June 26, 2004
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - University of Missouri freshman Marcus Mayes placed second on Saturday in the 800-meter run at the USATF Junior National Championships earning a trip to Grosseto, Italy, with the USA Junior Team. Fellow freshman and roommate Jimmie Jones finished fourth in the race.
Mayes (Sand Springs, Okla.) finished second in the two-lap race in a time of 1:51.24. His personal best of 1:49.94 earlier in the year gives him the qualifying mark needed along with the finish in the top two to qualify for the IAAF World Junior Championships.
"Marcus and Jimmie both ran excellent again today," said Jared Wilmes, Assistant Track & Field Coach. "Marcus lead three quarters of the way, then fell back to fourth with 150-meters to go and made a great comeback to grab his spot. Both our guys competed well today. It's exciting for something like this to happen at this caliber of a meet."
The race for second was tight with four runners coming within half of a second of each other. The top eight were within two seconds of each other.
Jones (Oak Park, Mich.) came into the meet having the sixth highest-ranked time, but finished two spots higher in fourth ending an impressionable season for the freshman.
With the World Championships set for July 12-16, Missouri track and field will have its hands full that week with at least Mayes heading for Italy and at least eight current and former Tigers going for spots on the U.S. Olympic Team at the USATF Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-18.
Current sophomore Ashley Patten won the women's 800-meter run last year at the Junior Nationals, clinching a spot on Team USA that traveled to the Pan-American Games.
Tomorrow freshman Bobby Musil will throw in the men's discus at 4:45 p.m. Tiger post-collegian Derrick Peterson will run in the 800 late Sunday night in a meet in Los Angeles, Calif.
Also today, junior walk-on Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney HS) ran for a huge personal best in the 800 meters at the Northern Iowa Olympic Trial Qualifer. Although his time of 1:48.64 will not gain him entry into the Olympic Trials, Miller shaved nearly eight-tenths of a second of his previous PR. So good in fact that Wilmes called it a "big-time performance" and that "he keeps getting better and better."
Tiger post-collegian Timothy Dunne finished right behind Miller, but was running not for time, but for a great workout to get ready for the Olympic Trials in which he is already qualified.
For more information on these student-athletes and the meets, visit mutigers.com.