Tigers Host Sixth Annual Tom Botts Invitational
4/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
April 12, 2002
Columbia, Mo. -- The Tigers are home for a second weekend in a row as the University of Missouri Track & Field team hosts the sixth annual Tom Botts Invitational Saturday, April 13, at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
The three teams who will compete with the Tigers are Arkansas State, Iowa State and Notre Dame. The meet will be scored.
The meet begins at 9 a.m. with the women's hammer throw and wraps up with the men's 4x400m relay which is slated to start at 3:55 p.m.
Results from the Tom Botts Invitational will be posted at www.mutigers.com after all events are completed.
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.
Another addition to the website are links to the Big 12 website and new maps of the facilities. More information will be posted on the site as it becomes available.
Tigers in the rankings
Just like the indoor season, the Tigers are adding more names to the national list every week.
Senior Adam MacDowell ranks 26th 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 the leading thrower in the shot put for his mark of 68-2.5 last weekend during the Missouri Relays. Russ Bell is ranked 12th in the event (60-3). Bell moved down one spot to fourth in the discus with his mark of 197-9 from Houston's Tom Tellez Invitational.
Micah Shanks remains ranked sixth in the hammer throw with his mark of 210-1 from March 23.
Janae Strickland represents the only current Tiger woman to be ranked. She is 39th nationally in the shot put.
Around the world
Junior Christian Cantwell is not only the NCAA leader in the shot put, but he is also currently ranked third in the event globally. Cantwell follows leader Kevin Toth of the United States (70-3.5) and Manuel Martinez of Spain (68-7.75).
Pit-ture perfect
With much excitement, the track team got a new pole vault pit this past Monday 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 Athletes of the Week for the week of April 1-7, the conference announced Monday. It was the first 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. His mark is currently the best throw in the collegiate ranks and third-best in the world as of Monday.
The Eldon, Mo., junior also broke the MU, the Walton Stadium and Missouri Relays records en route to setting his personal-best toss. 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 now has registered two NCAA automatic-qualifying marks this season - he threw 64-8 at the College Station Relays March 16.
Missouri Relays Review
Alright, it's about time we figured out who knows Missouri Track & Field best. Last weekend 19 Missouri Relays records were set, but how many were set in each division?
To break it down, there were three girls records, one boys record, nine women's records and six men's records set over the course of the two-day meet.
The University of Missouri holds nine records at the meet -- the women have six records and the men have three.
