! Wysong and Brooks each earned two All-American accolades (one individually and one as members of the DMR team). Cantwell placed ninth in the weight throw and earned his second career All-American honor.
Outdoor Track
The Tigers opened the 2001 outdoor season with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark at from sophomore Knut Harald Sommerfeldt at the Texas A&M Multi-Event Festival. He broke the school points record for the first time at that meet and would eclipse that mark later in the season. Christian Cantwell and Russ Bell picked up wins in the shot put and the hammer respectively.
The following weekend Missouri took a long road trip out to the west coast to compete in the San Diego State Aztec Classic. Bell won the hammer throw for the second week in a row. He also finished third in the discus. Freshman Gary File saw his first action as a Tiger in the javelin and took third place.
The Missouri tracksters opened the 2001 season as a team at the Stanford Invitational in record fashion with Kerry Hils and Bell setting records in the steeplechase and the hammer respectively. Hils' 10:22.54 was an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Senior Ashley Wysong also ran an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 800m.
After three straight weeks on the road the Tigers finally came home and opened a two-meet home stand with the Missouri Relays. Cantwell broke the meet and Walton Stadium record in the discus with his throw of 194-7. Bell won the hammer and threw a provisional mark in the discus. Senior Shomari Benton also picked up a win in the long jump and led the Tiger sweep with fellow senior Ochuko Ekpere placing second and junior Ben Dean placing third.
The MU women picked up 12 individual wins and set three meet records. Senior Sunny Gilbert and Wysong were the headliners for the women's success. Gilbert won the 1500 and Wysong captured the win the 400. Junior Carla Grewe won the discus throw and set a meet record (146-8). Sophomore Abbe Ohneck set a meet record in the long jump (18-1) and freshman Janae Strickland broke the shot put record (42-11).
The Tiger women continued the success from the Missouri Relays with a win at the fifth Tom Botts Invitational. The women scored 234 points en route to the victory over Notre Dame, Air Force and Iowa State. Junior Ann Marie Brooks paced the women to the top spot with a win in the 1500m. Hils posted another victory and provisional mark in the steeplechase. Senior Michelle Moran and sophomore Christi Myers tied for first in the high jump. The MU men finished second behind Air Force. Again it was the throwing tandem of Cantwell and Bell leading the way for the Tigers. Cantwell won the shot put and was named the meet's Outstanding Male Athlete. Bell picked up a win the hammer and finished second in the discus. Knut Sommerfeldt won the javelin, while sophomore Stewart Kimball won the 800m and Ben Dean won the long jump.
Mizzou split the team and half went to Mount SAC and the rest of the Tigers competed at the Kansas Relays the next weekend. Eli Sommerfeldt and fellow senior Jay Meystedt recorded provisional marks in the heptathlon and high jump respectively. Russ Bell also got in on the act and ripped a 202-8 in the hammer for a school record.
Juniors Carla Grewe and Heather Whitehead posted wins in different flights of the discus at the 74th Annual Kansas Relays. Freshman Janae Strickland found her way to the victory stand with a win in the shot put.
Over the final two weekends of the season, Cantwell and Bell continued their dominance in the throws at Penn State and Emporia State and Meystedt set a personal best at the Emporia State Invitational.
The Missouri men came out of the gate with a vengence at the Big 12 Championships hosted by Texas A&M. The MU men led the field over the first three days of competition. Junior Mike Pitts won the 10,000m with a time of 30:25.03 to win his first career Big 12 Championship. Knut Sommerfeldt joined Pitts on the winner's stand with the victory in the decathlon. Cantwell and Meystedt were the other Tiger men that won conference championships. Cantwell took the shot put with a mark of 62-1 and Meystedt won the high jump clearing 7-0.25. Overall the men scored 91 points in four days of competition and finished third. It was the highest that Missouri has placed since the inception of the Big 12.
The Missouri women also had some big time performances at the Big 12 meet. Kerry Hils and Ann Marie Brooks set stadium records en route to their victories. Hils won the steeplechase in 10:28.82 and Brooks took the 5000m in 16:29.40. The Tiger women scored 52.65 points and came in ninth place overall.
Nine Tigers qualified for the NCAA Championships held in Eugene, Ore. The five women and four men were the most qualifiers ever at the NCAA Championships for MU. The Tigers also finished the 2001 season with three All-Americans: Christian Cantwell, Ann Marie Brooks, Kerry Hils and Russ Bell.
Head Coach Rick McGuire reflects on the 2000-2001 season:
"The 2001 season was certainly one of the most successful and satisfying of the 101 years of Missouri Track and Field. We had the NCAA National Champion and the world-leading women's distance medley relay and a seventh-place women's team finish at the Indoor NCAA Championships. Also the men's third-place performance at the Outdoor Big 12 Championships and the 11 All-Americans, nine Big 12 Champions, 10 school records seven Academic All-Americans, 17 4.0 grade point averages and the women earning the 19th consecutive Academic All-American team award, all made for a very special year. I am very proud of both our athletes and our coaches for all of their personal inverstments and committed efforts throughout the year. Especially for their confidence and courage in the face of the toughest competition. They really delivered when it counted most and they have earned a great deal of attention, recognition and honor for the University of Missouri, both in school and in sport. For me, they represent the very best of collegiate athletics is meant to be!!"
