April 27, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Missouri track and field teams showed well again at the 98th Drake Relays on Friday. The Tiger 4x1600-meter relay placed runner-up and the women's 4x800-meter relay took fourth.
MEN'S 4x1600 RELAY: The Tiger men took runner-up in the men's 4x1600-meter relay in the afternoon, improving from last year's fifth-place showing. Sophomore Garett Jeffries (Clarkston Valley, Mo.) led off the Tigers with a 4:08.2 leg to put Mizzou in the race's top-three. Soph Tim Cornell (Columbia, Mo. / Hickman HS) kept the Tigers among the top three with a 4:06.7 split, fighting Notre Dame and Iowa State for the top spots, as the field started to spread. Redshirt frosh Dan Hedgecock (St. Louis, Mo.) had a 4:07.2 clocking as the Tigers and Cyclones continued to battle for the 2-3 spots. Half-mile All-American Marcus Mayes anchored the relay with a 4:15.0 split, initially taking a 20-meter cushion on Iowa State for second, but in the third-lap of the leg Mayes was passed. In the final lap, Mayes surged to catch Iowa State's Brandon Rooney for the runner-up spot.
"There's no other meet, no other race like this," said Hedgecock afterwards. "Not many places we get to run in this sort of fashion. It's fun being out there with three other guys and going all the way for it. Hopefully, Notre Dame will graduate some guys and we'll get a little better, a little older, and make a better push for it next year."
Notre Dame won in 16:21.27 with lead-off and anchor legs fielded by seniors Todd Ptacek and Kurt Benniger.
Mizzou's second-place showing in the 4x1600 was the best the Tigers have finished in the relay since winning in 1911.
WOMEN'S 4x800: Mizzou's women 4x800-meter relay team placed fourth with a 8:48.11 time. The first three legs of Ellen Ries, Angela Potrykus, and Kristin Hansen put the Tigers in fifth. A 2:08.7-split from junior Trisa Nickoley at anchor gained the Tigers a spot over Florida who was fifth. Minnesota clocked a meet and stadium record of 8:27.42, the fastest time in the World in 2007.
WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY 800-METER: Nickoley also finished third in the university women's 800 with a 2:06.80 clocking earlier in the day. Nickoley had difficulty keeping position for the first 600 meters, fighting the "boxed-in" factor. Western Michigan's Becky Horn won in 2:04.54 and will face Nickoley again in the NCAA Mideast Regional in four weeks.
MEN'S 4x400: The Tiger 4x400-meter relay team of frosh Jerron Forte, Jimmie Jones, Mayes, and Nick Adcock clocked 3:10.07 in the preliminary round, taking 11th overall. The time is a team's season's best and was only seven-hundredths of a second off the NCAA-regional qualifying mark.
WOMEN'S DISCUS: Junior Jamie Wynn placed eighth in the women's discus with a best of 160-1 (48.80m). Northern Iowa's Rachel Jansen with a toss of 181-2.
MEN'S SHOT PUT: In the collegiate men's shot, Bill Hobson placed 10th with a throw of 54-10¾. Nate Englin and Tiger post-collegian Christian Cantwell will throw in the special-invite shot put tomorrow.
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