April 29, 2006
DES MOINES, Iowa.--It may have been rainy, it may have been cold, but the Missouri track and field squad still stole the show in the final day of the 97th Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. In what was a whirlwind of two hours in front of a large crowd, the men's team won their second relay of the meet, a first since 1962, when they took the distance medley relay crown, winning by over six seconds and closing maybe the best overall relay performance by a Tiger squad ever at these relays. Shortly before, Tiger post-collegian Christian Cantwell broke the 31-year-old Drake Relays and stadium record twice in a dominate performance in the men's special invitational shot put.
Only an hour before the shot put, the women's 4x1600-meter relay team captured a new school record, clocking 19:12.27, in second-place finish that went down to the wire with Minnesota.
In no time in Missouri history has both the men's and women's 4x800-meter, 4x1600-meter, and distance medley relay teams all finished in the top five in the same meet. Adding the men's 4x800-meter victory from late Friday evening and a fifth-place performance by the 4x1600-meter relay team to today's dominate distance medley relay performance, Missouri's men had one of the best distance performances by a squad all-time at the Drake Relays.
Men's Distance Medley Relay Win
The men's DMR squad was made up of Marcus Mayes (1200-meter leg), Jimmie Jones (400-meter leg), Neville Miller (800-meter leg), and Matt Noonan (1600-meter leg). Miller, Jones, and Mayes were three of four squad members that had also won the 4x800 the night before and can now lay claim to the phrase "two-time Drake Relays Champion."
The race itself wasn't even close. Mayes led off with a 2:57.0, 1200-meter leg that broke a decent lead before his handoff to Jones for the 400-meter. Jones ran his leg in 47.1, who then handed to Miller who went 1:49.7 in his carry. Noonan, who anchor the 4x1600-meter relay Friday afternoon, ran another spectacular race, running 4:08.1 in winning with a time of 9:41.82 over Kansas State who clocked 9:48.34.
The Tiger time was the squad's best since the 1972 Missouri team ran the English-yards version of the race at Drake (9:30.6). It was Mizzou's first title in the event since 1973 and the third overall adding in the Tigers' win in 1939.
The double-relay win for the Mizzou men is the team's first since 1962 when that team won both the 4x400-meter relay and the sprint medley relay.
"I knew going into this race that there were some really good teams," said Noonan. "I was going to be real, real surprised if we had three legs that could keep up with these guys. I kept yelling at them during the race to give me as much of a lead as you can. I knew there were some sub-four guys behind me. Getting the baton with the lead at the Drake Relays is all the motivation you need. It was one of the easiest-feeling runs I have had.
(The crowd) is unbelievable. Track is not normally a sport that people flock, so to have that many people supporting you. There are really intelligent fans (here) and very friendly to the athletes."
Cantwell Shows Big in Men's Shot
Tiger post-collegian Christian Cantwell (Eldon, Mo.) continues his dominance with the shot put, winning the special invitational event with a new meet- and stadium-record best toss of 72 feet, 6¼ inches (22.10m), extending his World-leading best mark. It was Cantwell's first throw, one that he claims was actually a mis-toss, of 69-9¼ (21.28m) that initially broke the 31-year-old record, one that he's been eluding him for five years.
"You know, breaking (the record) is was way overdue," said Cantwell. "I've been within an inch, an inch-and-a-half, twice. Drake Relays is one of the meets every year I look on the calendar and know I want to perform well and get things done, in this case break the record. I woke up this morning thinking I was going to break the record, no matter what, even if there was a tornado, it was going to happen.
"The first throw was a nice-and-easy, get-into-the-event type of throw. I tried to hit it real hard in the end and basically I missed it off my finger and when I heard the mark, I knew then when it when off the fingers well it would go far."
On his second throw, Cantwell exclaimed, "There it is baby!" as it landed at 72-6¼, drawing a standing ovation from the Drake Relays crowd.
The throw was his best since his overall personal-best of 73-11½ was set in June 2004. The win marks his fourth Drake Relays title in five years. He won it as a collegian in 2002 and 2003, and followed with another winning performance in another rainy Drake Relays in 2004.
His field series carried four fair throws that all sailed passed 68-6, all which would have topped second-place Dan Taylor.
Jason Morris Smashes Own School Record in Men's Hammer
If the above two stories weren't enough, sophomore Jason Morris smashed his own school record in the men's hammer throw with a bomb of 218-11 (66.73m), a six-foot personal best in his second-place performance. His throw advances him in the national top 10 and becomes the Mideast region's best of the year. Morris also had big tosses of 217-0 and 215-3 during the competition.
A Close 19-minute Race, the Women's 4x1600
The Tigers and Minnesota battled in the women's 4x1600-meter relay. In what was just over a 19-minute race, the two teams were within 20 meters of each other from gun-to-tape. Although Minnesota took the tape, Mizzou clocked a 19:12.27, a performance that would have also break the meet record.
In addition the final time will go down as a new school record, capping a great weekend for the Tiger women's relays. Altogether this weekend, the Tiger women placed second in the 4x1600, fourth in the DMR, and third in the 4x800.
Ashley Patten led off and immediately took the lead with her 4:49.2 leg. Kasey Kimball and Kristin Hansen were the second and third legs adding 4:48.0 and 4:53.1 splits respectively.
The anchor leg came down to Tiger senior Amanda Bales and Minnesota junior Emily Brown. When handed the baton, Bales was trailing Brown by three seconds. On the first lap, Bales caught Brown and the two were neck-and-neck for the next 800 meters. Down the final backstretch, Bales started to make a move and passed Brown as the crowd was aware of the meet record possibility. But, as the two came down the homestretch, Brown went wide (almost to the fifth or sixth lane) to pass Bales and take the tape at 19:10.92. Bales had an unbelievable 1600-meter clocking of 4:42.1 to challenge the Golden Gophers.
In the special men's 800-meter race, a packed 13-man field made for an interesting race and an even more interesting finish. Tiger post-collegians Timothy Dunne and Derrick Peterson placed fifth and ninth, respectively. Entering the homestretch, runners went six-wide for a blanket finish, making a normal late-race surge for Peterson nearly impossible.
Missouri will next travel to State College, Pa., for the Penn State Open next weekend. The weekend will be a celebration of Penn State Coach Harry Groves who is retiring as the Nittany Lion coach after 38 years and 53 years overall.