Oct. 18, 2003
Waterloo, Iowa - The University of Missouri cross country teams had outstanding Saturday at the NCAA Pre-National hosted by Northern Iowa in Waterloo, Iowa. The No. 21 women's team finished sixth overall in the 33 team race and beat out No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 18 Villanova. The men, placing in 19th of 35 teams, also had a big day after defeating five Midwest Region opponents, an important component in possible advancement to the NCAA Championships.
For the women, sophomore Amanda Bales finished 12th overall in the 6k "Gold" race with a time of 20:43.5. Bales finished only 15 seconds out of the top seven. Junior Serena Ramsey was second for the Tigers with a 29th place finish. Sophomore Valerie Lauver and junior Jill Petesen finished near each other with a 36th and 37th place finish, respectively.
"Overall we ran real well as a team," said Jared Wilmes, Head Coach of Cross Country. "We proved to hold our own with as much competition as we saw at this meet. Racing against 11 ranked teams and many more that received votes was a challenge to overcome."
On the men's side, sophomore Tim Ross had a solid 40th place showing on the day in the 238 runner race with a time of 24:44 in the 8k "Purple" race. Mizzou beat out Midwest Region teams Drake, Eastern Illinois, Loyola, Southern Illinois, and Wichita State, big wins for the team. The only Midwest Region foe to beat out the Tigers was Minnesota.
Mizzou finished well despite missing senior Ryan Hampton, who was out with a minor knee injury.
"I was real happy with the team and Tim Ross," said Wilmes. "I think we are starting to come together as a team and things are looking good going into the championship season."
The Tigers will now enter the championship season by going to Austin, Texas for the Big 12 Championships held on Halloween, Friday, October 31st.
For complete coverage of the Tigers go to www.mutigers.com.