Tigers will take on archrival Kansas in annual dual meet at the Hearnes Center on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Coach Wilmes by the Numbers • NCAA Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year (2002, 04) • Coached Four Cross Country Teams to Top-16 National Finishes • Coached World-Leading DMR (2001) • 20 All-Americans • 17 Conference Champions (134 All-Big 12 Honorees) • 4 NCAA Champions
Rebecca Wilmes enters her 13th year as a coach at the University of Missouri, focusing her efforts on the women's middle-distance and distance runners in track and field. 2012 will mark hersecond season as the associate head coach for the women's track and field team at Mizzou along with her head coaching responsibility for the women's cross country team.
On the track, Wilmes has had 10 individual All-America athletes under her guidance, representing every event from 800m to 10,000m and three different individuals have qualified for the NCAA meet in the 800m run in the last four years. Her athletes have won 16 Big 12 Championships and three Big 12 standards have been set during her coaching stint. She led both the women's 4x800m relay team in 2001 and the women's 4x1,600m relay team in 2002 that were named Drake Relays champions. The Tiger 4x1,600m relay squad has placed in the top five at the Drake Relays in four of the last eight years.
2010 was another great year for Wilmes as she guided nine student-athletes to All-Big 12 honors and saw three more qualify for the NCAA Championship first round. She also guided Layne Moore to a Big 12 Championship at 1,000m for her 17th Conference Champion as a head coach.
In 2009, Wilmes coached 800m standout Shannon Leinert to a sweep of the Big 12 indoor and outdoor titles and saw her qualify for NCAA Regional competition. Leinert was not Wilmes' only NCAA qualifier as Emily Baker also qualified for regional competition in the 1,500m run.
Wilmes was also the primary coach for freshman Kaitie Vanatta during the 2009 cross country season. Vanatta became the first Mizzou freshman to take home All-Big 12 honors since 2002. She also placed eighth at the Midwest Regional, earning All-Region honors and placed 54th at the NCAA Championships as the fifth true freshman to finish the race.
The 2008 season saw 11 of her student-athletes reach All-Big 12 status during the season. Trisa Nickoley won her third indoor Big 12 Championship at 800 meters and earned All-America honors at the distance.
In 2007, nine Tigers under her guidance earned All-Big 12 honors, including Nickoley who won a second 800m indoor title. Nickoley automatically qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships after finishing fourth at the Mideast Regional with a then personal-best time of 2:05.11. Nickoley went on to clock 2:04.07 in the semifinal round of the USATF Championships, coming within one spot of making the national final.
In 2006, Amanda Bales used an inspiring come-from-behind surge to win the Big 12 title at 1,500 meters. Also in 2006, senior Serena Ramsey finished 10 spots above her seed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, garnering All-America honors with a sixth-place performance at 10,000 meters.
In 2006, Ashley Patten earned her fourth All-America honor with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships at 800 meters. During the 2003 track season, Patten finished first in the 800m run at the USATF Junior Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., later representing the United States in Barbados for the Pan-American Games. Wilmes was primarily responsible in the coaching of the 2001 NCAA National Champion women's distance medley relay team, which also ran the fastest time in the world indoors that year. Wilmes coached four Big 12 Champions in the 2005 season, which included a conference-champion distance medley relay team for the second year in a row. Also champions in 2005 when Ashley Patten in the indoor 1000-meter run and outdoor 800m, and the 2005 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Trisa Nickoley in the indoor 800m. This group of middle-distance and distance runners proved to be a force in the Big 12 Conference in 2005, especially at the Big 12 Indoor Championships meet where Missouri runners either finished first or in the top three in every event from 800m to 5,000m, including the distance medley relay.
Wilmes has stacked up a great resume at Missouri and has had great success with the women's cross country program. In 2004, Wilmes guided the women's cross country team to an 11th-place national finish in 2004 - the best in 20 years - and to their second NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in three years.
Wilmes' women's cross country program has finished in the top four of the Big 12 in four of the past eight years. In both 2002 and 2004, Wilmes was named NCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year after guiding her teams to Regional Championships. Preceding the Tigers' 11th-place national finish in 2004 came a 12th-place finish in 2003, and a 16th-place finish in 2002.
She has coached two cross country All-Americans, her first being Ann Marie Brooks who also received All-American accolades on the track in the 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs. Amanda Bales led the women's team at the 2003 NCAA Championships to a 12th-place national finish. Now entering her fourth year since running for the Tigers, Brooks, has made two IAAF World Championships Cross Country Teams at 4k and 6k.
As a student-athlete, Wilmes was the 1996 Midwest Regional Cross Country Champion and twice led her teams to the NCAA Championships. Wilmes was a two-time All-American in the 800m run and the 1,500m run. She was the Big Eight Newcomer of the Year in both cross country and track (1993-94). She was a two-time conference champion, a Drake Relays champion and a five-time Kansas Relays champion. During her career at MU, she received the Missouri Coaches Award, the Bill Rawson Award and the Tom Botts Award. In 2000, she was an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 1,500m run.
Academically, Wilmes earned multiple Academic All-American and conference academic awards. She graduated magna cum laude in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education. Wilmes has also completed a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
