May 2, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri men's track & field team has announced two more spring signees for the 2002-03 school year.

Bill Hobson (Katy, Texas/Taylor HS) is currently ranked in the Top 10 in the nation among high school boys in the shot put. He recently became a 2002 Texas regional champion and has a personal-best mark of 61-11 in the shot put. Hobson is also an honors student.

"We're really excited about him," throws coach Brett Halter said. "He gets the job done in the athletic arena and he's getting the job done in the classroom."

Head coach Rick McGuire said he is excited about bringing Hobson aboard at Missouri.

"Bill is a great person," McGuire said. "He's a perfect fit for us."

Halter expanded on why Hobson will fit well with the Missouri team.

"The reason he's a perfect fit for us is because our kids are really excited about him and that's important," Halter said. "He's going to bring a lot to our team right out of the blocks. It's really exciting that we can add to an already established group of throwers."

Hans Olav Uldal (His, Norway) was ranked the No. 1 junior decathlete in Norway in 2001 and finished eighth in the European Junior Championships with 7,072 points. His personal-best point total is 7,180. Uldal continues a tradition of Norwegian decathletes at Mizzou that started with MU indoor record holder Espen Strindeberg and current record holder and conference champion Knut Sommerfeldt.

"Knut and Espen have both been great people, great students and great athletes, and we anticipate the same with Hans Olav Uldal," McGuire said.

Assistant coach Matt Candrl said Uldal will complement the multi event group.

"He's going to bring some unique experiences to the multis group in their training and in competition," Candrl said. "He's a very disciplined student-athlete."