Feb. 23, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri Track & Field team returns to Lincoln, Neb., for the fifth-year in a row for the Big 12 Indoor Championships to be held this Friday and Saturday. A field of world-class athletes, in a stacked conference will face Missouri. Showing no fear, the Tigers have 17 performers in the conference's top five in several events and are ready to rock the boat.
Coach's Take
Dr. Rick McGuire, 2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year, is in his 22nd year at the helm of the Missouri Track and Field program - here are his thoughts on the upcoming championships: "By all accounts, the Big 12 and the SEC are the strongest track and field conferences in the NCAA, no more evident than this year. As often the case, Nebraska should be the favorite on both the men's and women's side, but everything else is up for grabs, and this will be a great, great track meet."
"Before the season even started, I knew that we are a really, young team, with a half-dozen strong senior leaders. What a great season to date, our kids have developed well, and they will be thrown into the fire this weekend as our conference is extraordinarily strong. If we're hitting on all cylinders, we will do real well in this track meet. If we don't, we won't score as many points - it's that simple. I really like this team, we're running, throwing, and jumping real well. But, this conference is a rollercoaster ride, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, and we are looking to be up this weekend."
A Bit of A Team Preview
The Missouri men enter the Big 12 Indoor with all eight returning from last year's All-Big 12 contingent. Nine men have achieved NCAA provisional marks thus far in 2005.
While prior marks may not shed an accurate light on how things will unfold, they serve as foundation on who's who and what to look for.
The Tigers have a strong middle-distance core as evidenced by their league-leading distance medley relay squad. Among them is senior Neville Miller, who enters the weekend fourth in the conference in the 800 meter and fourth in the 1000 meter. Miller is also 11th in the nation at 800 meters. Senior Ryan Hampton ranks fourth in the conference in the Mile. Junior Tim Ross has both the school records in the 3000- and 5000-meter runs and is ranked fifth and fourth in the conference in those events, respectively.
Also worth watching is the Tigers in the heptathlon. Norwegian sophomores Hans Uldal and Bjorn Sommerfeldt should be in the thick down the stretch. Uldal represented Norway at the 2004 Olympic Games in the decathlon. Uldal was also an NCAA All-American outdoors, and placed second in the conference outdoor. Sommerfeldt placed sixth at the Big 12 Indoor in 2004. Senior Brandon Goebbert will also be in the pack, carrying three All-Big 12 honors with him. Goebbert has made a vast improvement so far this season, including a marketable improvement in the pole vault.
The Tiger women placed fourth at last year's Big 12 Indoor, the best since 2000, and have the talent this year to return to the elite in the conference. Eleven Tigers return from 2004's All-Big 12 Indoor status, including conference champs Ashley Patten and the distance medley relay team.
Patten is favored in whichever race the Tiger coaches decide to place her in. Patten is tied for the conference lead in the 800-meter and ranks fourth nationally in the event, coupled with the conference lead in the 1000-meter. Freshman Trisa Nickoley will be one to watch as she stands fourth in the conference and 10th in the nation, both in the 800. She also stands ninth in the conference in the 600-yard run.
The Tigers are represented with competitors ranking in the top four of the three distance events. Amanda Bales is in the national top 25 in the Mile, and stands second in the conference, Serena Ramsey is third in the conference in the 3000-meter run, and Jill Petersen is fourth in the 5000-meter run. The three can also be seen in the top 10 of all three of these events, tough to tell in which they will run.
The Distance Medley Relay squad is currently ranked ninth in the nation and is the favorite to repeat as conference champions. With talent across the board, the relay team's makeup may be decided just minutes before the race begins.
Playing The Field
You know the Big 12 Conference is tough when seven of its men's teams and four of the women's teams are ranked in the national top 25. The Trackwire 25 ranks teams based on a hypothetical score from the national championship meet. While the Big 12 Championships and NCAA Championships are two different meets when it comes to strategy and scoring, it's impressive to see such a group. That being said, the individual competitors in each event are just as tough. All events should be well contested and too close to call.
All-in-all eight Olympians from the 2004 Athens Games will compete in the Big 12 Indoor Championships, a testament to the conference strength. On that list is Tiger sophomore Hans Uldal. Uldal competed for Norway in the Olympic decathlon. Uldal will be in his first combined event since the Olympics when makes his appearance in the heptathlon at these championships.
And The Race Is On
The fun part about the Big 12 Championships is knowing that some of the best races in the nation will be occurring right before your eyes. And that's what we'll have with the women's and men's 800-meter run and the men's mile, with Tigers in the hunt in each of these events.
The women's 800 may feature (entries permitting) four of the top 10 runners in the country, including Tiger junior Ashley Patten (Clarkston, Mich.) and freshman Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.). Patten is tied with Iowa State's Ada Anderson for the conference lead with best marks from the season of 2:06.54. Nickoley, fourth in the conference, has a season-best time of 2:07.45. Also in the hunt will be Kansas State's Lysaira Roman-Del Valle, currently third in the conference.
