Oct. 28, 2003
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Weather: at 9am, Friday ... Warm, Few Clouds, 71 degrees
COLUMBIA, Mo. -The University of Missouri cross country teams start their post-season on Halloween morning, Friday, October 31st in the 8th annual Big 12 Championships to be held at Barton Creek Country Club in Spicewood, Texas. Spicewood is about 20 miles from Austin, Texas, were the University of Texas, this year's host resides. The Mizzou women are ranked 17th in the latest FinishLynx Coaches' Poll, second best in the Big 12 Conference.
At last year's championships, hosted by Mizzou, the Tigers finished second on the women's side, their best finish since 1996. Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas), a freshman at the time, led the Tigers with a fifth place, All-Big 12 performance. Lauver was the second freshman to lead the female Tigers at the Big 12 Championships. In 1998, Kim Moore finished eighth overall to bring Mizzou a third place team finish.
The women are coming off a sixth place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals where the Tigers placed better than No. 13 Villanova and No. 17 Wisconsin. Sophomore Amanda Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) led with a 12th place finish overall. More impressively, four of Mizzou's harriers achieved personal bests in the race. Juniors Jill Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) and Serena Ramsey (Waukesha, Wis.) outran their personal bests by just under a minute in the 6k race. The latest coaches' poll put the Tigers at No. 17 in the nation, four spaces up from their previous ranking of No. 21. In addition, the poll has the women at No. 1 in the Midwest region.
The Mizzou men are looking to improve upon a ninth place finish from the 2002 championships. Ryan Hampton led the Tigers with an 11th place finish, earning All-Big 12 honors. The men saw similar, if not better, successes at the NCAA Pre-Nationals. Six of Mizzou's seven scorers hit personal marks in the 8k race and are starting to peak at the perfect time.
Results and a complete recap will be available soon after the race on Friday on www.mutigers.com.