March 27, 2004
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The University of Missouri track and field team completed competition at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday. Sophomore Ashley Patten recorded the early No. 1 collegiate mark in the 800 meters with the second best performance all-time by a Tiger. Overall for the Tigers, the meet turned out to be one of the more successful as 15 Tigers earned NCAA regional qualifying marks, three turned out NCAA provisional marks, multiple personal-bests were set, and many entered the Missouri all-time top five.
Sophomore Ashley Patten (Clarkston, Mich.) once again put on a show in the 800-meters. Coming from sixth place in the last 200 meters, Patten finished second in her heat and as the number one collegian. Her personal-best, NCAA regional qualifying time of 2:05.43 are tops of any other recorded in the country for a collegian coming into the weekend in the young outdoor season. Also her time makes her the second fastest all-time in Missouri history, a feat she repeated from the indoor season. Patten won the indoor Big 12 Championship earlier this year after coming back from seventh in the final 150 meters of the race.
In today's action, many of the Tiger runners came away with personal-bests that are also NCAA Regional qualifying marks. Redshirt sophomore, Amanda Bales (Bettendorf, Iowa) finished second in her heat and 14th overall in the 1500-meter run, qualifying for the NCAA regional meet with a time of 4:25.10, a personal-best. Sophomore Matt Noonan (Baldwin City, Kan.) earned his first bid to the NCAA Regionals with a personal-best qualifying time of 9:05.68 in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Redshirt junior Ryan Hampton (Liberty, Mo.) repeated those previous performances by his teammates, scoring a personal-best and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 3:48.50 in the 1500-meter run.
In the high jump, junior Jesse Sims (Paola, Kan.) leaped for an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 6 feet, 10? inches (2.10m). Sophomore Chris Horn (O'Fallon, Ill.) earned a personal-best in the event with a jump of 6-8? (2.05m).
In the women's high jump, junior Jenny Bybee also hit an NCAA regional mark with a leap of 5-8 (1.73m).
Junior Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) set a personal-best in the 800 meters, finishing 14th with a time of 1:51.10. Also in that race, freshman Marcus Mayes finished 16th with a time of 1:51.71.
Late Friday night, several Missouri distance runners qualified for NCAA post-season competition and broke into the school's all-time top five with top performances with temperatures dipping into the 40s in the cool California night.
Sophomore Tim Ross (Alto, Mich.) qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships with a personal-best time of 14:12.23, placing second all-time in Missouri history in the event. Jumping to second all-time in Mizzou history, Sophomore Chase Hall (Tulsa, Okla.) ran for an NCAA provisional mark of 29:29.18 in the 10,000-meter run for a personal-best.
The 10,000-meter run provided much excitement for the Missouri women. Both sophomores Serena Ramsey (Waukesha, Wisc.) and Valerie Lauver (Allen, Texas) earned NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Ramsey finished 13th in the event and catapulted to second all-time in Missouri history with a personal-best of 34:44.63, 3:30 better than her previous best. Lauver also had a big personal-best with a time of 34:55.64 and now lays claim as the fifth best in Tiger history in the event.
Junior Jill Petersen (O'Fallon, Mo.) and senior Katherine Bonugli (St. Charles, Mo.) earned NCAA Regional Championship qualifying marks in the 5000-meter run. Petersen's time of 16:38.58 was a personal-best and earned her a third place spot all-time in Mizzou history. Bonugli ran the race in 16:53.45, also a personal-best.
Also at this meet, Chelsea Johnson of UCLA set a new collegiate record in the women's pole vault, becoming only the sixth American to vault over 15 feet (4.57m). Maurice Greene, once the world record holder in the 100 meters, anchored the winning 4x100-relay team for his club team, HSI. The Kansas City, Kan., native helped his team to the best time in the world for 2004, clocking in at 39.37.
After being on the road for five weeks straight, the Tigers will come home to host two meets in a row. Next weekend will be the Missouri Relays, a meet for both high schools and colleges. The next weekend, April 9-10, will be the Tom Botts Invitational and Heptathlon. For more information on these meets including sign up, visit mutigers.com