March 11, 2005

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Missouri Track & Field team completed day one at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday in Fayetteville, Ark., in front of a crowd of 5,006. The men's distance medley relay team of Neville Miller, Jimmie Jones, Marcus Mayes, and Ryan Hampton placed eighth, earning All-America honors and giving Missouri head coach, Dr. Rick McGuire his 100th, 101st, 102nd, and 103rd student-athletes to have earned the national honor. Ashley Patten qualified for tomorrow's final in the women's 800-meter run, sophomore Hans Uldal stands in fifth place after day one of the heptathlon, and both Tiger women's distance medley relay placed ninth.

The Tiger men placed eighth in the distance medley relay in a time of 9:39.43. It was learned 15 minutes after the race that the meet's referee had disqualified the Arkansas relay team who initially won the race for cutting off Michigan at the finish line. The disqualification was spurred by the Wolverine coaches and once the new results were announced, the Razorbacks offered an appeal. However, an hour after race had finished at 11:00 p.m., the jury of appeals ruled against the Razorbacks, giving Michigan the title with a winning time of 9:30.82.

The disqualification moved Missouri to the magical eighth spot where the team's members score for the team and earn All-America honors. The four men of the relay put Tiger head coach Dr. Rick McGuire over the 100-mark for the number of student-athletes he had coached to All-America honors.

"Obviously, because of the benchmark of the whole thing it makes you think back to how you got to that number," McGuire said. "You think of all of the great kids that have come through here and overcame all sorts of adversities to get that honor. The award itself comes in all shapes and sizes, and the moral of all of them, no matter how you receive the honor, is that nothing comes easy. That's the way the 99 before them came, that's how their coaches' (Jared Wilmes' four All-American honors) came, and that's the way they will come in the future. They earned every bit of that award, a team committed a foul, an official process took place, and the other teams were awarded accordingly. An All-American certificate will hang on their walls forever and that's a great thing to be proud of."

Hans Uldal (Ardenal, Norway) concluded day one in fifth place with a personal-best 3,076 points and is on a pace that would top the current school record. Uldal led off the day with a decent time in the 60-meter dash (7.22) and proceed to the second event, the long jump. Uldal placed fourth in the event with a mark of 23 feet, 1¾ inches (7.05m). Next, Uldal claimed a new indoor personal best in the shot put, placing fourth in another event, with a throw of 46 feet, 6 inches (14.17m). In the final event of the day, Uldal jumped for a season best in the high jump when he leaped over the 6-2¼ (1.89m) bar. Uldal is one of four heptathletes from the Big 12 Conference in the top five of the competition.

The heptathlon will conclude tomorrow with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1000-meter run events.

Junior Ashley Patten (Clarkston, Mich.) qualified for tomorrow's finals in the women's 800-meter dash, winning her heat in a personal-best time of 2:05.70. Patten ran a classic Missouri Tiger race, letting the others in the pack climb to the lead, and then, when the time was right, with 100-meters to go, Patten went around the pack racing from sixth to first, grabbing the automatic qualifying spot. In the same heat, the meet's favorite, Tennessee's Nicole Cook, pulled her hamstring and did not qualify for the finals.

The women's distance medley relay team of Patten, Whittney Stuart, freshman Trisa Nickoley, and Amanda Bales placed ninth in the national meet with a season-best time of 11:18.62. Michigan won the race in 11:08.24.

Worth noting in today's meet, Arkansas' Wallace Spearmon broke the American record in the men's 200-meter dash twice in one night. Spearmon ran a 20.21 in the preliminary race, the fourth-fastest time all-time in the World. He followed with a 20.10 in the finals, tying the second-best time ever run indoors in the World.

ESPN2 will broadcast the meet in a two-hour tape-delayed segment on Wednesday, March 16th, at 11 a.m., central.

For more information, visit mutigers.com. For complete results, visit ncaasports.org.