April 23, 2002
Columbia, Mo. -- The Tigers go to Des Moines, Iowa this week to participate in one of the most well-known outdoor meets in the nation, the Drake Relays, April 24-27.
The meet features the sport's elite from all over the world. Sixteen Drake Relays record holders will be back to compete at this year's meet. Last year, Russ Bell took the title in the discus with his throw of 181-1 and the women's 4x800 relay team (Sunny Gilbert, Ann Marie Brooks, Kerry Hils, Ashley Wysong) won in a time of 8:44.95.
Results from the meet will be available at the end of each day at www.mutigers.com. For real-time results, click on the meet website at www.drakerelays.com.
Big 12 Outdoor Championships Information Online
In conjunction with Missouri as host of the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the official website of University of Missouri athletics -- www.mutigers.com -- launched a frontpage link to information about the track meet April 4. Fans can find meet information, campus maps and Big 12 information as the meet gets closer and will be able to get real-time results during the Outdoor Championships.
In the past week, a few things have been added to the Big 12 link. Media credentials are now available in PDF form. Those interested in getting credentials for the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships can print out the form and fax it to the University of Missouri Media Relations office at (573) 882-4720.
Tigers in the rankings
Just like the indoor season, the Tigers are adding more names to the national list every week.
The newest members to the group are senior Ann Marie Brooks and junior Knut Sommerfeldt. Brooks automatically qualified for the NCAA meet as well as qualified for the USATF meet with her time of 15:52.54 in the women's 5000m run at the Mt. SAC Relays April 19. She is currently ranked first in the nation in the event. Sommerfeldt provisionally qualified at the Mt. SAC Relays as well when he scored 7300 points in the decathlon. His point total ranks him 12th in the nation. Freshman Jesse Sims, who cleared a personal best height of 7-2.5 at the Tom Botts Invitational, currently ranks him sixth in the country. Senior Adam MacDowell ranks 28th in the nation in the men's 10,000m run. MacDowell ran the 10K in 29:41.67 March 31 at the Stanford Invitational, his personal best in the event.
Junior Christian Cantwell currently is tops in the nation in the shot put for his mark of 70-1.5 during the Kansas Relays. Russ Bell is ranked seventh in the event (62-8.5). Bell remains fourth in the discus with his mark of 197-9 from Houston's Tom Tellez Invitational and is tenth in the hammer (209-1).
Micah Shanks is ranked ninth in the hammer throw with his mark of 210-1 from March 23.
Janae Strickland also ranks for the Tigers in the throws with her 44th national position in the shot put.
Around the world
Junior Christian Cantwell not only leads the national collegiate list in the shot put, but he is also currently ranked third in the event globally. Cantwell follows leader Adam Nelson (72-8) and Kevin Toth of the United States (70-3.5). Joining Cantwell on the world ranks is Knut Sommerfeldt for his 7300-point performance in the decathlon last weekend. He is ranked 20th in the world.
Pit-ture perfect
With much excitement, the track team got a new pole vault pit April 8 that now sits in the southeast corner of Walton Stadium.
The new pit cost $12,000 and surpasses the required dimensions for safety. Pits generally have to be replaced ever five years as weather will break them down over time. The old pit met safety requirements but the new one is four feet longer and nearly two feet wider than the previous pit.
Cantwell named Athlete of the Week
Missouri Track & Field's Christian Cantwell was selected as the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week for the week of April 1-7, and was again named the male athlete of the week for April 15-21. It was the second award for Cantwell and the Tigers during the outdoor season thus far.
Cantwell, the Big 12's two-time defending outdoor men's shot put champion (2000, 2001), threw 68-2.5 April 6 at the Missouri Relays in Columbia for his first honor and his mark of 70-1.5 gave Cantwell the second honor of the month. His mark is currently the best throw in the collegiate ranks and third-best in the world.
The Eldon, Mo., junior holds the Walton Stadium and Missouri Relays records from his 68-2.5 throw and holds the MU outdoor record and the Kansas Relays meet record. In addition to his success in the shot put, Cantwell has turned in discus (180-1) and hammer (174-7) performances which are among the top ten conference marks in those events. Cantwell has now registered four NCAA automatic-qualifying marks this season.
Kansas Relays/Mt. SAC Relays Review
It was a cold, wet weekend, but it was also one of the best weekends for Missouri track & field so far in the outdoor season.
Christian Cantwell was named the Kansas Relays Male Athlete of the Meet for his 70-1.5 mark in the men's invitational shot put. Russ Bell was seventh in the event with a toss of 61-6.25. Jennifer Bennett had quite a weekend herself as she set the Missouri outdoor record in the women's pole vault, clearing a height of 12-3.5.
While things were going well in less-than-favorable conditions in Lawrence, Missouri's two athletes on the west coast were making noise, too.
Knut Sommerfeldt had a provisional-qualifying finish in the decathlon as he ended his meet with 7500 points. Ann Marie Brooks ran her first 5000m race of the season, and her time of 15:52.54 landed atop the collegiate ranks and automatically qualified her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.