April 20, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo.--Several of Missouri's track and field post-collegians will travel to the 78th annual Kansas Relays this weekend, marking a true beginning to the professional outdoor season. The Tiger team will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, for a four-team scored meet against Drake, Iowa, and Minnesota at Musco Twilight VII. The Musco meet will begin Saturday mid-afternoon and truly will be run in the twilight, concluding around 9 p.m.
Peterson, Cantwell, others to Kansas
Tiger post-collegian Derrick Peterson will be one of 32 Olympians featured in the Kansas Relays this weekend. The meet, going under a revitalization process, attracted several elite athletes including Peterson and former Tiger shot putter Christian Cantwell. Peterson, Cantwell, and Timothy Dunne will compete in the `Gold Zone', a three-hour schedule of events, starting Saturday at two o'clock, meant to showcase the best of the best in the track and field world. The Kansas City Star reported that nearly $100,000 in appearance money was spread to the sport's most prominent figures.
"If we are going to do this, then we're going to do it right," said Kansas' Athletic Director, Lew Perkins, to the Kansas City Star.
Peterson will compete in the men's 800-meter run with Latvian Olympian and Nebraska Cornhusker Dmitrijs Milkevics. Peterson placed third in the 2004 USATF Olympic Trials to earn a spot on the USA Team in the Athens Olympic Games. Another tough competitor in the field is David Paulson, an all-American from Northern Iowa.
Cantwell will throw in the men's shot put against four others in the `invitational' division. Among the competition is former Ohio State Buckeye, Dan Taylor, a two-time NCAA Champion. Taylor finished sixth in the USATF Olympic Trials. Jamie Beyer is also in the field - he placed fifth in the Olympic Trials. Kansas' Sheldon Battle and Gavin Ball round-out the field.
Dunne's race will be the men's invitational mile. A stacked field includes 2004 Olympian Charlie Gruber, three-time U.S. Champ Jason Lunn, and Drake and KU Relay Champ Blake Boldon.
Throwing Friday will be Janae Strickland starting her first outdoor season in the post-collegiate ranks. Strickland, runner-up at the 2005 USATF Indoor Championships will throw in the women's shot put, having already earned an automatic spot in this June's USATF Championships. Also a year out of collegiate eligibility, Holly Scherder will throw in the women's hammer on Thursday.
Iowa, Here We Come
Saturday, the collegiate Tigers will be in Iowa City, Iowa, for Musco Twilight VII. The Tigers should match-up nicely against the field of Iowa, Drake, and Minnesota in many event areas in the scored meet. The last quad-meet the Tigers competed in was the Pepsi Team Invitational earlier this month. The Tiger women took the title over host Oregon, Washington, and Indiana. Scheduled start is three o'clock.
Third in the World
After all the hubbub about Austra Skujyte setting a new World record in the women's decathlon last weekend at the Audrey Walton Combined Events, we forgot to mention one of the more important facts from the weekend.
Tiger junior Hans Uldal scored 7,731 points in the men's decathlon, just two points shy of the school record, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships. A better look at the performers list, shows that Uldal stands in second in both the Big 12 and collegiate ranks with the score entering the weekend, but the more engaging thought, is Uldal is currently third in the World in the event. While it still may be early, it's still worth the note.
Texas' Trey Hardee scored 7,839 points at the Texas Relays earlier this month and leads the conference and the collegiate nation. His teammate, Donovan Kilmartin, scored 7,650 points at the same meet, good for fifth in the World. Yes, the Big 12 Conference occupies three of the top five spots on the IAAF-World list entering the weekend.
Don't look for much from Uldal this weekend, he and the other Tiger decathletes are taking a well-needed rest this weekend and will not travel to Iowa City.
Results and More
Results from the Kansas Relays can be found on kuathletics.com on a live-basis. The Musco meet will have results on hawkeyesports.com following the late-night finish. For more info, including complete lists of Tiger performers and NCAA qualifiers, visit mutigers.com.