Missouri
NCAA Midwest Regional Championships
Cross Country Teams See Many Successes At NCAA Midwest Regional
11/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 15, 2003
Sophomore Amanda Bales took the individual title at today's NCAA Midwest Region Cross Country Championships held in Stillwater, Okla. Bales becomes the first Tiger to take the individual crown at the NCAA Regional since 1997. Six Tigers, four women and two men, were named All-Region for their efforts. As a team, the women finished second to Nebraska while the men finished seventh.
With the Mizzou women's second place finish in the 6k race they automatically clinch their second consecutive birth to the NCAA Championships and their eighth appearance in nine years. The top two teams in each of the NCAA's nine regions automatically qualify for the national championships. In 2002, Missouri won the overall team title at the Midwest Regional.
Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) last year as a freshman took third at the regionals and will take her second trip to the NCAA Championships. Bales joins juniors Serena Ramsey and Jill Petersen and sophomore Valerie Lauver as All-Region team members. Ramsey (Waukesha, Wisc.) took fourth overall for her first Top 25 post-season finish. Lauver improved from her eighth place finish in last year's regionals to a seventh place showing this year. Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) finished thirteenth overall and continues her string of strong meets. Petersen earned a personal best and All-Big 12 honors at last month's Big 12 Championships. Sophomore Kristen Hansen, coming off an ankle injury, finished in 38th overall to round out the Tiger scoring in her first regional appearance.
The men's team finished in seventh of 24 teams in the 10k race and placed above Big 12 foes Kansas State and Nebraska. Sophomores Tim Ross and Chase Hall earned their first All-Region honors with Top 25 finishes. Ross (Alto, Mich.), with a 12th place overall finish, has a chance to make the NCAA Championships as an individual to be decided on Monday. Hall (Tulsa, Okla.) finished in 24th overall and was a surprise No. 2 man for the Tigers. Scoring was rounded out by sophomore Matt Noonan and juniors Mark Munzlinger and Josh Davis who finished in 33rd, 45th, and 77th place, respectively.
The women's cross country team has already clinched a birth to the NCAA Championships held on Monday, November 24, in Waterloo, Iowa and will compete in the final meet in the 2003 season. The men's team is hoping for a team bid, but is more realistically going to see individual invitations to the national championships. Depending on which at-large teams get selected throughout the nation will determine Tim Ross and Chase Hall's fate in the NCAA Championships. Eighteen teams qualify automatically with a top two finish in the region which leaves 15 at-large bids to fill the 33-team field. In addition, the NCAA automatically invites the top four runners of each region from teams who did not automatically qualify or get selected. An additional runner is selected from the remaining pool to come up with the 268-runner national championship field.
For more information go to www.mutigers.com or www.ncaa.org.
