March 5, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo.--The Missouri track and field team spread to three different locations around the country this final qualifying weekend in pursuit of performances worthy for entry into the NCAA Indoor Championships. Friday proved to be the ultimate highlight of the team's weekend as the Big 12 Champion men's distance medley relay team zipped to the top eight in the country, breaking the school record in the event by five seconds in a run of 9:35.25 at Notre Dame's Alex Wilson Invitational.
The relay team of Neville Miller, Jimmie Jones, Marcus Mayes, and Ryan Hampton bested their season time by 12 seconds in their school-record run. The Tigers were part of an incredible field, placing fourth overall, which included an unfathomable number of 18 teams achieving NCAA provisional qualifying marks and a Michigan team that ran the second-fastest time in the history of the event. Miller, Jones, and Hampton, along with Tipper O'Brien won the Big 12 Indoor title in the event last weekend.
Senior Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) placed third in the men's 800-meter and made a slight improvement on his personal best to stand at 1:48.39. Miller is one on "the bubble" on NCAA Championship entry; however, Miller is part of the qualifying DMR team.
Junior Ashley Patten (Clarkston, Mich.) won the women's 800 in a time of 2:07.24, preventing any runners to gain much ground on the NCAA list.
Meanwhile, in Pocatello, Idaho, Tigers Hans Uldal and Brandon Goebbert were busy at the Intermountain Championships, hosted by Idaho State. Uldal likely qualified for the NCAA Indoor in the heptathlon with an NCAA provisional score of 5,437 points, winning the event. For the second week in a row, Uldal earned a personal best in the pole vault discipline (4.80m, 15-9). Senior Brandon Goebbert placed third with a final score of 5,272 points.
The Tigers also had representation at the Cyclone Last-Chance Qualifier in Ames, Iowa. Senior Marquis Davis set a new personal best in the men's 200, placing sixth in a time of 21.46, bettering his old best by nine-hundredths of a second. Davis also earned an NCAA provisional mark for the first time this year.
The final NCAA qualifying list will be published late Sunday night and the final entries into the meet will be announced Monday evening following a declaration period. The Tigers likely have spots in the men's distance medley relay wrapped-up along with Conrad Woolsey in the men's shot put, Ashley Patten in the women's 800, and Hans Uldal in heptathlon.
USATF Combined Event Championships
A fourth hot spot for Tiger track this weekend will be at the USATF Combined Event Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C. Tiger post-collegians and past Big 12 Champions Michelle Moran and Fiona Asigbee will be compete returning from their outstanding performances in 2004. Moran placed second last year with 4,093 points in the pentathlon and has advanced that personal best this year to 4,095 points from mid-February's Iowa State Classic. Asigbee was third in 2004, scoring a then personal best of 4,041. Now Asigbee houses a PR of 4,168 from the ISU Classic. Moran was seventh at the 2004 USATF Olympic Trials in the heptathlon - Asigbee placed ninth.