MU duo to compete at Junior Nationals
6/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 24, 2004
Marcus Mayes and Jimmie Jones can't be separated.
They are teammates, best friends and roommates. They have the same major, business, and are both 800-meter runners on the Missouri track and field team.
The soon-to-be sophomores have not gotten sick of each other, yet, after spending almost every waking hour together the past year.
"People thought by the end of the year we were going to hate each other and this and that," Jones said. "But it's the total opposite."
The duo has been training together since the end of the Tigers' season for USA Track & Field's Junior National Championships, which begin tomorrow in College Station, Texas.
The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the World Junior Championships in July in Grossetto, Italy.
Mayes enters with the fourth-fastest qualifying time and Jones has the sixth-best time.
"It's a real good chance and a good experience to get to run against the best runners 19 and under," Mayes said. "And then if you do good and go to worlds, then that's another good chance to get some international experience, seeing what it's like overseas."
Mayes and Jones met in high school when they were competing against each other.
Mayes, from Sand Springs, Okla., had the upper hand at the 2003 AAU Olympics, beating Jones to win the 800 title.
But they say they don't keep track of wins and losses. They just continue to push each other to get better.
"It's nonstop constructive criticism," said Jones, an Oak Park, Mich., native. "We joke about, 'I almost had you. I was coming.' It's fun.
"We both want to be first, and we both practice hard so we can get first. But only one person can get it."
During the indoor season, Mayes and Jones ran the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships during the same race at a last-chance meet at Iowa State.
Neither one got to run at the NCAA Championships, but just hitting the mark was a plus.
"It's a real good confidence booster," Jones said. "It gives you motivation. Not too many people make that mark, that's why it's set at a certain standard. When you can make that as a freshman, it gives you a lot of confidence, even though you want to make the big meet.
"It keeps you going. It's a pretty good feeling, not just to make it at the same meet, but just both doing it."
The pair earned two All-Big 12 honors apiece at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. Mayes finished sixth in the 800, while Jones finished seventh. They were also both a part of the seventh-place 1,600-relay team.
They give a lot of the credit for their success to the coaches, athletes and atmosphere at MU.
"We've just got to go execute it now, because we have everything we need to have a perfect practice environment," Jones said.
Mayes and Jones have seen how a successful showing at the USA Junior National Championships can catapult a career.
Last year, Missouri's Ashley Patten won the 800 at this event as a freshman. She used that success to win a Big 12 title this past season.
"It's someone to look up to," Mayes said. "She did what she did as a freshman and then won at junior nationals, and then she came back her sophomore year and won Big 12s."
MU discus throwers Bobby Musil and Melanie Uher also will compete.
Musil was the National Junior Olympic discus champion in 2003, and Uher finished fifth at the Big 12 Championships.
