April 13, 2004
For the University of Missouri track and field team, the 2004 indoor season had many storylines that were attached with conference and national successes, breakthrough performances by up-and-coming athletes, and great success by Missouri post-collegians. Success on the national level was well evident, as the Tigers continued their streak of consecutive years with at least one man or woman all-American to 21. On the conference level, a young Missouri women's team, finished fourth to Nebraska, Texas, and Kansas State, three teams that finished in the top 15 in the nation.
At the NCAA Championships, two tigers, junior transfer Conrad Woolsey and sophomore Ashley Patten earned all-American honors.
Woolsey took eighth in the men's shot put event, an event that has attracted much attention in the last several years on both the conference and national level. At the contest, Woolsey qualified for the finals on his last throw in the preliminary round with a toss of 61-7 (18.77m). Woolsey's best throw was on his fourth attempt, chucking the shot for 61-10? (18.86m). With the showing, Woolsey earned his fifth all-American honor. Four came as a member Northwest Missouri State in NCAA Division II competition where he took the D-II indoor title in the event in 2002. Woolsey was also the only athlete to compete in all 10 meets for the Tigers.
Sophomore Ashley Patten took eighth in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships, earning her first all-American honor, two weeks following winning a Big 12 Conference title in the event.
Senior Jennifer Bennett battled with injuries throughout the season and miraculously qualified for the NCAA Championships in the pole vault event. At the championships, Bennett leaped over the bar at 12-5? after one miss, but was able to get over the 12-11? bar on her first attempt. On that attempt, in appeared Bennett may have been hurting. After missing the 13-3? bar, Bennett called trainers over to find the problem. Having to pass her second attempt, Bennett gave one last try before having to finally pass her remaining jump due to back strain.
One school record was broken during the indoor season, the women's weight throw. After the first meet, the Missouri Invitational, both Ann Snider and Holly Scherder had broken the record, with Snider coming out on top in the opening meet. Roommate Scherder would have the last claim to the record as she exploded, topping the old record by two feet at the Tiger Classic and adding another with her best throw of the season at the Big 12 Championships of 61 feet, 10? inches (18.86m).
In preparation for the 2004 Olympiad, many current and former Tigers are in preparation for the USATF's Olympic Trials to be held in July. One former Tiger, Christian Cantwell, won the IAAF World Indoor Championship in the shot put event in early March and threw the longest indoor mark in the world for 2004.
The season started with a pre-Christmas trip for the throwers to the Kansas State All-Comers meet. In his first competition as a Tiger, junior transfer Conrad Woosley took second in the shot put event, throwing 57 feet, 3? inches. Senior Janae Strickland also took second in the women's shot.
MISSOURI INVITATIONAL
To begin the new year of 2004, the Tigers host three consecutive indoor meets on three consecutive Fridays in January. The first of which was the Missouri Invitational.
At the Missouri Invitational, both Holly Scherder and Ann Snider broke the school record in the women's weight. Scherder broke the record on her first throw of the competition with a toss of 58 feet, 6? inches (17.85m). Snider, about 30 minutes later, took the record for the first time, hitting 58-8? (17.90m) on her final attempt of the competition.
In his first race as a Tiger, freshman Marcus Mayes won the 800 meters, leading from wire-to-wire and by nearly 30 meters at one point. Junior Neville Miller came back from fourth in the final 150 meters of the 1000-meter to win with a time of 2:28.16.
Janae Strickland was the first Tiger on the season to hit an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, with a throw of 50-5? in the shot put.
Woolsey took second in the men's shot put to Tiger post-collegian, Christian Cantwell. Cantwell, in his first indoor meet since using his four years of eligibility at Mizzou, threw for an indoor personal-best of 68-3?, somehow though everyone knew more was to come in the weeks ahead.
MU-KU-KSU TRIANGULAR
At the MU-KU-KSU Triangular, hosted by Missouri, it was all business for Chris Horn.
Horn set three personal bests, in all three jumping events at the meet. In the long jump, Horn finished first, delivering a mark of 23 feet (7.01m). In the triple, Horn finished second with a jump of 47-1?, and in the high jump, Horn leaped for 6-8.
