Jan. 11, 2005
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - Just four months removed from the Olympic Games, the Missouri Track & Field team will begin its 2005 indoor season by hosting the 18th Annual Missouri Invitational, Friday, January 14, inside the Hearnes Fieldhouse. The Tigers will host a collection of area colleges and universities along with select post-collegians like Olympian Derrick Peterson and World-class shot putter Christian Cantwell.
Competition will begin at 4:00 p.m., with field events, the men's weight throw and the women's long jump. Track events are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., with the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries. Teams invited to the meet include Lincoln (Mo.), Oral Roberts, Drake, Tulsa, UMKC, Missouri Valley, and Missouri-Rolla. Lincoln University out of Jefferson City, Mo., took the women's NCAA Division II Indoor team title in 2004 along with earning a fourth-place national finish for the men's team.
Several storylines accompany the meet including the first competitions for Hans Uldal and Derrick Peterson since the Olympic Games in late-August. Uldal, a redshirt sophomore in the indoor season, broke the school's record in the decathlon over the summer and will have a good look at the 60-meter hurdles among other events on Friday. Peterson ran in the Olympic Games in the 800-meter run and will be running in that event at the meet.
Post-collegian Christian Cantwell will once again be one of the meet's show-stoppers in the men's shot put. This will be Cantwell's first competition at Missouri since winning the IAAF World Indoor Title in 2004 and his first in the Hearnes Fieldhouse since launching the world's longest indoor throw of the 2004 season at the All-Comers meet this past February (72-¼). Cantwell is an eight-time champion of this meet and the five-time defending champ in the shot put.
The Tigers will also get a first look at highly-respected newcomers Trisa Nickoley, Chris Rohr, and Nate Englin. Nickoley won 17 Kansas High School Championships during her career and was the second-fastest high schooler in the nation in 2004 in the 800 meters (2:06.67). Chris Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.) was the nation's second-best discus high school thrower in 2004. While discus is not used indoors, Rohr will get his first taste of the 35-lb. weight throw. Nate Englin (Shoreview, Minn.) ranked in the national high school top 15 in both the shot put and discus.
Admission is free for those with a valid Missouri student ID and for those who have purchased a KMIZ-ZOU Spirit Pass. Otherwise admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors.
For more information on this meet and a complete schedule, along with a link to live results, visit mutigers.com and click on Track & Field.