May 9, 2002
Columbia, Mo. -- Members of the University of Missouri men's and women's track & field teams will compete Sat., May 11 at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan., before the Tigers host the 2002 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 17-19.
Attending the A.T.G. Sports/ESU Twilight Qualifer meet are Missouri's throwers, high jumpers and pole vaulters.
The pole vault begins at 2 p.m. to begin Tiger action and ends with the men's shot put which follows the women's shot put at 6 p.m.
Results and a recap of the meet will be available at www.mutigers.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 weeks, 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
A number of Tigers have provisional and automatic qualifying marks which place them on the NCAA's outdoor performance list.
The latest addition to the group is sophomore Jennifer Bennett. Bennett provisionally qualified for the NCAA outdoor meet when she cleared 12-feet, 8 inches in the pole vault May 4 at the Iowa Musco Twilight Invitational in Iowa City. Her mark is the Missouri outdoor record, her personal best mark, and currently ranks 30th in the nation.
Ann Marie 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 on April 19. She is currently ranked fourth in the nation in the event. Brooks also provisionally qualified in the 1500m run May 4 when she won the event in a time of 4:22.43, ranking her 25th among collegiate women.
Knut Sommerfeldt provisionally qualified at the Mt. SAC Relays as well when he scored 7300 points in the decathlon. His point total ranks him 15th in the nation. Freshman Jesse Sims, who cleared a personal best height of 7-2.5 at the Tom Botts Invitational, remains tied for seventh in the country. Senior Adam MacDowell ranks 40th in the nation in the men's 10,000m run. He 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 with his mark of 70-4.5 at the Iowa Musco Twilight Invitational on May 4. Russ Bell is ranked 12th in the event (62-8.5). Bell remains eighth in the discus with his mark of 197-9 from Houston's Tom Tellez Invitational and is 13th in the hammer (209-1).
Micah Shanks is ranked 11th in the hammer throw with his mark of 210-1 from March 23.
Janae Strickland fell two spots in the ranks for Tigers in the throws. She is now in 31st place in the shot put. Strickland's throw at Drake Relays -- a second-place finish -- was a mark of 50-5.25.
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, both of the United States (70-7.25).
Pit-ture perfect
With much excitement, the track team got a new pole vault pit April 8 that now sits in Walton Stadium.
The new pit cost $12,000 and surpasses the required dimensions for safety. Pits generally have to be replaced every 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 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.
Iowa Musco Twilight IV Review
Junior Christian Cantwell had another monster throw in the shot put, throwing 70 feet, 4 1/2 inches, the farthest throw in MU history. His mark, a meet and Cretzmeyer Stadium record, ranks third in the world.
Junior Russ Bell had three provisional marks on the day, finishing second in the discus (191-8) and third in the shot put (62-1) and hammer (202-6).
The men finished in fourth place with 97 points. Minnesota had 137.5 points to win the meet.
The women's team won six events and won the meet with 118.3 points followed by host Iowa with 106.
Sophomore Jennifer Bennett picked up her first NCAA provisional qualifying mark Saturday when she cleared a personal-best height of 12-8 in the pole vault. The mark, which won the event, is a meet record and Missouri's school record.
Senior Ann Marie Brooks had the other provisional qualifying performance, as she won the 1500m run in 4:22.43.