Two additional NCAA provisional qualifying marks were achieved at the meet by the Tigers. Sophomore Amanda Bales won the women's mile in a time of 4:48.76. Woolsey hit a new personal-best, breaking 60 feet in the shot put for the first time in his career.
Kansas State took the Triangular title for the sixth consecutive season, the Tigers finished third.
TIGER CLASSIC
The four-team Tiger Classic provided stiff competition with the likes of Nebraska, Indiana, and Wichita State in attendance. Seven Hearnes Fieldhouse records fell at the meet.
None was more impressive than Tiger undergraduate assistant coach Christian Cantwell in the shot. Cantwell's throw of 69 feet, broke his own Fieldhouse record, but also produced the world's longest throw, at the time, for 2004.
Holly Scherder took back the school record in the women's weight throw and never looked back for the remainder of the season. Her toss of 60 feet, 5? inches was the first in Tiger history to go over the 60 foot mark.
Several Tigers took individual titles, such as freshman Tipper O'Brien in the mile run, Neville Miller in the 600-yard, freshman Allison Werner in the 1000-meter, and junior Jesse Sims in the high jump.
FRANK SEVIGNE HUSKER INVITATIONAL
Next for the Tigers was Nebraska's Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, the first full-squad Tiger road trip. The meet featured ten men's or women's teams ranked in the Trackwire Top 25 Poll.
Tiger post-collegians Michelle Moran and Fiona Asigbee went 1-2 in the women's pentathlon, both qualifying for the USATF's Indoor Combined Event Championships. Sophomore Jessica Stockard took eighth in the event with 3,597 points.
In the heptathlon, post-collegian Knut Sommerfeldt took the title, scoring 5,422 points.
Milers Amanda Bales and Ryan Hampton both finished second in their races. Bales' time of 4:45.00 bettered her NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Hampton finished with a time of 4:05.47, just off a personal-best.
Sophomore Laura Brandt won the 600-yard dash with a time of 1:25.22, a career-best.
IOWA STATE CLASSIC
The Iowa State Classic was next for Tiger Track & Field. The oversized, 300-meter track helped the Tigers to two new NCAA provisional marks on the track.
The distance medley relay team of Jill Petersen (1200m), Jessica Stockard (400m), Ashley Patten (800m), and Amanda Bales (1600m) won the meet title, clocking in with a time of 11:18.24. The team recorded an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and will go in the books as the second-fastest DMR relay team in Missouri history.
Also taking a title at the ISU Classic was senior Jennifer Bennett. Pole vaulting for only the second time in the season due to injuries, Bennett won with a vault of 12 feet, 5 inches.
On day two, Bales hit an NCAA provisional mark in her third event of the season. Bales finished third in the 3000-meter run with a qualifying time of 9:30.38.
MISSOURI ALL-COMERS
Normally when you attend an open track and field meet, one in which any person, at any age can participate for only $10, you wouldn't automatically consider the possibility of witnessing the best shot put performance the world has seen in five years. But, that's what happened at the Missouri All-Comers meet in the Hearnes Fieldhouse on February 21.
Christian Cantwell, a Tiger post-collegian, entering his first year out of collegiate competition woke-up the morning of the All-Comers not knowing he was going to compete.
"I wasn't even going to throw today," Cantwell later told the Columbia Daily Tribune. "I woke up this morning and thought, 'Well, I'll just go and mess around.' I told myself if I throw 21 meters, I'd be happy. Then I was warming up, and I felt pretty good."
After Cantwell's first attempt traveled farther than 21 meters - about 69 feet, 11 inches - he was convinced.
"Then," he said, ""I thought, 'Hey, maybe today's the day.'"
And, it was his day. Cantwell on his fourth attempt put the shot 70 feet, 8? inches (21.55m), breaking his own Fieldhouse record and hitting the 70 foot mark for the first time in his indoor career.
And, he wasn't done yet. Once the news spread about the throw, the crowd around the shot put arena started to grow in numbers and swell in enthusiasm.
Junior transfer Conrad Woolsey was just as pumped. On his fifth attempt, he threw for a personal-best of 62 feet, 5 inches, setting off the crowd of nearly 1,500. Woolsey would finish as the number one collegian in the meet.
Following Woolsey's throw, Cantwell let out the best shot put throw the world has seen in the indoor venue since the year 2000. His throw of 72 feet, ? inch (21.95m) was the best of any American since 1989 indoors and the 12th best all-time in the world.