The men's 800 may be more charged (again, entries permitting), as no fewer than seven in the conference are in the nation's top 20, including Tigers Neville Miller and Marcus Mayes. Miller, ranked fourth in the conference and 11th in the nation, has a season and career best of 1:48.46, third all-time at Missouri. Mayes, a sophomore, has a best of 1:49.01. The Big 12 also houses the NCAA leader entering the weekend with Oklahoma senior Aldwyn Sappleton at 1:47.43.
In the men's mile, seven from the conference is on the national qualifying list, including senior Ryan Hampton and sophomore Tipper O'Brien. Top-and-bottom the seven are separated by only two seconds on the season's best list. So throw all of that out of the window, the race will be the thing. It doesn't hurt that both Tigers have prove to be amazing back-stretch kickers so far this season. Either way, don't call the race until everyone crosses the finish line.
A Border Battle With Battle?
Senior Conrad Woolsey (Excelsior Springs, Mo.) threw in his first meet of the indoor season two weekends ago at the Iowa State Classic, throwing for a new indoor personal best of 62 feet, 5¾ inches (19.04m) in the men's shot put. Woolsey, a two-time All-American in 2004, currently ranks second in the Big 12 in the event. With the recent graduation of Nebraska's Carl Myerscough and Missouri's Christian Cantwell, the past four winners of the event, the shot put crown is up for grabs.
Woolsey's main competition will be Kansas' Sheldon Battle. Battle, a junior transfer, leads the conference with his best throw of 63 feet, 3¼ inches (19.29m). The two rank fifth and sixth in the nation, respectively, entering the weekend. Within reach will be Texas' Brian Robison, Nebraska's Bubba Kramer, and Texas A&M's Tyler Custis, those three are within three feet of Woolsey and Battle.
Going The Distance
Both of Missouri's men's and women's distance medley relay teams lead on the conference performance list entering the championships, and will highlight the end of Friday night. The relay consists of four legs, running in the order of 1200 meter, 400m, 800m, and 1600m. The format sets up for an eight-lap finale, with the team's best "Milers" going all-out for their respective teams. The women's relay is ranked ninth in the nation entering the weekend.
It's Just An Eight-Foot PR
Freshman Denise Gilmore (Manhattan, Kan.) broke her old personal best in the women's weight throw by eight feet at last week's Missouri All-Comers meet. Her mark of 52 feet, 10¼ inches (16.11m), sends her to fifth all-time at Missouri.
Big 12 Indoor Team History
The Missouri women finished fourth at last year's Big 12 Indoor, the best since 2000, when the Tigers placed third in Ames, Iowa. Missouri has finished as high as second on a team basis on the women's side at the indoor games, doing so in 1988 and 1989.
The Tiger men have won seven indoor conference team titles since the inception of the Big Six. The last championship for Missouri came in 1979, as part of the Big Eight.
Entries? Who Needs Entries?
Official Tiger entries will not be made public until late Thursday or early Friday morning. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The Television Feed
A highlight feed of the meet will be available for any of you with one of those big satellite dishes from the early 90s. Running on Saturday, from 9:00-9:15 p.m., central, the feed will run on AMC 9 (kU band), Transponder 14. Roger, out.
Results and More
Live results from the meet will be available on the Nebraska's website, huskers.com. A complete wrap-up from both days will be available soon after action has completed on Friday and Saturday.
Ticket Info
A reserved two-day pass to the meet is $12. Single-day admission is available for reserved seats for $7, general admission is $6. Tickets can be purchased by calling (800) 8-BIGRED. A sell-out is likely, so best advise is to get tickets ASAP.
The Border Showdown Presented By Midwest Ford Dealers
On top of competing with the best in the nation and in the world, the Tigers have another mini-contest to settle. The Big 12 Indoor Championships is one of the settings of the Missouri-Kansas Border Showdown series, presented by Midwest Ford Dealers. The winner of the indoor track portion of the multi-sport competition between the two schools is determined by the team with the highest final team score. The men's and women's competition is worth one point apiece. Kansas currently leads the all-around competition 11½ to 5½.
Don't Forget the U.S. Championships
The USATF Indoor Championships in Boston, Mass., is also being held his weekend. Four Tiger post-collegians, Christian Cantwell, Derrick Peterson, Timothy Dunne, and Janae Strickland, will compete in the three-day competition. Peterson and Dunne will run in the 800-meter run preliminaries on Saturday. Cantwell and Strickland will throw in the men's and women's shot put events on Saturday also.
Partial live coverage can be found on ESPN, Sunday, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., central. For more information, visit mutigers.com or usatf.org.