May 7, 2000
Box Score
The University of Missouri men's and women's track and field teams closed out finals week by hosting the Missouri Invitational at Walton Stadium on a raining May 6. It was a meet that featured several Tigers in their specialty events while other used the meet as a final tune-up before the Big 12 Championships come to Columbia, May 19-21.
At final count, Mizzou claimed top honors in 16 events. In three events, MU athletes claimed the top-3 finishes. There were also two Tigers to earn NCAA provisional standards with their performances.
Sunny Gilbert ran the best half mile race of her career on Saturday evening. The junior won the 800m race with a time of 2:06.03. Her time was not only a NCAA provisional qualifying mark, it was also a personal best time by three seconds and now places her third overall in the conference. Senior Becky Rigel ran to a second place showing in 2:12.29. Sophomores Becky Froelker and Jennifer Leerssen turned in third and fourth place performances respectively.
The men's 1500m run featured two of MU's all-time greats. Seniors Derrick Peterson and Ryan Pirtle squared off for the first time this season. Peterson came from behind to win the event in 3:51.25 while Pirtle finished second in 3:53.69.
In the field events, Russ Bell stole the show in the men's discus before the rains came. The freshman threw 185-11 inches on his fifth attempt which was a NCAA provisional standard. It was Bell's second best mark in the event and the first. Fellow freshman Christian Cantwell placed third while junior Darrell Meinke placed fourth.
Cantwell also won the shot put marking his fourth victory in the event this season. Bell was the runner-up in the event just ahead of junior Micah Shanks. Shanks had a season-best throw of 55 feet, 3 ½ inches. Shanks also finished second in the hammer throw with a toss of 175-3.
The multi-event athletes did not compete in the decathlon or heptathlon this weekend, but they must have felt like it at the end of the day. The Tiger mult-eventers competed several events in their final outing before the conference championships. Junior Michelle Moran had a banner day turning in a personal best in the 100m hurdles on her way to victory. Moran was also victorious in the high jump and javelin throw as well. Senior Jill Aholt had a personal best in the javelin on her way to finishing third overall.
For the men multi-event athletes, it was just as successful of a day. Senior Espen Stridenberg won the 110m hurdles with his best time in two years while freshman Knut Harold Sommerfeldt placed second in the event. Stridenberg also won the pole vault with a personal best leap of 16 feet, 1 ¼ inches marking the first time he has cleared the 16-foot barrier. New to the multi-events, Cameron Ankele posted several personal best marks on Saturday. Ankele, in his first season with the Tiger track and field team, had a PR in both the shot put and javelin.
A small group of athletes will travel to Emporia State to compete next weekend while the rest of the rest of the Tigers gear up for the conference championships the following weekend.
