Nine Tigers Gear Up For NCAA Championships
6/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 7, 2004
Complete Notes With Stats, Bios, and More
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri track and field team will send nine to the NCAA Track & Field Championships to be held this Wednesday, June 9, to Saturday, June 12. The contingent includes five that earned automatic bids by finishing in the top five at the NCAA Mideast Regional, one at-large bid, and three that earned provisional marks for their events. Four Tigers enter the meet in the top fifteen in the nation in their respective events.
Nine Is Fine
Nine Tigers have earned births to the NCAA Championships based on their performances earlier in the year or on how they performed at the NCAA Regionals. Conrad Woolsey, Janae Strickland, Jenny Bybee, Holly Scherder, and Amanda Bales placed in the top five two weeks ago at the NCAA Mideast Regional to earn automatic births to nationals. Ashley Patten was one of eight to earn an at-large bid in the 800-meter run based on her personal-best time of 2:05.43 she ran in mid-March at the Stanford Invitational.
In three events, the 10,000-meter run, decathlon, and heptathlon, qualifying for the NCAA Championships is not based on the regional system. Athletes earn marks that are compared to those around the country and the top 24 to 28 in each event earn the bid. Sophomore Serena Ramsey will go to Austin to compete in the 10,000-meter run. Ramsey ran the second-fastest time in Missouri history at the Stanford Invitational in March, clocking in at 34:44.63. Sophomore Hans Uldal finished runner-up at the Big 12 Championships with a NCAA qualifying score of 7,329 points. Jessica Stockard earned a birth with her score in the heptathlon, more on her later.
Four Tigers In Top Fifteen
Senior Janae Strickland holds the Missouri record in the shot put and will go to NCAAs on a hot streak. After falling into a bit of a slump in the indoor season that stretched into the early portion of the outdoor season, Strickland start to heat up with the thermometer in April. At the Nebraska Quadrangular in April, one of the first warm meets of the year, Strickland broke her own school record for the first time in the year. Not only did she break the record, she did so in near darkness, but that's another story. Soon after was the Big 12 Championships. Strickland once again went the distance, breaking her old school record by over 16 inches and finishing runner-up at the meet. The Houston, Texas, native was well prepared to compete in the hot and humid conditions of Baton Rouge, La., at the NCAA Regionals. She came close to her school record, but more importantly, earned herself a regional crown and a new region record. Once again Strickland will have the heat and humidity that she loves on her side in Austin. With the temperatures expected to be in the mid-90s throughout the week, Strickland could once again make a new storyline. Currently, Strickland's throw of 55 feet, 6? inches ranks as the tenth best in the nation within a few inches of the next four on the list.
Sophomore Jessica Stockard earned a new personal-best and won the Big 12 heptathlon title at the conference championships with a score of 5,378 points. That score ranks seventh in the nation making her the highest-ranked Tiger heading to Austin. Indoor all-American Conrad Woolsey is 14th on the national list in the men's shot put. His throw at the Missouri Relays of 62-5 places him third all-time in Missouri history, only a foot behind Russ Bell. Sophomore Ashley Patten ranks 14th in the 800-meter run heading into the meet. Patten was ranked 10th leading in to the Indoor NCAA Championships and still qualified for the finals, earning all-American honors finishing eighth.
Third Time's A Charm?
For only the third time in her career, Sophomore Amanda Bales will be running a 5000-meter run on the track. Sure the 5k is a staple in her specialty of cross country where she earned all-America honors this year, but the 5k on the track is a different story. Bales had primarily an 800- and 1500-meter runner, but Assistant Coach Rebecca Wilmes wanted to try something different for Bales. Coming into the Big 12 Championships as one of the favorites to win the 1500-meter run; however, Bales was accidentally tripped by the other favorite, Colorado's Renee Mativier. Bales managed to get back to third place, but eventually succumbed to the fall and finished sixth. An hour-and-a-half later, Bales ran the first 5000-meters of her career on the track, racing for an all-Big 12 sixth place finish and earning an NCAA Regional qualifying mark. At the Mideast Regional, Bales didn't declare in her usual event the 1500, but opted to run the 5000 meters instead. The strategy paid off. Bales in her second race in the 5k, ran for a 20 second personal-best and a fifth place regional finish, clocking in at 16:26.71, fourth-best in Mizzou history. So how we Bales fare in her third race as a track 5k runner? I guess we'll just to see.
The Schedule
Since the field is larger for the NCAA Outdoor Championships compared to the NCAA Indoor, two extra days are need to complete qualifying rounds for everything but the 10,000-meter run, decathlon, and heptathlon. The first day, Wednesday, will be dedicated to qualifying rounds and the first day of the women's heptathlon. The top 12 in each of the qualifying rounds for the field event will qualify for a final to be held later in the weekend. On the track, the events from 100 to 800 meters will have three rounds held on different days. Those events will have a preliminary round, a semifinal, then a final. Races from 1500 to 5000 meters will have a preliminary and then a final. The heptathlon spans the first two days, Wednesday and Thursday. The decathlon will be held Friday and Saturday.
Austin City Limits
The University of Texas will host this year's championships and it should be a hot one. Tempertures will be hovering in the lower- to mid-90s throughout the week during the day and not getting below 70 at night. We'll see how it will play a role in the meet.
It Dosen't End Here ...
And yes, the season won't be over after the NCAA Championships. Current and former Tigers will still be taking steps at possibly representing their countries at August's Olympic Games. The USATF Olympic Trials are slated for mid-July and still some "warm-up" meets will still be coming. Keep checking in at mutigers.com for the scoop.
Results and Coverage
Live results can be found on texassports.com or at ncaasports.com throughout the weekend. Complete wrap-ups with results will be posted on mutigers.com soon after Missouri's events are complete each day. CBS will air coverage of the meet on Saturday, May 19th, so mark your calendars.
