March 1, 2002
NEW YORK CITY -- Three throwers from Missouri's Track & Field team are doing something at The Armory today in New York City that most collegiate athletes dream about doing.
Senior Micah Shanks and juniors Russ Bell and Christian Cantwell compete in the USA Track & Field Championships today along with some of the top athletes in the world. One of the better examples is Olympic silver medalist and 2001 U.S. Indoor shot put champion Adam Nelson, who will be among the shot put competitors at Indoor USATF Championships.
"This is like the NBA finals in basketball or the Superbowl in the NFL," head coach Rick McGuire said. "And, these three guys have qualified for it. That by itself is a pretty extraordinary thing -- for them to all qualify for it together is special." The fact that Shanks, Bell and Cantwell could enter the meet was a big part of the reason they are in New York City. The other reason is to prepare them for the future.
"You always hear about how it's an important part of sports to lead them to the next level," McGuire said. "Obviously we think that these guys are absolutely right on track for having post-collegiate careers in track & field. A big part of this is to get them meaningful experience in this post-collegiate level."
Something that makes this trip more unique is that the three athletes are the first that McGuire has taken to the meet while they are still eligible, collegiately.
Bell will throw in both the shot put and weight throw at the meet. Shanks will compete in the weight throw and Cantwell will throw the shot. All three have already automatically qualified for the Indoor NCAA Championships in the weight throw. Cantwell has automatically qualified in the shot, and Bell and Shanks have provisionally qualified in the event this season.
"In truth, they can very well be players here," McGuire said. "We've come to play hard. Age doesn't matter when you get in the circle -- it just matters if you throw far."
Results will be posted following today's events at www.mutigers.com.
Oh, the places they'll go
While there are throwers in New York, a number of other Missouri athletes are at various locations trying to get automatic qualifying marks in their events, or at least better their provisional marks to move up in the rankings.
Those attempting to get better times or marks are senior Ann Marie Brooks in the women's 3000m, freshman Jesse Sims in the men's high jump, sophomore Jason Edmonds in the men's high jump and sophomore Christi Myers in the women's high jump. Three men will run in the 800m -- junior Timothy Dunne, junior Stewart Kimball and freshman Rem Moll.
Tigers in the Nation
With their provisional and automatic qualifying marks, many Missouri athletes are ranked nationally for their performances.
On the men's side, five athletes are ranked nationally. Junior Timothy Dunne provisionally qualified in the 800m Feb. 2 (1:49.84) and is ranked 19th. Freshman high jumper Jesse Sims is ranked 22nd this week with his provisional-qualifying leap of 7-1 from the KSU-KU-MU Triangular. Throwers Christian Cantwell, Russ Bell and Micah Shanks are also ranked for the men. Cantwell is ranked fourth in the shot put and third in the weight throw, Bell is ninth in the weight throw and 17th in the shot and Shanks is fifth in the weight throw for the Tigers.
On the women's side, sophomore Christi Myers provisionally qualified in the high jump after her leap of 5-9.75 at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational. She is ranked 25th in the nation. Senior Ann Marie Brooks is ranked 13th in the 3000m for her 9:25.67 time at the Big 12 Championships last weekend.
On a global scale
Three men's throwers not only make the list of nationally ranked athletes, but are rated in the world. Christian Cantwell is ranked seventh in the world in both the shot put and the weight throw. Also in the weight throw, Micah Shanks and Russ Bell are ranked ninth and 15th, respectively in the world.