Missouri
Big 12 Championships
Cross Country Teams Take Third, Eighth at Big 12 Championships
10/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 31, 2003
Spicewood, Texas - The University of Missouri cross country teams competed today in the Eighth Annual Big 12 Cross Country Championships held at Barton Creek Lakeside Country Club in Spicewood, Texas. The women's team took third place overall and the men finished in eighth place. Four Tigers were named All-Big 12 by finishing in the top 15 individually.
The No. 17 (FinishLynx Coaches' Poll) lady Tigers finished third as a team with 88 points, 19 points better than their 2002 second place total. Missouri finished behind No. 7 Colorado, who won their fifth consecutive title, and No. 24 Baylor. Mizzou has finished third for the fifth time in the school's Big 12 history. The women's team also defeated all teams in the Midwest Region that they have competition with in the Big 12.
"I'm really happy with the way our kids competed today," said Jared Wilmes, Head Cross Country Coach. "We scored better than last year and had more top performances, but Baylor ran real well today to take second."
Individually, the women had outstanding performances from junior Jill Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) and sophomores Amanda Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) and Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas), the three were named All-Big 12. Bales took third in the 6k race to earn her first All-Big 12 honor and the best finish by a Mizzou runner since 1997 when junior Erin Windler brought home the individual Big 12 title. Earning her second All-Big 12 honor of her two-year career, Lauver finished in 11th place overall after leading the Tigers in 2002 with a fifth place finish. All-Big 12 honors also went to Jill Petersen, who finished in 14th overall, improving from a 42nd place finish in 2001. For Petersen this is her first All-Big 12 cross country distinction, but her third overall. She was All-Big 12 in the indoor mile run and the outdoor 1500-meter run in the 2003 track and field seasons.
The Mizzou men took eighth as a team overall, improving on a ninth place finish last year. The men's team finished with 156 points, a 90-point improvement from last year. Senior Ryan Hampton (Liberty, Mo.), who led the Tigers in last year's race with an All-Big 12, 11th place finish, sat out today's race nursing a knee injury. Sophomore Tim Ross (Alto, Mich.) earned All-Big 12 honors in Hampton's place with a 14th place finish in the 8k race, improving upon last year's 55th place finish. The school record holder in the indoor 5000-meter run, Ross also has All-Big 12 honors from last year's indoor and outdoor 5000-meter runs. Junior Josh Davis (Liberty, Mo.) came in 38th overall as Mizzou's second finisher.
"I was pleased by how our men's team ran today as well," Wilmes said. "The race between fifth and eighth place was real tight, any team could have jostled position easily with a small change in individual performances. Just as the women, the men ran better overall as a team. I think we especially did well without Ryan (Hampton) and really look forward to NCAA competition and definitely the next few years."
Next in the Mizzou's post-season run will be the NCAA Midwest Regional to be held in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, November 15th. For complete coverage of that race and complete results from the Big 12 Championships, still not released as of press time, visit out website www.mutigers.com.
