Sept. 27, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The University of Missouri men's and women's cross country teams ran Saturday in the 18th Annual Roy Griak Invitational at Les Borland Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minn. The No. 17 ranked (FinishLynx Coaches' Poll) Mizzou women's team finished ninth overall and the Tiger men finished 19th overall. Sophomore Amanda Bales led the lady harriers with a 13th place finish and senior Ryan Hampton led the way for the men with a 93rd placing.
Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) finished the 6k race in 21 minutes, 16 seconds. Sophomore Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas) was second on the Mizzou team finishing in 37th (21:47). Serena Ramsey, Jill Petersen, and Kristen Hansen rounded out the Tiger scoring finishing in 39th, 59th, and 84th place, respectively. Petersen scored a career-best with a time of 22:06.
"I thought our ladies ran well today," said Rebecca Wilmes, Cross Country Assistant Coach. "We are putting ourselves in the place we want to be right now. The competition was tough, but that prepares you for things in the future."
Starting with 13 ranked teams in the race, the women's field proved to be a tough one. No. 20 Arizona State won the meet, over No. 5 Providence and No. 6 Wake Forest. The Mizzou women's team upset No. 13 Michigan who finished tenth.
The Mizzou men finished 19th in their 28 team race and scored better than Big 12 foes, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Texas A&M. Hampton led the way for the Tigers with a time of 25:41 in the 8k race. All five of Missouri's scorers finished 13 seconds within each other. After Hampton came sophomore Tim Ross in 92nd. Sophomore Chase Hall, junior Mark Munzlinger, and sophomore Matt Noonan rounded out the Mizzou scoring.
"I think we ran a good race," said Jared Wilmes, Head Cross Country Coach. "The field was as good as it gets for both the men and women, and we were happy by how our depth showed with all five of our runners finishing so close to each other. It was also nice to beat some teams in our region and our conference, some good things to build on."
Missouri will travel to either Fayetteville, Ark., or Waterloo, Iowa on October 18th for their next race as they will choose between competition in the Chili Pepper Invitational or the NCAA Pre-Nationals. For complete updates of anything Mizzou go to www.mutigers.com.