Peterson Goes Full Time

Derrick Peterson, who has been with the University of Missouri for the past ten years, has officially become part of the full-time track and field coaching staff of the establishment last Tuesday, on the eleventh of September 2007. Some months prior to the announcement, the famed 800-meter Olympian had been working as a part-time assistant sprint coach for the university's athletic program.

Originally from Waycross, Georgia, it was while he was studying Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Missouri from 1997 up until 2000 that Peterson had gained and developed his impressive athletic footing. In those three years, he became an overall Big 12 champion nine times and a Drake Relays champion five times. Peterson had even set the Missouri schools track and field middle distance records for both outdoor and indoor 800 meter runs – to this day, no one in Missouri had overtaken his record time of 1:45.88, set at the 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships. He also won acclaim at the World University games by winning bronze in the 800 meter competition in 1999, and silver for the same event in 2001. It is no wonder, then, that Peterson was an All-American six times, on top of being a two-time NCAA Champion.

Since his college years at the University of Missouri, Peterson had, in 2001 and 2004, qualified for the IAAF World Championships; he also tried out for and won a spot in the USA Olympic team for the year 2004. By 2005, Derrick Peterson had become not only part of the Georgia High School Hall of Fame, but also the University of Missouri's Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame. Before last season, he had joined the coaching staff of the University of Missouri part time; his contributions and reputation, however, had now earned him a better position in the establishment's program.

The university's coaches and athletes alike are happy with this development in both Derrick Peterson's career and their athletics department. “Derrick has been such a big part of our Missouri Track Family for the past ten years,” head coach Rick McGuire says. “I am so proud of Derrick, and especially pleased to add Derrick to our staff and to support him in developing his professional career as a coach. This will be great for our team, great for our staff, great for the University and great for Derrick.”

Currently, Derrick Peterson is staying in Columbia with his six-month-old daughter Athena and his wife, former Missouri heptathlete Liz Young.