Feb. 9, 2004
Chris Horn didn't have spectacular times in high school at O'Fallon Township, Ill. But when he walked into Missouri assistant coach Matt Candrl's office to ask if he could walk on to the MU track team, Candrl knew he had something. He just didn't know what.
At 6-foot-3 and with a 40-inch vertical jump, Horn seemed destined to jump in some capacity.
Horn, a sophomore, has translated that into two straight first-place finishes in the long jump. At the Tiger Classic yesterday, Horn eclipsed the personal best in the long jump he set last week with a leap of 23 feet, 1? inches.
"Coming in, I was kind of nervous, because I felt like I had a lot of pressure to try to repeat last week's" feat, Horn said. "But I had to try to forget about that and focus on what I had to do."
Going into the final round, Horn was in second place. If he thought the pressure was bad before, it was about to get much worse. Horn scratched on his first two jumps, leaving him with one final chance. Horn rallied some teammates to help cheer him on.
It worked.
"My third jump, my team got behind me, clapped it up for me, and I just put it out there," Horn said. "They backed me up, and they're great for that.
"I was happy but at the same time I feel like I'm not satisfied, which tells me there's more to come."
Candrl feels the same way.
"He's a great athlete. He's explosive, but he's learning how to use his body," Candrl said. "I know he's got a bright future."
Candrl said Horn has the ability to do great things at MU.
"I don't know which event is his best event, but he's going to be on that top-five list all-time at Missouri in one of the jumps," Candrl said.
Horn is also fun to watch on the basketball court.
Although his high school basketball career was less then satisfying - he was cut as a freshman and sophomore, played junior varsity as a junior, but saw some floor time his senior year as a reserve - he has found his calling. Dunk contests.
Horn has used his amazing vertical leap to win three dunk contests. He didn't start dunking until his junior year, when he had a growth spurt, but he won the MU Rec Center dunk contest last year and is the two-time defending champion of the Legion of Black Collegians 3-on-3 basketball tournament dunk contest.
"It's just something I like to do on the side with Coach's grace," Horn said. "He says as long as it's out of season and I don't get hurt, I'm fine. I just go out there and have fun with it."
Horn doesn't practice his dunks. It's all spur of the moment.
"I don't even know what dunk I'm going to do until I get the ball," he said.
As for the rest of the Tigers, Holly Scherder won the weight throw with a school-record throw of 60-5?, surpassing her roommate Ann Snider's record of 58-8 ? from two weeks ago. Jesse Sims won the long jump (6-10 ?), Tipper O'Brien the mile (4 minutes, 18.40 seconds), Neville Miller the 600-yard run (1:12.78), Ashley Patten in the 800 meters (2:13.34), Serena Ramsey the mile (4:56.29) and Allison Werner the 1,000 meters (2:56.42). The MU men's 1,600-meter relay team won with a time of 3:17.12, the Missouri men's distance medley relay team won in 10:21.65 and the MU women's distance medley won in 12:03.06.
Former Tiger Christian Cantwell easily won the shot put competition with a throw of 69-0 - the longest indoor throw in the world this year. MU's Conrad Woolsey was the top collegian in the shot put with a mark of 59-3?.
Former Tiger Ann Marie Schwabe - formerly Brooks - qualified for the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in the 3,000 meters with her time of 9:20.82.