Cantwell told the Tribune, "I knew it was good after I turned it loose. You get that feeling in practice sometimes, and as soon as I let it go, I knew it was going to be a bomb."
Also at the meet junior Chris Horn set a personal-best in the long jump, winning with a leap of 23 feet, 6? inches. Also taking an event championship, freshman Greg Bracey had an indoor personal-best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.24.
BIG 12 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Now the Tigers entered the indoor championship season. The Big 12 Indoor was the first step, held at Nebraska's Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Tiger women finished fourth; the men took twelfth. The Tigers grabbed two event conference crowns. Sophomore Ashley Patten won in the 800-meter run and the women's distance medley relay team of Jill Petersen, Jessica Stockard, Allison Werner, and Amanda Bales also took a conference title.
Patten's first Big 12 Championship title did not come easy. With nearly 150 meters to go in the race, Patten was all the way back in seventh place.
"We went out a little slow and I felt I was in a box," Patten said. "When the gun went off, I knew I would have to make a move to win the race. At the end, I hadn't made any surges during the first part of the race, and I knew I had it left. I saw a move, and I knew I had to take it."
Patten won with a time of 2:08.49, placing her fourth all-time in Missouri history.
The DMR team also came back to earn their conference crown. The Tigers held steady in third place for most of the competition behind Texas and Oklahoma State. The mile-long last leg of the race for Missouri belonged to Amanda Bales. Bales took the baton and took the lead a lap into her part of the race. Bales didn't look back and led the Tigers to their first conference title in the event since 2001.
All told, 25 Tigers earned all-Big 12 honors including senior Holly Scherder in the women's weight throw. Scherder once again broke her own school record with a toss of 61 feet, 10? inches to take third place and earn her first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the year. The mark eclipsed her previous personal best by 16 inches.
USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Former Tigers, Christian Cantwell and Derrick Peterson went to Boston, Mass., to compete in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships. Both finished in the top two in their events, securing spots on World Championship USA Team.
Cantwell won his first national championship after putting the shot 69 feet, 9 inches (21.26) on his final attempt.
Peterson finished second in the 800-meter run for his spot. His time of 1:48.67, was just a split-second off Michael Stember's time.
CYCLONE LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER
The Cyclone Last Chance Meet gave many Tigers an opportunity to achieve or better an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. For Mizzou, it turned out to be a great day.
First, senior Jennifer Bennett, who had been struggling with injuries throughout the season, secured a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships with a pole vault of 13 feet, 3? inches (4.05m).
Then, sophomore Ashley Patten, who came into the meet with a lower-ranked 800-meter provisional mark, exploded out of the gate and raced for a huge provisional time of 2:05.97, also grabbing a spot in the NCAA Championships.
Some of Missouri's distance runners also grabbed NCAA provisional marks. Freshman Marcus Mayes and Jimmie Jones earned their first such mark in the 800-meter run. Both ran a second below their personal-bests to earn the mark.
Junior Ryan Hampton also hit a personal-best and NCAA provisional mark in the 1500-meter run. His time of 4:03.30 placed him second in the meet, betting his previous best, indoor or outdoors, by 2 seconds.
IAAF WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Cantwell and Peterson earned a spot on Team USA that found itself at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Cantwell won the IAAF World gold after hitting 70 feet, 6? inches (21.49m) on his second attempt of the final round. Cantwell was part of a surprising 1-2 finish by the United States. American teammate Reese Hoffa finished in second with a personal-best, 69 feet, 1? inch toss. Cantwell earned a purse in excess of $50,000 and solidified himself as a formidable threat to not only represent the United States in the 2004 Olympics, but to be a favorite to win a medal.
Derrick Peterson finished 17th in the world championship's 800-meter run. He missed the semifinal round of qualifying by only 22 hundredths of a second.
USATF INDOOR COMBINED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIPS
Another pair of former Tigers competed in the USA Track and Field Combined Event Championships. Michelle Moran and Fiona Asigbee competed in the women's indoor pentathlon that was held in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Moran finished second in the competition, earning a personal-best score of 4,093 points. Asigbee took third, also earning a personal-best with 4,041 points.