MEET NOTES
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Tigers are entering the heart of the cross country season in a big way this weekend as they make the trek up to Minneapolis, Minn., for the highly-touted Roy Griak Invitational. Featuring four of the top 30 ranked men's teams in the NCAA, and six of the women's, Griak will serve as the first opportunity for the Tigers to start tallying results toward a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Championships come November. Events at the Les Bolstad Golf Course will start for Mizzou at 12:20 p.m. CT with the Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Race (8000-meters), followed by the Jack Johnson Women's Gold Race (6000-meteres) at 1:10 p.m.
THE MEET
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Roy Griak will serve as the first big test of the season for the Tigers as both the men and women face off against some of the top-ranked programs in the NCAA. On the men's side, No. 19 North Carolina tops the bill, followed by No. 23 Texas, No. 26 Iowa State, and No. 29 Colorado State. This will be Mizzou's first match-up against fellow-Midwest competitors Iowa State, who are currently ranked No. 4 in the region, three spots ahead of No. 7 Mizzou.
The women's field will feature a pair of current top-ten programs in No. 3 Michigan State and No. 9 Iowa State, followed by No. 11 Butler, fellow-SEC competitor Vanderbilt (No. 24), No. 28 Minnesota, and No. 30 Weber State. Like the men, this will be the first time the Tiger women will face off against Midwest Region competitors Iowa State and Minnesota, who sit just ahead of the No. 4 Tigers at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Both teams are coming off an exciting start of the season under new Head Coach Marc Burns, collecting team and individual wins at the Illini Challenge (Aug. 29) and Forest Park XC Festival (Sept. 12). The women are currently undefeated behind the leadership of sophomore Kaitlyn Fischer and freshmen Jamie Kempfer and Karissa Schweizer. The trio has proven to be quite the force up front, finishing side-by-side at both early-season meets.
Three other women have been vying for the remaining two top five spots as sophomore Nicole Mello, junior Sam Garrett, and senior Courtney Wood have all earned scoring positions in the first two meets of the season.
The men are also riding some momentum heading into the weekend after they swept the Forest Park XC Festival two weeks ago, taking the top five spots to earn the 15-point perfect score. Leading the way for the first time in his career was junior Kenny Cushing, who was followed immediately by sophomore T.J. Carey, senior Sam Dickerson, junior Tyler Schneider, and sophomore Dan Roe.
THE TIGERS' STARTING LINE
| WOMEN | MEN | |||
| Teylar Adelsberger, SO Kaelyn Balch, SO Becca Batliner, FR Courtney Brown, SR Megan Cunningham, SO Maria Effinger, JR Kaitlyn Fischer, SO Kayla Friesen, SO Sam Garrett, JR Jamie Kempfer, FR Nicole Mello, SO Karissa Schweizer, FR Madison Waymire, FR Kayla Wolf, SO Brooke Wolfe, SO Courtney Wood, SR |
T.J. Carey, SO Jordan Cook, SO Kenny Cushing, JR Sam Dickerson, SR Marc Dubrick, FR Chandler Dye, SO Shannon Hall, SO Sheldon Keence, FR Ian McGinn, SO Chris Mooneyham, FR Alex Pierce, FR Dan Roe, SO Tyler Rusboldt, SO Tyler Schneider, JR Evan Schulte, FR Drew White, SO |
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