April 27, 2002

Des Moines, Iowa -- On yet another cold and rainy weekend, Christian Cantwell came out a champion in the shot put. On his third toss in the invitational event, Cantwell hit a automatic-qualifying mark of 69-1.25 which would be the best of the day men's invitational event. The Drake Relays championship is Cantwell's first.

"It was cold and rainy, and I shouldn't have thrown far but I did," Cantwell said. "The crowd was pretty good. That was obviously a motivation for me."

Cantwell once again beat out one of the world's leaders, Kevin Toth, who placed second with a mark of 66-11.5.

"I think this is an important competition for Christian following last week's throw (of 70-1.5)," assistant track coach Brett Halter said. "In difficult conditions, he threw what was his second best throw of his life. This field was even deeper than last week's field at KU. His series was great. It was extraordinary."

Russ Bell also threw in the invitational shot put and placed seventh, with his throw of 59-11.25.

Two Missouri men placed in the top ten in the hammer throw. Bell placed fourth with a provisional-qualifying toss of 206-3. Micah Shanks threw a distance of 194-6, good for seventh place. Libor Charfreitag of Southern Methodist won the event with a toss of 238-9, the meet record.

In other events Saturday, the women's 4x800m relay team placed ninth in a time of 9:04.33. Sophomore Holly Scherder had a personal best mark in the hammer throw with her mark of 173-10 to place her fifth collegiately.

Former Missouri athlete Derrick Peterson was second in the men's invitational 800m run, finishing in a time of 1:50.51. Junior Timothy Dunne was fifth in a time of 1:52.07.