Oct. 28, 2008

Championships Central: Iowa State, Big 12 | Mizzou Season Summary: WOMEN, MEN | USTFCCCA Rankings: National, Regional

COLUMBIA, Mo.—The Missouri cross country teams will participate in the first Big 12 Conference Championship to be held in the 2008-09 school year on Saturday, taking to Iowa State's course in Ames. The Tiger men have finished in the league's top half in each of the last four years while the Tiger women have placed in the conference's top four in eight of the 11 years of the Big 12's existence.

A Look at Mizzou's Men …
The Tiger men have finished in the top half among the league's teams in each of the last four years. The 2007 squad was led by then-sophomore Dan Hedgecock (St. Louis, Mo.) who finished 18th overall, just missing the top-15 placing needed to earn All-Big 12 honors. Tim Ross was the last from Mizzou to earn All-Big 12 honors in cross country, doing so in placing 15th at the 2006 championships in Kansas.

This year's Mizzou squad is ranked seventh in the NCAA Midwest Region by the USTFCCCA which is third among the seven conference teams housed in the region made of schools from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Iowa. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest and No. 3 in the country with Iowa State housed at fourth in the region and 22nd in the nation. Colorado is ranked third in the Mountain Region and 17th overall and Texas A&M is picked first in the South Central Region and 18th overall. Texas holds the third spot in the South Central and 30th in the nation.

The Tigers last competed at the Pre-National in Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., site of the NCAA Cross Country Championships to be held on the Monday of Thanksgiving week. Mizzou held its own in placing in the top half of the Blue division after personal-best runs by junior Garett Jeffries (Clarkson Valley, Mo.), transfer Michael Pandolfo (Lone Tree, Colo.) and sophomore Dan Quigley (St. Louis, Mo.).

Jeffries was impressive in placing 35th overall at the Pre-National meet, scoring a 16-second personal-best in clocking 24:14.0 on the 8k course. Mizzou's second through fifth runners came to the line within nine seconds of each other with Hedgecock clocking 25:00.3. Quigley, Pandolfo, and senior Michael Barrows (Flint, Mich.), who led the team in the Tigers' first two meets after coming back from a rash of injuries in the past years, rounded out Missouri's top five at the Pre-National preview. The Tigers could also utilize senior Tim Cornell (Columbia, Mo.), sophomore Phillip King (Columbia, Mo.), and sophomore Kyle Rood (St. Peters, Mo.), among others, who were on the Tigers' conference roster in 2007.

Jeffries, who earned All-Big 12 honors on the track at 10,000 meters in May, also was Mizzou's top runner at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota. At the collegiate major meet, Jeffries scored a 20th placing.

A Look at Mizzou's Women …

The Tiger women will look to improve upon its 10th-place showing at last year's conference meet. Then-freshman Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas) led the Tigers at the meet with a 26th-place showing. Then-senior Kate Greer and then-junior Angela Potrykus (Evergreen, Colo.) came close behind, finishing within 15 seconds of Farren. Despite last year's finish, the Tiger women have finished in the league's top third in eight of the 11 years of the conference's existence.

Three of the Big 12's teams are in the national top 30 while 11 of the 12 are ranked in the top 15 of its particular region. The Tigers are ranked 11th in the Midwest Region with Nebraska fourth in the region, Oklahoma State fifth, and Kansas State seventh. Texas Tech is the top-ranked team in the Big 12 nationally at 12th and is also ranked first in the Mountain region. Baylor is ranked second in the South Central region and 17th nationally.

Farren, as just a sophomore, has been the Tiger leader in each of the squad's four meets this season. Junior Emily Baker (Wildwood, Mo.) was the Tigers' second scorer at the Pre-National Invitational with Potrykus – Mizzou's lone senior – third and sophomore Jessica Armstrong (Dorr, Mich.) fourth. Potrykus has been consistent this season in being one of the Tigers' frontrunners while Armstrong also was MU's third scorer at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invite and shaved nearly a minute off her PR in the 6k run at the Pre-Nats.

More youth will be helping to fill the championship roster with sophomore Layne Moore (Emporia, Kan.) and freshmen Aimee Bonte (Fenton, Mo.) and Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, Kan.) having seen time this season.

 

 

 

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