• Missouri ‘94
• Second season
• Cross Country head coach
• Middle Distance/Distance coach
Jared Wilmes (WILL-muss) enters his second season as the cross country head coach and assistant track
and field coach at Missouri. The cross country team hasn’t skipped a beat in being one of the toughest
programs in the conference.
During the 2000 cross country season, Wilmes led the Tiger women to their sixth consecutive NCAA
Championship appearance and the third consecutive appearance for the men. The Tiger men finished in an
automatic-qualifying second place at the Regional Championships, and the women finished third to receive
an at-large bid to the National Championships. Wilmes coached Nick Smith to a third place finish at the
Regional Cross Country Championship, the highest finish by a Missouri male ever at that meet. At the national
meet, the women placed 16th in the nation and the men finished 27th at the NCAA Championships.
On the track in 2001, Wilmes coached junior Mike Pitts to a Big 12 Championship in the 10,000m, the first ever
Missouri Big 12 Champion in the event. In addition, he helped guide the women’s Distance Medley Relay to a
conference and National Championship, and a Big 12 record in that event. Wilmes coached two All-Americans
and 11 conference scorers in 2001, including two indoor runners-up in the 1000m and 800m events. Wilmes,
a former All-American himself in the 800m, also guided red-shirt junior Timothy Dunne to a 1:48.81 personal
best in 2001.
Wilmes, a Hopkins, Mo. native, is no stranger to Missouri athletics as he has been involved at Mizzou for over
11 years as a student-athlete, coach and staff member. As an athlete, Wilmes competed at MU from 1990-95
and developed into one of the best middle distance athletes in Missouri history. He went on to claim NCAA
All-American honor four times in the 800m. The three-time team captain was also a Big Eight champion in the
800m and claimed multiple wins at the prestigious Drake, Kansas and Florida relays.
A multi-time academic All-America award winner, Wilmes was a magna cum laude 1994 honors graduate at
Mizzou, earning a dual degree in agriculture economics and business. He earned postgraduate scholarships
from both the Big Eight and the NCAA, and earned a graduate degree in 1998 in agriculture economics and
recently finished course work toward his Ph.D. in management.
Wilmes served as a graduate assistant coach for Missouri track and cross country for three years (1995-98),
and stayed on with the athletic department for the next two years as an economic analyst in the Tiger business
office. During his days as a graduate assistant, Wilmes was involved in all aspects of the program, including a
heavy focus on recruiting.
Wilmes, 29, is married to the former Rebecca Davis, a two-time track All-American at Missouri.
