April 27, 2005
DES MOINES, Iowa - This weekend the Missouri Track & Field squad along with several Tiger post-collegians will compete in the 96th Annual Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Competition begins today with heptathlon and decathlon events. Several open distance races will take place tomorrow before the main core of the meet begins Friday, concluding Saturday. Christian Cantwell, Derrick Peterson, and Timothy Dunne are among the top Tiger post-collegians taking part of Saturday.
Last year, Missouri was unable to field a full contingent at the Drake Relays due to the proximity of the Big 12 Championships. Quite a different story this year, as several Tigers will take part in some of the meet's spotlight events. The 24,000-seat capacity Drake Stadium has seen 38-consecutive sellouts of Saturday's Drake Relay program, a current World-leading streak; however, 1,200 seats are still available for this year's final day.
Both NCAA Indoor Championship qualifiers, the men's and women's distance medley relay teams will take to the track this weekend in what should be some great showdowns against the top distance teams in the country. Another exhibition of great middle-distance running will be the teams' 4x800-meter relays, as both Tiger teams look to have great depth at the distance. The women's DMR placed second (11:11.04, 2nd best at MU all-time) in last year's Relays behind national champ Michigan. The Tiger men were All-Americans in the event earlier this season.
Another spotlight event will be junior Amanda Bales in the women's special invitational 1500-meter run. Bales, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa, will be competing at her first spotlight event at the Drake Relays since winning two 800-meter Drake Relays Championships in high school. Bales will face stiff competition in Jessica Eldridge of Oklahoma and national-Jamaican record-holder Mardrea Hyman among others.
Tiger post-collegian Christian Cantwell will try to defend his three-year running relay championship in the men's shot put. Last year in a moderate rain shower, Cantwell won with a throw of 67 feet, 8¾ inches (20.64m). Cantwell will face familiar competition in Reese Hoffa, 2004 Olympian and Kansas Relays Champ Jamie Beyer.
Derrick Peterson and Timothy Dunne will run in the men's special invitational 800-meter run on Saturday. Peterson, 2004 Olympian, won the event in 1998 as a Tiger and in 2001 as a post-collegian and placed third last year (1:49.55). Dunne placed fourth in last year's event.
Today will be the first of two days in the women's heptathlon. Tigers Liz Young (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias HS) and Kaela Rorvig (Columbia, Mo./Hickman HS) are this year's competitors.
Visit drakerelays.org for more information and live results.
A handful of Tigers will also be competing this weekend at UMKC's Track & Field Invitational.
Track Grabs Three Titles At Iowa's Musco Twilight Meet
With cold and gusty conditions prevailing, the Missouri Track & Field team grabbed three event championships at Iowa's Musco Twilight VII last Saturday evening. In the four-team scored meet with Drake, Iowa, and Minnesota, the Tiger men and women both placed third. Also at the meet, senior Lindsey Markworth gained entry into NCAA Regional Championships in a second event, gaining a nine-foot personal best in the women's discus.
Markworth (Lexington, Mo.) threw the disc 164-3 (50.07m), leaping into the Tiger top five in the event. At this time, the all-time top-five list for the women's discus is unbelievably close, with only two feet separating the school record holder, Erica Brooks (1992).
Sophomore Greg Bracey (Milwaukee, Wisc.) won the men's 100-meter dash in 10.83, edging out Iowa post-collegian Zach Digney by three-thousandths of a second. Bracey just completed his first week back on the track after spring workouts with the Missouri football team.
Sophomore Tipper O'Brien (Kirkwood, Mo.) won the men's 1500-meter run in 4:01.47. Freshman Trisa Nickoley (Tecumseh, Kan.) took the title in the women's 800-meter run with a wind-hindered time of 2:11.61.
The Tiger men placed third with 148 points, just nine points off Minnesota's winning score - Iowa was second. On the women's side, Missouri place third with 134 points - Minnesota completed a sweep with 165 points.
Kansas Relays Recap
Last Saturday was also the final day of the Kansas Relays for Tiger post-collegians. Derrick Peterson placed third in the 800-meter run - Christian Cantwell took second in the men's shot put.
Janae Strickland placed second in the women's shot put last Friday, throwing 50-8¼ (15.45m). Holly Scherder took runner-up in the women's hammer on Thursday, going 190-7 (58.09m).
For more information on Missouri Track & Field, visit mutigers.com.