Dec. 13, 2003
Final Performance List in PDF
Download Free Acrobat Reader
For the University of Missouri's cross country teams, the 2003 season will be one to remember for many reasons. The women's team made their eighth appearance in nine years at the NCAA Championships and upset higher ranked teams on their way to a 12th place showing, the best Mizzou finish since 1984. Sophomore Amanda Bales was named all-American for the Lady Tiger harriers and was joined by three others on the all-NCAA Midwest Region team. The women's team also had a strong showing at the Big 12 Championships, finishing in third.
The men's team in 2003 showed that they are still growing and should be set for a successful 2004 season. Improving in the team rankings at both the Big 12 Championships and the NCAA Midwest Regional, the Mizzou men qualified two sophomores for the NCAA Midwest Regional team in Tim Ross and Chase Hall. Ross was named to the all-Big 12 team.
The season began with the Tigers hosting the annual Missouri Cross Country Challenge with both teams taking first place. Mizzou's women took the top three places as well as six of the top 10. Sophomore Amanda Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) finished first overall for the women in the 5-kilometer race, winning her second meet of her career. In addition, Bales was named Big 12 Runner of the Week by the conference for, also, the second time in her career. Second and third went to juniors Jill Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) and Serena Ramsey (Waukesha, Wis.). Kristen Hansen, Ashley Patten, and Kate Greer also finished in the top 10.
The Tiger men, ranked No. 6 in the region at the time, also won their home meet finishing above Illinois who came into the meet ranked No. 4 in the Midwest Region. Missouri's five scorers finished in the top eight and yielded a 22 to 33 victory over the Illini in the 8k race. Southeast Missouri State and Bradley finished third and fourth, respectively.
Mizzou was led by junior Mark Munzlinger (Hannibal, Mo.) and his second place finish (25:31.76). Munzlinger finished behind the race winner, Jason Bill of Illinois. The Tigers finished one, two, and three behind Munzlinger for third, fourth, and fifth place and was the driving force behind the Mizzou victory. Senior Ryan Hampton (Liberty, Mo.), sophomore Tim Ross (Alto, Mich.), and sophomore Matt Noonan (Baldwin City, Kan.) all finished within eight seconds of the Tiger leader.
Next was the Bradley Open, held in Bradley, Ill., on a Friday, September evening. The women's team, ranked No. 17 in the nation and first in the Midwest region, outran thirteen other Division I teams, including No. 27 Marquette, securing their sixth meet win in nine tries. The lady Tigers were paced by sophomore Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas) and junior Jill Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) who finished second and third, respectively. Lauver joined Bales as another sophomore to earn her second Big 12 Runner of the Week honor of her career with her running at the Bradley Open.
The men finished seventh in the thirteen team field in the 8k race and were led by junior David Mertens (Ballwin, Mo.) who finished in 14th place. Also impressive was the running of freshman Tipper O'Brien who finished second for the Tigers and 35th overall. Freshman Colten Green finished 47th in his second meet as a Tiger, and Neville Miller and Andrew Norton both achieved personal bests to round-out Mizzou's scoring.
The Mizzou harriers then traveled to Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational that featured thirteen women's and nine men's teams that were ranked. Amanda Bales led Missouri with a 13th place finish and finished the 6k race in 21 minutes, 16 seconds, earning her second Big 12 Runner of the Week honor of the year and the third of her career for the effort. Sophomore Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas) was second on the Mizzou team finishing in 37th. 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.
The Mizzou men finished 19th in their 28 team race and scored better than Big 12 foes, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Texas A&M. Senior Ryan Hampton (Liberty, Mo.) 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.
To prepare for the upcoming post-season, Mizzou went to the NCAA Pre-Nationals in hopes of getting stronger for what's to come, but also to earn some valuable wins over ranked opponents and teams within the Midwest Region. The No. 21 women's team finished sixth overall in the 33 team race and beat out No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 18 Villanova. 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.
