Missouri
Big 12 Championships
Uldal Big 12 Decathlon Champ, Breaks Own School Record
5/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
May 14, 2005
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Missouri track and field junior Hans Uldal won the decathlon crown in the second day of the Big 12 Championships in Manhattan, Kan., on Saturday. Uldal gave Missouri the team's fourth title in five years in the event, breaking his own school record with a score of 7,740 points. Also today, Conrad Woolsey placed third in a thrilling men's shot put competition and eight Tigers advanced to tomorrow's track finals.
Uldal (Ardenal, Norway), runner-up in the 2004 Big 12 Championships, recorded the second-best score in meet history and the fifth-best in the world for the current season.
Uldal started day one in third place, trailing Texas' Donovan Kilmartin by 137 points and the Longhorns' Trey Hardee by 129. In the 100-meter hurdles, Hardee, the national leader in the event, appeared to have had a groin pull and had to withdraw from the remainder of the competition. In the discus, Uldal came within a foot of his personal best against a vexing crosswind, still throwing 152-5 (46.46m). Uldal moved to the lead as Kilmartin, 2004 NCAA Indoor heptathlon champ, fouled his first two throws, but obtained a mark of 115-0 (35.06m) on his final toss.
Action then moved to the pole vault, where Kilmartin had the advantage with a personal best two feet better than the Tiger. Uldal would go on to clear the bar at 15-7 (4.75m), tying an outdoor personal best. Kilmartin faltered, clearing his opening height of 15-11 (4.85m) on his third attempt followed by missing all three attempts at his next bar at 16-6¾ (5.05m).
In the javelin, Uldal owned a 55-point advantage over Kilmartin and widened that lead to 209 points after throwing the spear 203-8 (62.09m), marking a three-foot personal best, actually qualifying for the open javelin event for the NCAA Regional Championships. With a seemingly insurmountable lead, Uldal ran the final event, the 1500 meter, in 4:48.01, a second better than Kilmartin who finished second overall with 7,472 points.
"Going into the 1500, my legs felt a little heavy from my jumps in the pole vault," Uldal said. "But, I think had a pretty good competition overall, some up and downs, some personal bests, to me it felt average. I think I have all the pieces, the trick will be to put them all together and put together a big score. I think I'm ready to do that. Last year was a long ordeal, but I felt that the experience I received from competing in the Olympics with the best in the world really helped my perspective on how I approach the event."
Uldal, along with Bjorn Sommerfeldt and Brandon Goebbert scored 17 team points for the Tigers. Sommerfeldt himself had an outstanding competition, placing third with 7,262, gaining personal bests in three of day two's events. Sommerfeldt threw the discus 134-2 (40.90m), pole vaulted 14-11 (4.55m), and threw the javelin 178-9 (54.49m). Goebbert finished the day in eighth with 6,370 points, earning his fourth all-Big 12 honor.
Uldal also won the Tigers' fourth conference decathlon title in five years. Fellow Norwegian Knut Sommerfeldt swept titles in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Later in the day, the men's shot put competition stopped the hearts of many as its thrilling finish, similar to the Big 12 Indoor Championships earlier in the year, will go down as one of the best shot put finals in conference history. Entering the finals, Tiger Conrad Woolsey (Excelsior Springs, Mo.) stood in fourth-place, Texas A&M's Brian Custis third, Kansas' Sheldon Battle second, and Texas' Brian Robinson first.
In the fifth overall round, Woolsey topped Custis with at toss of 61-8½ (18.81m) to take over third. The final round throws were a sight to see. Woolsey started the madness by hurling a four-inch overall personal best of 63-8¼ (19.41m) to take over the lead in the clubhouse. Then, after Custis' throw fell short, Kansas' Battle stepped in the ring. In a moment reminiscent to the indoor championships, Battle topped Woolsey at 63-10½ (19.47m) to wow the crowd. Woolsey at the indoor meet topped Battle on his final throw to take the conference title and Battle yesterday won the men's hammer throw on his final toss.
The throws weren't over. After throwing an meet-opening toss of 62-9½ (19.14m) to take the lead into the finals, Texas' Robinson set quiet in the finals until his last throw. With the crowd's full attention from the awakening of the previous two lead changes, Robinson uncorked his personal-best with a throw topping all at 64-7¾ (19.70m).
Woolsey wounded up third, now a five-time all-Big 12 performer. Tiger sophomore Bill Hobson became a three-time all-Big 12 performer with a seventh-place showing, marking an outdoor personal best of 57-5½ (17.51m). Freshman Nate Englin scored in his second-consecutive conference meet, placing eighth with a throw of 56-11¼ (17.35m). Also worth noting, freshman Tyler Dailey became the fourth Tiger to qualify for the NCAA regionals in the event with his toss of 54-7½ (16.65m), placing 13th.
The women's shot proved valuable for the Tigers as well. Senior Lindsey Markworth placed sixth with her fifth all-Big 12 performance with a toss of 48-¾ (14.65m). Freshman Elizabeth Robe scored in her second-consecutive meet, placing seventh with a personal best of 47-6¼ (14.48m), qualifying for the NCAA regionals.
A good day was also had by the Tigers in the track preliminaries. The Tiger men advance three to tomorrow's finals - the Tiger women move five.
Sophomore Greg Bracey (Milwaukee, Wisc.) surprised the field, qualifying for the finals with his time of 10.31 in the 100-meter dash, gaining four tenths on his personal best. Bracey will technically move into the top five all-time at Mizzou, but his time was heavily wind-aided (5.0 m/s) and will not be considered for advancement to the NCAA regionals. Bracey is also a wide receiver on the Tiger football team.
Senior Marquis Davis (O'Fallon, Ill.) earned an NCAA regional-qualifying mark, advancing to tomorrow's finals in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 20.89.
In the men's 800, sophomore Marcus Mayes qualified for his final.
Women's qualifiers include, junior Amanda Bales and junior Kristin Hansen in the 1500; Ashley Patten and Trisa Nickoley in the 800, Margaret Ibe Umah in the 400-meter hurdles.
After 7 of the 21 total events, the Tiger men stand sixth with 28 points. The women stand tied for 10th with 11 points.
Players Mentioned