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. 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's cross country teams began their post-season Halloween morning at the Big 12 Championships in Spicewood, Texas, hosted by the University of Texas. The No. 17 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.
Individually, the women had outstanding performances from junior Jill Petersen and sophomores Amanda Bales and Valerie Lauver, 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, 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.
The temperatures at the Big 12 Championships were in the 80s on Halloween morning, the Mizzou cross country squads would soon learn that November is definitely not as warm as a Texas October. The first test with the cooler temps came at the NCAA Midwest Regional, held in Stillwater, Okla. The men's team finished seventh overall, jumping one spot from 2002's eighth place showing. The 22-team field included host Oklahoma State who took the team title. Tiger sophomores Chase Hall and Tim Ross earned all-Midwest Region honors following in Ryan Hampton's performance in 2002. Ross finished the race in 12th place; Hall came in 24th overall.
The women's team came into the NCAA Regional as the defending Midwest champion after three Tigers was named to the all-Region team. Some may argue that since the team finished in second place, three points behind Big 12 rival Nebraska that the regional proved to be a disappointment. But, that wasn't the case. Four Tigers earned all-Region honors including placing three in the top three. Amanda Bales once again carried the torch by winning the 6k race, gaining her first title in her career. She was also named Midwest Region Woman of the Year. Serena Ramsey finished fourth overall, Valerie Lauver took seventh, and Jill Petersen placed 13th to join Bales on the all-Region team.
Coming off the slight loss to Nebraska, the women's team went to a 17th place ranking to being ranked No. 20 in the FinishLynx Coaches' Poll going into the NCAA Championships. In 2002, the women finished in 16th overall, with Bales and Lauver taking 38th and 39th, respectively.
For the 2003 nationals in Waterloo, Iowa, the weather worked in the Tigers' advantage. Despite temperatures hovering in the upper teens and wind chills near the zero degree mark, the Mizzou women knew that teams from the coasts may have trouble with the conditions.
For sophomore Iowan Amanda Bales, the NCAA Championships proved to be a bit of a homecoming as her and her family are from Bettendorf, Iowa. Coming off all-Big 12 and all-Midwest Region performances, Bales continued her strong showings by finishing in 23rd overall, and earning the first all-American honor for Mizzou cross country since 2001 when Ann Marie Brooks earn the honor. The 23rd place showing by Bales was the best Mizzou individual finish since 1990.
Combined with Bales' all-American effort and four other Tigers earning personal bests, the Missouri women accomplished a 12th place finish at the national race, the program's best finish since 1984. Katherine Bonugli, Kristin Hansen, Jill Petersen, and Serena Ramsey all brought their best performances for the race earning personal bests in the six-kilometer race. Ramsey was the second Tiger to cross the finish line coming in at 51st overall.
North Carolina's Shalene Flanagan won her second consecutive individual national title. The Stanford Cardinal men and women both brought home the national team titls.
Academically, Missouri cross country once again stood apart from many athletic teams in the country by having fifteen of seventeen squad members named to the conference's All-Academic first or second teams. To earn the honor, student-athletes must have achieived a 3.0 GPA over the past two semesters and have participated in 60 percent of the team's contests. Senior Ryan Hampton, junior Serena Ramsey and sophomore Valerie Lauver made the team with 4.0 GPAs.
Head Coach Jared Wilmes and assistant coach Rebecca Wilmes will have a lot to look forward to in 2004 as for the Mizzou cross country teams it should be as, if not more, exciting than the 2003 season. The women's team will lose senior scorers Katherine Bonugli and Sonya Yamnitz, but will return an all-American in Bales, six all-Region team members, and four all-Big 12 performers. The men will continue to grow stronger as all team members are expected to come back for next year. Ryan Hampton who was injured most of the season is expected to return as a Redshirt senior next year and will add his all-Region and all-Big 12 statuses from 2002 to the likes of sophomores Tim Ross and Chase Hall along with soon-to-be seniors Mark Munzlinger, Josh Davis, and David Mertens to achieve higher and loftier goals for 2004 season.